Pfizer and Allergan to Merge in $155 Billion Inversion Deal
Merger creates a drug giant.
—Antonio Regalado, Senior Editor, Biomedicine

The Climate Change Pledges Are In. Will They Fix Anything?
The clearest explanation that I’ve seen so far on the likely impact of the emissions reductions agreed to by countries at next week’s meeting on climate change in Paris.
—David Rotman, Editor

The Pfizer-Allergan Merger Is a Disgrace
Pfizer has benefited enormously from taxpayer-funded research via the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. That wasn’t enough to convince management to remain a U.S.-domiciled taxpayer itself, however, writes John Cassidy of the New Yorker.
—Nanette Byrnes, Senior Editor, Business Reports

It’s Time to Give Up on the Ideal of Perfect Privacy Online
We should let go of the idea of defending privacy against digital technology and instead focus on establishing the right to obscurity, which is more achievable, argue a professor of law and a professor of philosophy.
—Tom Simonite, San Francisco Bureau Chief

Why Brazil’s New Pledges on Carbon Emissions Fall Short
On the eve of the Paris climate talks, a Brazilian political scientist discusses the crucial role her country will play.
—Brian Bergstein, Executive Editor

Digitizing the Dead
“The Mormon mission to save souls—and Saskatchewan’s public archives”
—Will Knight, Senior Editor, AI

Losing Religion through Twitter
A “prized daughter of the Westboro Baptist Church” broadcasts her questions about faith via social media.
—Will Knight

Quiz: The Pieces Everything Is Made Of
Let’s simplify this place—a quiz based on the thousand most common words used in English.
—J. Juniper Friedman, Associate Web Producer