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[Essay] Doctor’s Orders

COVID-19 and the new science wars

by Jason Blakely ,

Current Issue August 2023

[Folio] Who Walks Always Beside You?

A disappearance in Arkansas

by Benjamin Hale ,

[Letter from Lagos] Love in the Time of Sickle Cell Disease

What’s the cost of rolling the genetic dice?

by Krithika Varagur ,

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of Americans who think our country should reduce “political correctness” : 64

[Harper’s Index]

Who think our country should foster “social justice” : 70

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase this year in the number of Americans who identify as conservative on social issues : 15

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of independent voters who do not know the Republicans’ or Democrats’ stance on abortion : 1/3

[Harper’s Index]

Who do not think either party handles the issue of abortion well : 2/5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which foot traffic in U.S. city centers is lower today than it was in 2019 : 25

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage decrease since October in the number of companies requiring employees to work in person full-time : 14

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which hybrid workers are more satisfied with their organization’s culture than in-person workers : 8

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of remote workers who claim to be dissatisfied with their daily commute : 25

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which remote work reduces the likelihood of securities fraud : 15

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of U.S. workers who use recreational drugs or alcohol while working remotely : 1/5

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of U.S. workers who report having been under the influence during a virtual meeting : 1/5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase since 2021 in random workplace drug testing : 18

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of employers who believe their workers have an alcohol use disorder : 26

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage increase since the start of the pandemic in U.S. adults with substance use disorders : 23

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of speech pathologists who have seen an increase in children with communication difficulties since 2019 : 4/5

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of U.S. adults who say they are too tired to make changes to their diet or exercise routine : 35

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of their daily calorie intake that the average American consumes in the form of ultra-processed food : 57

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans who are unable to do five consecutive push-ups : 1/3

[Harper’s Index]

Who have a sleep deficit : 1/3

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans who think the invention of the internet was bad for humanity : 1/10

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of American men who say their online lives are more engaging and rewarding than their offline lives : 48

[Harper’s Index]

Who have not spent time with someone outside of their home in the past week : 26

[Harper’s Index]

Who say that they have it harder than women : 53

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage by which men charge more than women for freelance work : 48

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of U.S. workers who do not believe that gender equality in the workplace is very important : 3/4

[Harper’s Index]

Who do not believe that a racially and ethnically diverse workplace is very important : 7/10

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of U.S. adults who approve of colleges taking race and ethnicity into account to increase diversity : 1/3

[Harper’s Index]

Who say they have been personally disadvantaged by efforts to increase racial and ethnic diversity : 1/4

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of student loan debt held by adults 35 or older : 63

[Harper’s Index]

Chance that a university professor has seen a UFO or knows someone who has : 1 in 5

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of English professors who are interested in researching UFOs : 3/10

[Harper’s Index]

Of economics professors : 1/4

[Harper’s Index]

Number of minutes by which a day is longer on Mars than on Earth : 39

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of baby boomers who believe in hell : 18

[Harper’s Index]

Of millennials and zoomers who do : 32

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Monday Gallery

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Wali’s Farm, a painting by Joseph Olisaemeka Wilson, whose work is on view through August 25 at Derek Eller Gallery, in New York City.

Courtesy the artist and Derek Eller Gallery, New York City

A photograph from the series Mono-Pines/Mono-Palms, from the book Second Nature, by Işık Kaya and Thomas Georg Blank, which was published last year by Kehrer Verlag.

An Allegory, 1964, a painting by Bob Thompson, whose work is on view through July 8 at 52 Walker, in New York City.

Overtime, a painting by Mikey Yates, whose work is on view through July 1 at Shulamit Nazarian, in Los Angeles.

The Hunter, a painting by Rune Christensen, whose work is on view through July 2 at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, in Berlin.

Courtesy the artist and Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery

Percentage of Americans who think our country should reduce “political correctness” : 64

Who think our country should foster “social justice” : 70

Percentage increase this year in the number of Americans who identify as conservative on social issues : 15

Portion of independent voters who do not know the Republicans’ or Democrats’ stance on abortion : 1/3

Who do not think either party handles the issue of abortion well : 2/5

Percentage by which foot traffic in U.S. city centers is lower today than it was in 2019 : 25

Percentage decrease since October in the number of companies requiring employees to work in person full-time : 14

Percentage by which hybrid workers are more satisfied with their organization’s culture than in-person workers : 8

Percentage of remote workers who claim to be dissatisfied with their daily commute : 25

Percentage by which remote work reduces the likelihood of securities fraud : 15

Portion of U.S. workers who use recreational drugs or alcohol while working remotely : 1/5

Portion of U.S. workers who report having been under the influence during a virtual meeting : 1/5

Percentage increase since 2021 in random workplace drug testing : 18

Percentage of employers who believe their workers have an alcohol use disorder : 26

Percentage increase since the start of the pandemic in U.S. adults with substance use disorders : 23

Portion of speech pathologists who have seen an increase in children with communication difficulties since 2019 : 4/5

Percentage of U.S. adults who say they are too tired to make changes to their diet or exercise routine : 35

Percentage of their daily calorie intake that the average American consumes in the form of ultra-processed food : 57

Portion of Americans who are unable to do five consecutive push-ups : 1/3

Who have a sleep deficit : 1/3

Portion of Americans who think the invention of the internet was bad for humanity : 1/10

Who think it was neither good nor bad : 1/5

Percentage decrease this year in worldwide sales of personal computers : 29

Minimum number of pagers still in use in the United States : 808,245

Percentage of American men who say their online lives are more engaging and rewarding than their offline lives : 48

Who have not spent time with someone outside of their home in the past week : 26

Who say that they have it harder than women : 53

Percentage by which men charge more than women for freelance work : 48

Portion of U.S. workers who do not believe that gender equality in the workplace is very important : 3/4

Who do not believe that a racially and ethnically diverse workplace is very important : 7/10

Portion of U.S. adults who approve of colleges taking race and ethnicity into account to increase diversity : 1/3

Who say they have been personally disadvantaged by efforts to increase racial and ethnic diversity : 1/4

Percentage of student loan debt held by adults 35 or older : 63

Chance that a university professor has seen a UFO or knows someone who has : 1 in 5

Portion of English professors who are interested in researching UFOs : 3/10

Of economics professors : 1/4

Number of minutes by which a day is longer on Mars than on Earth : 39

Percentage of baby boomers who believe in hell : 18

Of millennials and zoomers who do : 32

July 18, 2023

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The Return

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Past Issues

Harper’s Finest

From the Archive

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SARS was found in tears.

A psycholinguistic analysis of posts on Twitter and Weibo during COVID-19 lockdowns found that residents of Lombardy grew increasingly focused on leisure and residents of Wuhan grew increasingly focused on religion.

Convalescent plasma helps Syrian hamsters fight SARS-CoV-2.

Falling levels of tourist trash during pandemic lockdowns was found to have caused rat infighting, and macaques were reported to have attacked a lab assistant in Delhi and stolen vials of COVID-­19-­infected blood, which at least one monkey then tried to eat.

The World Health Organization warned that SARS will probably return this winter.

Debug

Falling levels of tourist trash during pandemic lockdowns was found to have caused rat infighting, and macaques were reported to have attacked a lab assistant in Delhi and stolen vials of COVID-19-infected blood, which at least one monkey then tried to eat.