Few people doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) will transform our lives. AI is already changing how we write, program computers, diagnose disease, design products, conduct scientific research, and even perpetrate scams. It may ultimately prove to be as important as electricity, the automobile, or the internet.

But there is another question that deserves equal attention: Is today's enormous investment in AI justified by the value it will ultimately create?

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On quiet, residential streets in Sterling, Virginia, residents often wake to the roar of diesel backup generators and smog that leaves their throats raw by morning — the price of AI data centers built without proper zoning oversight.

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Summer cookouts often come with a side of salad. This year, that salad could contain an unwanted ingredient: a nasty stomach parasite that has sickened thousands of Americans and shows no signs of slowing down.

Cyclosporiasis, a gastrointestinal illness caused by the microscopic parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis, is spreading across more than half the country. As of mid-July, federal health officials had confirmed hundreds of cases stretching across 30 states, with the true number of infections certainly higher since many people recover at home without ever being tested.

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Science does not often advance in sudden epiphanies that yield "Eureka" moments. More typical are years of failed experiments, dogged hypothesis-testing, and incremental discoveries that are, at best, inconclusive. And then, sometimes, eventually, the accumulated knowledge results in a breakthrough. Two recent examples are stunning advances in cancer medicine—one for pancreatic cancer, the other for melanoma—that are rewriting what doctors can promise their patients. But to understand why these achievements matter so profoundly, it is instructive to appreciate how long they took.

A Pill That Doubled Survival for the Disease That Kills Almost Everyone

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