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[Report] Where’s The Beef?

The lab-grown-meat revolution that wasn’t

by Erin Somers,

Current Issue September 2026

[Letter from Italy] Regarding the Pain of Uggos

A weekend at the Ugly People Festival

by Barrett Swanson,

[Revision] The Chaos Machine

Prediction markets and the triumph of crypto-anarchy

by Finn Brunton,

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated number of excess deaths in India caused by a single day of extreme heat : 3,400

[Harper’s Index]

Caused by five consecutive days of extreme heat : 30,000

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of heat-related deaths in Europe since 2022 : 200,000

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated increase, in terawatt-hours, in annual worldwide electricity demand by 2030 for air-conditioning : 640

[Harper’s Index]

For data centers : 529

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of Americans who say they would oppose the construction of a nuclear power plant in their area : 1/2

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of short stories written by ChatGPT whose plots are driven by gossip and rumor : 64

[Harper’s Index]

Of those written by humans : 44

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of U.S. court cases in which filed documents were found by a judge to contain AI-hallucinated content : 1,180

[Harper’s Index]

Chance that a biomedical research paper contained at least one citation for a nonexistent source in 2023 : 1 in 2,828

[Harper’s Index]

Last year : 458

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage change in the frequency of em dashes in ecology journals between 2021 and 2025 : +202

[Harper’s Index]

In the frequency of semicolons : –58

[Harper’s Index]

Average score on the take-home midterm exam in Brown University’s course Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory : 96

[Harper’s Index]

On the course’s in-person final exam : 49

[Harper’s Index]

Average number of seconds allotted per question on the SAT in 1926, the year of the test’s introduction : 18

[Harper’s Index]

Today : 82

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated number of NIH grants canceled as a result of federal efforts to combat anti-Semitism : 668

[Harper’s Index]

Portion of the affected researchers who were Jewish : 1/5

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which black researchers were overrepresented in politically targeted NIH grant terminations : 3

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of times Donald Trump has referred to individuals as “low-IQ” in public statements since 2016 : 139

[Harper’s Index]

Percentage of those statements that were directed toward black people : 66

[Harper’s Index]

Number of refugees admitted to the United States between October 2025 and July 2026 : 7,730

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated percentage of these refugees who were white South Africans : 95

[Harper’s Index]

Number of individuals who died in ICE custody during the Biden Administration : 26

[Harper’s Index]

During the first Trump Administration : 50

[Harper’s Index]

During the first eighteen months of the second Trump Administration : 54

[Harper’s Index]

Factor by which the number of lawsuits pertaining to unlawful ICE detentions has increased over the past year : 48

[Harper’s Index]

Minimum number of total years in prison to which individuals protesting ICE facilities have been sentenced : 450

[Harper’s Index]

To which individuals convicted for involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring have been sentenced : 20

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated number of the world’s millionaires who relocated to a new country in 2015 : 64,000

[Harper’s Index]

Who did so last year : 142,000

[Harper’s Index]

Rank in 2025 of the United Arab Emirates as a relocation destination for millionaires : 1

[Harper’s Index]

Of the United States : 2

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated number of millionaires created in the United States last year : 441,078

[Harper’s Index]

Estimated portion of the world’s new millionaires that this figure represents : 1/2

Weekly Review

September 1, 2026

An Italian man was ordered to tear down a fake ancient Greek theater he had built and charged tourists to visit; a federal judge placed a temporary hold on a rule proposed by Trump, who voted by mail in Florida’s primary, to restrict mail voting; and Air France denied reports that a sauna in its Charles de Gaulle business-class lounge had been used by passengers as a “sex den.” Read More

General Interest

Harper’s Art Desk

View All

Strangeways, a painting by Robert McNally, whose work is on view through September 19 as part of the group show Tired Horses at Kristin Hjellegjerde, in Berlin © The artist. Courtesy Kristin Hjellegjerde

Piñonesque, a mixed-media artwork (ink and watercolor) by Camila Buxeda, whose work is on view through August 29, as part of the exhibition Cosecha, at Charlie James, in Los Angeles © The artist. Courtesy Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles

Untitled (No. 7), an illustration by Yuichiro Ukai, whose work is on view through August 15 at Parker Gallery, in New York City © The artist. Courtesy Parker Gallery, New York City

Photographs from the expanded second edition of Mark Steinmetz’s monograph Summertime, which was published in February by Nazraeli Press. All photographs © the artist and courtesy Nazraeli Press

“Self Portrait and the Family Tree,” a photograph by Luis Manuel Diaz, whose work is on view through September 6 as part of the Center for Photography at Woodstock (CPW) Upstate Photography Biennial, in Kingston, New York. CPW will host a photobook and zine fair on August 8 and 9 © The artist. Courtesy CPW, Kingston

Estimated number of excess deaths in India caused by a single day of extreme heat : 3,400

Caused by five consecutive days of extreme heat : 30,000

Minimum number of heat-related deaths in Europe since 2022 : 200,000

Estimated increase, in terawatt-hours, in annual worldwide electricity demand by 2030 for air-conditioning : 640

For data centers : 529

Portion of Americans who say they would oppose the construction of a nuclear power plant in their area : 1/2

Who say they would oppose the construction of a data center : 7/10

Ratio of ChatGPT users who are men to users who are women : 1:1

Of Grok users who are men to users who are women : 3:1

Percentage of short stories written by ChatGPT whose plots are driven by gossip and rumor : 64

Of those written by humans : 44

Minimum number of U.S. court cases in which filed documents were found by a judge to contain AI-hallucinated content : 1,180

Chance that a biomedical research paper contained at least one citation for a nonexistent source in 2023 : 1 in 2,828

Last year : 458

Percentage change in the frequency of em dashes in ecology journals between 2021 and 2025 : +202

In the frequency of semicolons : –58

Average score on the take-home midterm exam in Brown University’s course Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory : 96

On the course’s in-person final exam : 49

Average number of seconds allotted per question on the SAT in 1926, the year of the test’s introduction : 18

Today : 82

Estimated number of NIH grants canceled as a result of federal efforts to combat anti-Semitism : 668

Portion of the affected researchers who were Jewish : 1/5

Factor by which black researchers were overrepresented in politically targeted NIH grant terminations : 3

Minimum number of times Donald Trump has referred to individuals as “low-IQ” in public statements since 2016 : 139

Percentage of those statements that were directed toward black people : 66

Number of refugees admitted to the United States between October 2025 and July 2026 : 7,730

Estimated percentage of these refugees who were white South Africans : 95

Number of individuals who died in ICE custody during the Biden Administration : 26

During the first Trump Administration : 50

During the first eighteen months of the second Trump Administration : 54

Factor by which the number of lawsuits pertaining to unlawful ICE detentions has increased over the past year : 48

Minimum number of total years in prison to which individuals protesting ICE facilities have been sentenced : 450

To which individuals convicted for involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring have been sentenced : 20

Estimated number of the world’s millionaires who relocated to a new country in 2015 : 64,000

Who did so last year : 142,000

Rank in 2025 of the United Arab Emirates as a relocation destination for millionaires : 1

Of the United States : 2

Estimated number of millionaires created in the United States last year : 441,078

Estimated portion of the world’s new millionaires that this figure represents : 1/2

September 1, 2026

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Borrowed Wounds

Silkworms

Five Stories

Past Issues

Harper’s Finest

From the Archive

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Microplastics were found in sixty-two of sixty-two human placentas from a biobank in Texas.

Toxicity has remained a consistent feature of online interactions since 1989.

Humans are losing their ability to digest cellulose.

A metal scar on the surface of the white dwarf WD 0816-310 indicated that it has cannibalized other bodies in its orbit.

An orca acting alone killed a great white shark and ate its liver.

Genomic analysis indicated that psychedelic mushrooms emerged around the time of the Mesozoic–Cenozoic mass extinction.

The playing speed of a metal guitarist directly correlates with his intrasexual competitiveness but not his mating success.

Depression in humans is correlated with higher body temperature, and cold-water swimming mitigates menopause symptoms.

Researchers warned that, as temperatures rise, humans should prepare for more diarrhea.

Off the Five Finger Islands, a team of cetologists aboard the Glacier Seal conducted an extended conversation with a female humpback named Twain.

Astrophysicists argued that the development of advanced alien technology requires an atmosphere composed of at least 18 percent oxygen.

Onshore wind turbines severely deter German bats from foraging.

An AI that was fed the employment and health data of six million Danes turned out to be more accurate than existing sociological methods at predicting if a given person was about to die.

A mother is 4.6 percent more likely to give birth in the same month she was born, and adjacent siblings are 12.1 percent more likely to be born in the same month as one another.

Electric eel discharge transforms the DNA of zebrafish larvae.

True crabs independently evolved to live out of the ocean up to seventeen times.

The average American girl born in 2019 will take prescription drugs for more than half her life.

Scientists were not certain whether the globally synchronized waves observed in the brains of wakeful rats on ketamine or LSD were a cause or a symptom of hallucinations.

Geoscientists were confident that, given access to the oldest barnacles on the flaperon of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, they could help pinpoint its crash site.

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