Weekly Roundup
Jan 26 - Feb 1, 2026
LEADING ARTICLE
Gamma Bias: The Hidden Cognitive Distortion Hurting Men and Boys
Centre for Male Psychology
ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
Sex/Gender
Spectator
Women Are More Likely Than Men to Endorse Political Violence
City Journal
A new survey finding points to the dangers of digital outrage culture.
Texas A&M eliminates women’s and gender studies degree program
Texas Tribune
Trump Administration Takes Action to Cut Off Funding for DEI, Gender Ideology Overseas
Do No Harm
Half of Portland State U. students are LGBT, survey says
The College Fix
The Greater Male Variability Hypothesis
The Nature-Nurture-Nietzsche Newsletter
Why Boys Are Behind in Reading at Every Age
New York Times
Boys’ reading struggles are not inevitable, research suggests, and addressing the deficit could improve outcomes in school and beyond.
The Day I Wanted to Be a Father
Colin Wright on X
How I mistook the feeling of completeness for permanence and missed the inheritance I was meant to pass on.
Education
Fixing DEI’s Damage to Academic Science Could Take a Generation
Real Clear Science
Audit demanded after claims that MIT faculty hiring sidesteps DEI ban
The College Fix
Martin Center for Academic Renewal
It’s time to break up the university and the academy.
Sour Milk
Astrid Tuminez’s Uncertain Legacy at Utah Valley University.
(*Nuzzo note: Please consider reading this story. It is a series of posts that describes an alleged coordinated attempt by female university staffers to cancel a male anatomy professor. During the cancellation process, the professor killed himself.)
Epidemiology
Half of Americans Want to Lose Weight
Gallup
Women remain more likely than men to say they are overweight and would like to shed pounds.
United States Completes WHO Withdrawal
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Why Fentanyl Deaths Are Falling
Off Label
Drug Overdose Deaths in the United States, 2023–2024
NCHS Data Brief
Key Findings: The age-adjusted drug overdose death rate decreased between 2022 and 2024, with the largest decrease, 26.2%, occurring from 2023 to 2024, from 31.3 deaths per 100,000 standard population to 23.1. From 2023 to 2024, rates of drug overdose deaths declined for all age groups, with the largest decreases occurring for younger age groups. From 2023 to 2024, rates declined for each race and Hispanic-origin group, with the largest decreases occurring for Black non-Hispanic people. Between 2023 and 2024, the drug overdose death rate involving synthetic opioids other than methadone decreased by 35.6% (from 22.2 to 14.3). Between 2023 and 2024, the rates of drug overdose deaths involving psychostimulants with abuse potential and cocaine both declined.
Mortality in the United States, 2024
NCHS Data Brief
Key Findings: Life expectancy for the U.S. population was 79.0 years in 2024, an increase of 0.6 year from 2023. The age-adjusted death rate decreased 3.8% from 750.5 deaths per 100,000 U.S. standard population in 2023 to 722.1 in 2024. Age-specific death rates decreased from 2023 to 2024 for all age groups 1 year and older except for the 5–14 age group. Suicide replaced COVID-19 as the 10th leading cause of death, and heart disease, cancer, and unintentional injuries remained the top 3 leading causes in 2024. The infant mortality rate did not change significantly from 2023 (560.2 infant deaths per 100,000 live births) to 2024 (552.5).
(*See my brief comment on this report on X here.)
PODCASTS AND PRESENTATIONS
Thomas Sowell on School Choice and the Price Our Children Pay for Bad Ideas
Uncommon Knowledge
Episode description: Thomas Sowell delivers a sweeping critique of American education, affirmative action, and modern universities, drawing on his own life story—from Harlem classrooms to Ivy League institutions—decades of research, and hard data. Sowell argues that ideology has replaced knowledge and that well-intentioned policies often harm the very people they are meant to help. He explores intersecting issues of race, charter schools, universities, AI, and the future of American institutions.
DEI Reform at the Universities
National Association of Scholars
Episode description: The Trump administration may be rolling back the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) agenda at the NIH and other government research agencies, but reforms at the top are not enough. When the political winds change, as they inevitably will, the corrosive ideology of DEI remains entrenched at colleges and universities, ready to reassert itself. Now, the campaign shifts to the institutions, which need to implement wide-ranging reforms that will restore the universities to bastions of truth seeking and make the reforms stick.
Outcomes Matter More Than Intentions
Dr. Joe Unplugged
Episode description: Data from 2024 show, that on most measures, health in West Australia is getting worse. Will we see any changes in policy? Don’t hold your breath.
RUBBISH BIN
The Sun
Toolkit for a Sports Ecosystem with a Gender Perspective
UN Women and the International Olympic Committee
(*See my brief comment on this report on X here.)
A Home for Homeless DEI Strategies and Research
Inside Higher Ed
A group of current and former diversity professionals and researchers founded a journal to preserve perspectives they fear could be lost amid state and federal crackdowns on DEI work.
(*See my brief comment on this report on X here.)
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