A curated list of sources for intersectional thinking.
If your information diet looks different than it did a year ago, you’re in good company. To mark the Lab Report’s 400th issue, we asked readers to tell us how they stay informed. Our survey invited reflections on how media consumption habits have shifted and asked readers to nominate sources they return to most for information, fresh perspectives, and new ways of thinking about their life and work.
The list below draws on reader recommendations and submissions from our team to curate resources to support your own cross-disciplinary thinking. While some of these thought leaders and publications go deep on a specific topic, many more look across fields. This is just the kind of cross-disciplinary space where we love to work; many of our projects sit at the intersections between health and education or science and infrastructure, or any other combination of our focus areas. The best ideas often live at the edges and overlaps of established fields.
The 36 sources on this list don’t just span topics, but also draw on a mix of formats: rigorous research-backed newsletters, literary nonfiction, data journalism, and practitioner perspectives from engineers, clinicians, economists, and designers. Taken together, these thinkers reflect our belief — one apparently shared by our readers — that understanding the world requires moving across disciplines.
Curated sources
After School (Culture & ideas). A concise, very readable newsletter by Casey Lewis covering Gen Z culture, consumer trends, and internet habits.
Ahmed Zaidi (Infrastructure & culture). Zaidi, a supply chain expert, runs this Instagram account (@_ahmedzaidi) exploring how products, logistics, and manufacturing shape our world.
All Tech Is Human (AI & responsible tech). A nonprofit-backed Substack publication and community focused on responsible technology, AI governance, and building a more ethical tech ecosystem.
Burning Glass Institute (Education & workforce). A research organization producing data-driven analysis on workforce development, skills demand, and the future of work.
Catalyze (Science & innovation). A Substack by Sandeep Patel — former founding director of BARDA’s innovation ventures unit — exploring how science can be restructured to solve pressing problems through new forms of coordination, capital, and intelligence.
Card Catalog (AI & critical thinking). A Substack by librarian Hana Lee Goldin exploring AI fluency and information literacy through a librarian’s lens.
Charter (Management & organizations). A newsletter covering workplace trends, AI, and hybrid management, with news, analysis, and practical guidance for navigating the future of work.
Clay Parker Jones (Work & organizations). Essays and occasional newsletters by strategy and innovation consultant Clay Parker Jones on the future of organization design.
Connective Tissue (Urban life & community). A newsletter by Sam Pressler covering civic renewal, social connection policy, and community-building in America.
Construction Physics (Infrastructure & built environment). A newsletter by structural engineer Brian Potter examining the technology and economics of building construction, with a focus on improving productivity and reducing costs.
Don’t Worry About the Vase (AI & philosophy). A Substack by Zvi Mowshowitz spanning AI, policy, rationality, and other topics, known for detailed weekly AI updates and rigorous world-model building from a rationalist perspective.
Every (AI & technology). A subscription media company publishing daily essays, tools, and a podcast on technology, productivity, and AI, led by co-founder Dan Shipper.
Experimental History (Science & philosophy). A Substack by Adam Mastroianni dedicated to thinking hard about unusual ideas until they crack open — part social science critique, part intellectual adventure.
Feeling! Magazine (Design & creativity). A Substack digital magazine for big feelers covering design, home, color, and lifestyle, published by Jenna O’Brien.
Field Notes (Nature & urban life). A Substack by Christopher Brown taking a literary nonfiction approach to rewilding and infrastructure, observing what happens at the intersection of cities and nature.
Global Climate Dispatch (Climate & policy). A Substack newsletter offering weekly coverage of the real-world impacts of rising temperatures and climate change, drawing on data from sources like Climate Central.
Ground Truths (Health & medicine). A Substack newsletter and podcast by cardiologist and Scripps Research director Eric Topol making complex biomedical science accessible through data, facts, and analysis.
Import AI (AI & research). A weekly newsletter by Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark offering detailed analysis of cutting-edge artificial intelligence research.
It’s Nice That (Art & design). A digital publication championing creativity across art and design through online content, print, and events.
Joyful Belonging (Culture & religion). A weekly Substack newsletter by Casper ter Kuile on deepening relationships, making meaning, and cultivating spiritual lives through tradition, community, and culture.
The Keckley Report (Health & medicine). A weekly newsletter by veteran health industry analyst Paul Keckley covering healthcare policy and industry trends.
KFF Health News (Health & policy). An editorially independent national newsroom producing in-depth health journalism as a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Laura Olin (Culture & ideas). A link newsletter featuring art, ideas, and internet, curated by digital strategist Laura Olin.
Linkfest (Culture & internet). A biweekly newsletter by Clive Thompson collecting the best internet reading across culture, technology, art, and science — the “opposite of doomscrolling.”
Menna (Arts & community). A curated newsletter and event guide to New York City’s cultural and social scene rooted in the SWANA (South West Asia and North Africa) diaspora.
New_Public (Community & digital tools). This nonprofit R&D lab produces a Substack focused on the design and governance of digital public spaces and healthier online communities.
One Useful Thing (AI & technology). A research-based newsletter by Wharton professor Ethan Mollick translating academic AI research into practical guidance on how AI is reshaping work, education, and everyday life.
Robin Sloan (Technology & ideas). Robin’s newsletter offers book, media, and product recommendations alongside curiosity and provocation; Robin’s main newsletter is currently paired with a complementary pop-up newsletter on AI.
Rosie Spinks (Culture & connection). A Substack exploring how to live a meaningful life in a chaotic, unstable world, with popular writing on adult friendships and community-building.
Thinking Freely with Nita Farahany (AI & technology). A Substack by neuroethics scholar and Duke Law professor Nita Farahany, exploring the ethical and legal frontiers of neurotechnology, AI, and cognitive liberty.
Volts (Climate & policy). A weekly newsletter and podcast by veteran energy journalist David Roberts covering the technology, politics, and policy of decarbonization.
Shortlisted (Craftsmanship & travel). A Substack by food and travel writer Rebekah Peppler with city-by-city recommendations for eating, drinking, lodging, and experiences sourced from around the world.
Sentiers (Culture & ideas). A curated weekly newsletter by Patrick Tanguay that surfaces signals of change across technology, society, and culture to imagine better futures.
Statecraft (Government & innovation). A Substack and podcast examining how governments work, how policy gets made, and how public institutions can be improved.
Syed Faizan (Design & culture). This Instagram account (@telephonepyar) by design researcher Syed Faizan Raza Rizvi using tools, objects, and artifacts as a lens for telling cultural stories.
Tyler Thigpen (Education & school design). A voice on school redesign and learner-centered education models.
Works in Progress (Science & innovation). A Substack publication featuring long-form writing on progress, innovation, economics, and how to make the world better through ideas and institutions.