As some of you may know, I recently took a short trip to Yemen to see for myself how things on the ground had changed since Salih was forced to […]
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Modern American society is built on the twin concepts of “democracy” and “freedom.” But if we truly believe in democracy and freedom, then we have no alternative but to get rid of the archaic laws that force us to vote for only one candidate.
Art.sy, which launched on Monday, hopes to give users an easy entree into the world of fine art with the help of hefty financial backing, art historians, and many art institutions.
Many think Justice Anthony Kennedy will cast the decisive vote ending affirmative action as we know it.
Through a process called “codetermination,” large companies must elect half their board according to employee vote. A recent review of studies shows almost uniformly positive results.
Rome is the latest Italian city to pass laws forcing tourists to show more respect by banning the eating of food at its many historic sites.
Over 20 years ago, I got in my car and drove a short distance from Baltimore to Washington, DC to meet the person I was in love with at the […]
Upon hearing news of the vandalizing of Mark Rothko’s 1958 painting Black on Maroon (shown above), a part of me cried out in pain. Few artists cut to the core […]
In a national first, Karachi-based Dow University of Health Sciences students will be trained on reproductive health education starting next academic year.
Now that the military dictatorship is dissolving, “five decades’ worth of bottled-up opinions” are coming out from many, many different directions.
Friday’s sentencing of five people found guilty of the “honor killing” of a mixed-caste couple is the latest in a series of decisions that have generated debate.
Part 1. Monkeys There’s an apocryphal story about monkeys – based loosely on a real experiment – that goes something like this: Stage 1. Monkeys 1, 2, 3, 4, and […]
Picasso’s infatuation with the artistic past comes across in his 1957 The Maids of Honor, in which the artist takes Velazquez’s tour de force Las Meninas and reimagines it through his modern perspective.
My first book hasn’t been out for long, but I’m thinking it’s almost time to start writing the next one. I came back from my trip to the U.K. with […]
[Editor’s Note: These mysterious messages seemingly always come in pairs, so after receiving the last one, I was expecting a counterpoint to arrive in my inbox soon. I wasn’t disappointed, […]
Writer Victoria Bassetti discusses how a 2008 study measuring testosterone levels in voters may provide a means towards making the process simpler and easier.
Sure he is, according to Walter Russell Mead. Mead’s Meadea, of course, is one of the most savvy and erudite blogs around. One reason, it appears, that Mead is voting […]
Researchers have discovered the brain mechanism that prevents people from developing overwhelming fear.
A new study from the Emory-Tibet Partnership showed that a form of compassion-based meditation helped increased test subjects’ ability to interpret others’ facial expressions.
Last spring, I wrote about the Secular Coalition for America’s new executive director, Edwina Rogers, a Republican lobbyist whose selection raised more than a few eyebrows. While I had (and […]
Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis are using crowdsourcing to gather data on people’s ability to learn names and faces.
Some links gathered over the week for you to peruse: • Ed Miliband, the leader of the UK’s opposition Labour party, is a nonbeliever. He says he doesn’t hold religious […]
New research at USC shows that the brain processes the movements of others differently depending on the viewer’s feelings about the person they’re watching.
Over the past decade, there have been several studies suggesting potential gene variants that may be linked to IQ.
UK researchers want to see if polyphenols, the compounds that allegedly give foods such as broccoli and blueberries body-healing properties, actually make it past the gut lining.
At this week’s Body Computing Conference, one team of researchers is unveiling a car with special sensors that monitor its driver’s health and habits.
A new trial of a Web-based system could represent the first step in a more collaborative doctor-patient relationship.
ICU doctors at a Kansas City hospital received results of a baby’s complete genome within just over two days, a new record.
A recently-published review of studies done on exercise interventions for young people shows that by themselves they don’t significantly increase children’s overall daily physical activity.
My latest article for Salon has just been published, “Atheism’s growing pains“. It’s a brief survey and distillation of the Atheism Plus movement: what it is, why it was needed, […]