Tom Chivers

Tom Chivers

Tom Chivers is UnHerd's Science Editor. His first book, The Rationalist's Guide to the Galaxy, is out now.

Tom Chivers is UnHerd's Science Editor. His first book, The Rationalist's Guide to the Galaxy, is out now.

No, social media is not as bad as heroin

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Don’t worry about your sperm count

BY Tom Chivers / 9 mins

A second helping of Eat Out to Help Out? Don’t make me sick!

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Should we vaccinate children?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Let’s face it: Test, Trace and Isolate was an expensive failure

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

When did we give up on persuasion?

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Are we seeing a vaccine effect already?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

How worrying is the South Africa variant?

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Should we be vaccinating young people first?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Can the vaccine keep up with the Covid variants?

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Kate Bingham saved vaccines when Europe couldn’t

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Is a vaccine trade war brewing?

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Latest infections data may be less gloomy than the headlines

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

What Covid tests can we trust?

BY Tom Chivers / 11 mins

What explains the Germany Covid surge?

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Will schools be open by summer?

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Amid Covid crisis we can’t wait for perfect data

BY Tom Chivers / 9 mins

Boris Johnson fails the marshmallow test

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

What’s the real cost of sending kids back to school?

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

The nerds who saw the dangers of Covid

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Did anyone predict coronavirus?

BY Tom Chivers / 9 mins

How dangerous is the Covid mutation?

BY Tom Chivers / 11 mins

Unconscious Bias Training is an empty PR drill

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

The perils of liberals politicising science

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Your Christmas gifts are worth less than you think

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

How the mob can silence you

BY Tom Chivers / 8 mins

Healthcare workers will be the first piece of the vaccine jigsaw

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

DeepMind’s superhuman intelligence

BY Tom Chivers / 8 mins

I am utterly confused about the Oxford vaccine

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Why the Oxford vaccine is different

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Why we should be confident in the Oxford vaccine

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Should Big Pharma profit from Covid?

BY Tom Chivers / 10 mins

Are we overly worried about anti-vaxxers?

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Yes, the vaccine is really on its way

BY Tom Chivers / 10 mins

What’s your vote really worth?

BY Tom Chivers / 10 mins

The real reason flu cases are falling

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

It pays to believe obviously untrue things

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Maybe the US travel ban wasn’t stupid

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Will a vaccine stop Covid?

BY Tom Chivers / 10 mins

Will this new ‘lockdown’ make any difference?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

The German coronavirus mystery

BY Tom Chivers / 8 mins

Did the Government waste £161m in Moonshot money?

BY Tom Chivers / 10 mins

Why does Trump get to choose if Regeneron works?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Vitamin D is no silver bullet

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Has Covid become less dangerous?

BY Tom Chivers / 8 mins

How risky are the human challenge trials?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Is this the second wave?

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

If your child has the sniffles, is it Covid or a cold?

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Why everyone is stupid except me

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

The paranoid style in vaccine science

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Why a little knowledge is a dangerous thing

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Let’s all meet up in the year 3000

BY Tom Chivers / 9 mins

A lesson in statistics… for the FDA

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Why is middle age so depressing?

BY Tom Chivers / 8 mins

Jeremy Farrar is right: axing Public Health England is foolish

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

What worms can teach us about the AI apocalypse

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Will there be a second wave of coronavirus?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Why your negative antibody test might be wrong

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

From Covid to crime: how media hype distorts risk

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Covid could become the new common cold

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Forget Mars, why aren’t we going to Titan?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Is there really a Covid mental health crisis?

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Finally! A way to analyse NHS data from 17 million people

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Can you really teach kids not to be racist?

BY Tom Chivers / 8 mins

I’m on the Oxford vaccine trial — here’s what it’s like

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

The nerd’s guide to football

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Slate Star Codex must remain anonymous

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

We all need a Devil to play Advocate

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Doctors’ orders: Re-open the schools!

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

What’s the point of contact tracing?

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Why is the Government U-turning on masks?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Will the BLM protests cause a Covid spike?

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Did Dominic Cummings cause a lockdown breakdown?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Will there be a second Covid wave?

BY Tom Chivers / 8 mins

Another day, another misleading Corona study!

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Do any Covid-19 ‘cures’ actually work?

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

How much difference would an earlier shutdown have made?

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Is it safe to reopen schools?

BY Tom Chivers / 8 mins

Does remdesivir treat Covid-19?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

We should be very wary of the R value

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

I told you so! 100,000 tests was a foolish target

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Is the lockdown doing more harm than good?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Stop obsessing over the 100,000 test target

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

When will we get the Covid-19 vaccine?

BY Tom Chivers / 9 mins

Beware of Covid confimation bias

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Did anyone predict coronavirus?

BY Tom Chivers / 9 mins

Why did the New York Times bury its own Covid story?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Don’t put too much faith in Covid-19 metrics

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Beware unchecked scientific theories about Covid

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

How far away are ‘immunity passports’?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

A glimpse inside a virus-testing laboratory

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

How likely are you to die of coronavirus?

BY Tom Chivers / 12 mins

Half the country infected? I doubt it

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Would you take a coronavirus risk?

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

How does the UK compare to the rest of the world on handling Covid-19?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Self-isolation is feeding my Warhammer addiction

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Can we build a herd immunity to Covid-19?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Memo to Donald Trump: travel bans don’t work

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Coronavirus is the wake-up call we need

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

What are the odds a sneeze will give you coronavirus?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

In praise of uncynical children’s books

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Stop looking for coronavirus ‘super-spreaders’

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Does the BBC know astrology isn’t real?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Are economists really this stupid?

BY Tom Chivers / 9 mins

Time for big tech to share data about themselves

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

‘Eugenics is possible’ is not the same as ‘eugenics is good’

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Got to hand it to him, Boris is good on cycling

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

How daughters turn fathers into feminists

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Geek tip: if it doesn’t say “Registered Report,” don’t trust it

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Are mental health apps totally useless?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Social media broadens our opinions? Sorry, don’t believe it

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

It’s time for the doom-mongers to clock off

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

China’s coronavirus will not be the next Black Death

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Why the drugs don’t work

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

How racist are you?

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Could the Cummings nerd army fix broken Britain?

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Can patriotism be progressive?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

So did ‘idiot voters’ get it wrong?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Is the ‘epidemic of loneliness’ fake news?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

The dangers of festive over-indulgence

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Does Dominic Cummings get survivorship bias?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Why Corbynistas can never admit they’re wrong

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

No, the rain probably won’t affect voter turnout

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

Of course biological sex exists

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Why it’s so easy to invent conspiracy theories

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Do manifestos make a difference?

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

Labour’s billionaire bashing will backfire

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Let loose the lynx!

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Turning off the lights won’t save the planet

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Why won’t Jordan Peterson heed his own advice?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Do Leave voters really think ‘violence is a price worth paying’?

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Should we worry about footballers heading the ball?

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

Is Boris Johnson trying to rig the election?

BY Tom Chivers / 7 mins

Will Brexit leave us dining on rat poo?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Should we trust AI to hire and fire?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

My technology lesson for Boris

BY Tom Chivers / 2 mins

Why climate change isn’t the end of the world

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Statistically, you shouldn’t believe the news

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Stop hating on vaping

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

Don’t blame Boris for hate crime

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Dominic Cummings is no chicken

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Was it The Sun wot won Brexit?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Are ‘gateway’ drugs a fiction?

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

The myth of the ‘growth mindset’

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

Who are you calling a snowflake?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Who’s afraid of the feminists?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Do humans have a future?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

How unstable are our politicians?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Our toxic pollution paranoia

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

What’s wellbeing worth?

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

No, you can’t pray the gay away

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Do men want sex more than women?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Government’s dirty secret

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

Is the ‘epidemic of loneliness’ fake news?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Will the machines take control?

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

Why do the Greens make so many see red?

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

Just how harmful is porn?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

The latest front in the gender wars

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Stop trying to explain mass shootings

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

How we made a monster

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Do police numbers really affect knife crime?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Is cancer screening doing more harm than good?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Are you truly unfakeable?

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

Do we really have a ‘suicidal generation’?

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

Is this the end of personal responsibility?

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

How politics makes us irrational

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

The risks of scaremongering

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

What’s the point of arguing with an idiot?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Why you should read more history

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

How racist is Britain?

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

How bigoted is Brexit?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Has a Chinese chancer won the gene-editing race?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Could you predict Brexit?

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Why we should fear technophobia

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

Don’t fight dirty with statistics

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Are you in control of your politics?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

How much does your opinion count?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Should we edit genes to boost IQ?

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

Don’t be so quick to laugh at the ‘grievance study’ hoax

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Can we really call Jeremy Corbyn an antisemite?

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

What can Occam’s razor tell us about God?

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

What’s the point of arguing with an idiot?

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

So you think you’re open-minded…

BY Tom Chivers / 6 mins

What an octopus can teach us about being human

BY Tom Chivers / 3 mins

How Disney shows an AI apocalypse is possible

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins

Why you can’t rely on the news media to understand… science

BY Tom Chivers / 4 mins

Why flawed science should concern us all

BY Tom Chivers / 5 mins