'The next German government enters a new, uncertain phase of history'

'Germany drifts right — but not that far right — in election'

Sudha David-Wilp at Newsweek

"Despite the strong result of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party," Germany's "memory culture of the Holocaust serves as a basis for its democracy and as a push it needs to get serious on defense spending," says Sudha David-Wilp. The "AfD was able to capitalize on Germany's blind spots," and has "found a home in a Germany that thought itself inoculated against fascism." But conservatives "won't stand for moving past the history of the Holocaust nor normalizing the AfD."

Read more

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

'Here's what a measles outbreak looks like'

Leana S. Wen at The Washington Post

Most "Americans today have never experienced a measles outbreak," but "measles is notoriously difficult to control," says Leana S. Wen. The "virus can also have devastating consequences, particularly in young children." That "parents have to discover this the hard way when they have access to a safe and effective vaccine is a public health tragedy." These "horrific consequences have been relegated to the history books because of the measles" vaccine, but "these hard-won gains have been slowly eroding."

Read more

'I'm a therapist, and I'm replaceable. But so are you.'

Maytal Eyal at Time

Therapy is a "field ripe for disruption," says Maytal Eyal. Bad therapists are, "unfortunately, a common phenomenon." If "you do manage to find a good therapist, they often don't take insurance and almost always charge a sizable fee." With the "help of AI, any person could access a highly skilled therapist, tailored to their unique needs, at any time." But "AI therapists, when normalized, have the potential to reshape how we understand intimacy, vulnerability, and what it means to connect."

Read more

'America needs a sovereign wealth fund'

Steve Bowsher and Sarah Sewall at Foreign Affairs

Trump's sovereign wealth fund order has been "overlooked amid the flurry of other executive actions, but it nonetheless presents an unprecedented opportunity for American technological innovation," say Steve Bowsher and Sarah Sewall. American "innovation often proceeds too slowly for a country seeking to lead the next technological revolution," but the "right kind of American SWF could efficiently address this problem." It "would catalyze additional private investment toward areas of critical innovation and the supply chains that secure them."

Read more