* Let’s start with the good news: “How bike-sharing conquered the world”

* “The Current Sex Panic Harks Back to the Era of Coddling Women.”

* “How social isolation is killing us.” But, also, “Debunking Myths About Estrangement.”

* “People Aren’t Having Babies Because The Rent Is Too Damn High.”

* “Ph.D.s Are Still Writing Poorly.” This is news? And: “‘The Great Shame of Our Profession:’ How the humanities survive on exploitation.” This is news? Still, universities treat adjuncts like they do because they can.

* “Lab-Grown Meat Is on the Way.” I tried Beyond Meat burgers and they were pretty good.

* “Drug and Alcohol Deaths at U.S. Workplaces Soar.” But the real issues get little airing amid culture-war grievances.

* “Bonfire of the academies: Two professors on how leftist intolerance is killing higher education.”

* “More Thoughts on Falling Fertility.” Contrary to what you read, overpopulation is not a problem in developed countries. If anything the opposite is likely to be a problem.

* Research quality in economics tends to decline after tenure. The theoretical case for tenure seems ever weaker. Also: “Academic success is either a crapshoot or a scam.” Article is much more intelligent than the title may immediately suggest.

* Why Christmas is really just a Roman holiday: Saturnalia.

* “What to do about cheerleaders,” originally from 2005 but an evergreen. I read it as comedy.

* Hinkley Point is still an important new nuclear power plant. This distressing sentence ought to be at the forefront of many minds: “If anyone can do it, it is the Chinese, who have established themselves as world leaders in the complex engineering challenges involved in building nuclear power plants. (There were 20 reactors under construction in China at the end of March 2017.)”

* “GeekDesk “Max” sit-stand desk review: Two years with a motorized desk.”