In Praise of Observational Evidence
Can you prove a medicine works just by studying the people who already take it?
0:00 / 32:26 · Narrator Gacrux
Daily edition
2026-08-30
Today's Crosscut
Building for Space
When engineers send new hardware into orbit, should they choose a cheap, nine-month commercial sprint that risks sudden failure, or a decade-long flagship observatory that must work perfectly on the first try?
NASA-Funded Mission to Rescue a Falling Space Telescope Officially Ends in Failure × A New Way of Seeing Alien Worlds
0:00 / 16:51 · Narrator Sulafat/Charon/Vindemiatrix
Future-gazing →
Behind the news →
Wrong Audience, Wrong Ask: Why Trump’s Abraham Accords Gambit Falls on Deaf Ears
by H. A. Hellyer
Why does Washington keep treating the Middle East as if it has no memory of its own?
0:00 / 11:37 · Narrator Sulafat
Why is Crime Falling? The Answers Aren’t Simple.
by Jamiles Lartey
If violent crime is dropping across the country, why can nobody agree on what actually worked?
0:00 / 8:21 · Narrator Rasalgethi
Smart escape →
What Do I Do About My Fragile Kid?
by Albert Burneko
When a kid falls apart over a setback, are they fragile, or do they just feel safe?
0:00 / 13:07 · Narrator Charon
Once the Solar System's Ninth Planet, Pluto Was Reclassified 20 Years Ago. Here's Why Planetary Scientists and the Public Alike Love the Small Icy Body
Why did losing its title make a tiny, frozen world so much easier to love?
0:00 / 13:53 · Narrator Vindemiatrix
A Day in the Chaos of Cycling’s Most Legendary Arena
by Patrick Redford
Why do half a million people camp on a mountain for ten seconds of a bike race?
0:00 / 9:48 · Narrator Algieba