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This week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard removed the security clearances from 37 former and current intelligence officials, including those with expertise on Russian election interference.

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College athletics were once casual and fun, more like a club sport than a serious endeavor. But “over the past 75 years, NCAA sports has become ever more professionalized,” Marc Novicoff wrote recently.

Practicing science in the United States has become more politically fraught in the past seven months than it has ever been in this country’s history. As the Trump administration has fired vaccine advisers, terminated research grants in droves, denied the existence of gender, and accused federal scientists of corruption while publicly denigrating their work, the nation’s leaders have shown that they believe American science should be done only on their terms.

Both batches of french fries that my family had for dinner were from the frozen-food aisle. They appeared nearly identical when cooked, one batch faintly darker than the other. And we all noticed: Those bronzed fries were exceptionally tasty. My toddler devoured a small mountain of them. They left a meatiness on my tongue, as if I’d eaten them alongside a steak. After my husband unblinded the taste test, I realized that, in a way, I had.