1. Douthat on Crichton (who was really good, by the way).

2. Vitalik on sharding.

3. Caleb Watney on solving the global vaccine shortage.

4. Why don't lower income countries adopt more advanced technologies?

5. The next Bryan Caplan book is a pro-YIMBY graphic novel.

6. Aidan and Tristan Caplan on Mormons and Mexicans.  Ungated here.

7. New results in particle physics? (NYT)  And some science coverage of the same.

8. Pandemic reverses southern Italian brain drain (FT), and NYT.

9. New Mars city to be built into a cliff?  (What about Nevada he cries again?)