Bryan Caplan on the monkey trap. Based on alleged behavior of monkeys (I've heard the same said about raccoons), it describes organizations' willingness to accept horrible results, rather than give up a much lesser positive value.
Related: David Chapman on navigating the medical system, which seems to be in the process of regressing to a pre-modern state.
Speaking of pre-modern states: are the Amish unhappy, super-happy, or just meh?
News I missed last fall: NASA is restarting research on nuclear thermal propulsion. This is really good news for the future of manned spaceflight, because sending astronauts to Mars and beyond with chemical propulsion alone really pushes the limits of technological viability.
Maine is voting again in June on ranked-choice voting. Citizens of the Pine Tree State approved ranked-choice voting in the 2016 election, but the legislature fought hard against the measure. In a rare "people's veto", the issue is going back to the ballot box. Hopefully it wins again.
An interesting physicist startup tries to help autodidact scientists get a better understanding of the fields they're trying to work in. Good insight into the failings of science communication to the non-technical public.
A Mars sample return mission inches towards reality.
