How can individuals and groups of people adapt to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds? The answer can be found in a number of new histories of the Second World War, which offer invaluable lessons for the 21st century.
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Last week when the Egyptians voted in an open election for the first time in decades, having won the right to this inspirational exercise of democracy by standing up […]
I was on train last Sunday night traveling through Brussels when my 12-year-old son looked out the window and excitedly proclaimed, “They have a red light district!” He was right; […]
As barbarians, says Lawrence Summers, economist and former President of Harvard.
Though it won by a seeming landslide, the results of Sunday’s Duma election in Russia reveal rising discontent among the Russian population. The results are really a disaster for Putin.
Calls are rising in the West for tougher actions against Iran. Here’s why Obama must strongly embrace a cold-war-style strategy of containment. Patient vigilance is called for.
Egypt’s euphoria over the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak in February later gave way to a creeping realization that the regime had not been toppled at all. What lies ahead?
After long wallowing in slow growth, there is cautious optimism that Africa now has a real chance to follow in the footsteps of Asia, thanks partly to the commodities boom.
“A second-class intellect but a first-class temperament” was Oliver Wendell Holmes’ assessment of Franklin Roosevelt, reflecting an old and widespread notion that the smartest and most ingenious person in the […]
During the REM stage of sleep, the brain’s stress chemicals shut down while the mind processes the day’s emotional experiences which we witness as dreams as we doze.
Apropos of my recent posts on whether Unitarian Universalism is welcoming to atheists, I just got the winter 2011 issue of UU World magazine. And guess who wrote the blurb […]
Scientists are beginning to understand more fully how exercise improves cognitive function. They believe a protein known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor is released when we work out.
Hallucinogens are increasingly being studied for legitimate therapeutic uses, such as dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, chronic pain, depression even terminal illness.
Between the ages of five and eight month, infants develop surprisingly complex moral attitudes, considering the context of an action when determining whether it is right or wrong.
–Guest post by Kristen Moses, American University graduate student. On July 20, 2011, the UN declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia due to the worst drought in […]
Studies show that more agreeable men and women are less likely to be put in management positions and earn less money than their bristly colleagues. Why are we biased against kindness?
Since March of this year, a series of extraordinary paper sculptures has appeared in various locations around Edinburgh, Scotland. Each location is a library or other institution devoted to the […]
Promiscuity in US high schools is at a twenty year low and teen birth rates have fallen by over one third from 1991 through to 2009. So why is it […]
by Tauriq Moosa When someone defies the odds, it’s common practice for him or her to attribute their ‘winning’ to what we might call tokens: a lucky jacket, a prayer, some […]
Ordinary people are taking control of their health data, making their DNA public and running their own experiments. Their big question: Why should science be limited to professionals?
A provision of the new health care law, which requires health insurance companies to spend 80% of the consumers’ premium dollars they collect on actual medical care, has entered into force.
A new Pew survey reveals that as the economy shows signs of a modest recovery, public belief in climate change may be on the rise. Understanding how climate change perceptions […]
By producing medically useful amounts of endoderm cells from human stem cells, Canadian scientists have overcome a major hurdle in developing treatments for diabetes and liver diseases.
California’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it is not a federal crime to sell your bone marrow. A lawyer in the case says your marrow could go for as much as three grand.
Some studies are finding that male circumcision decreases the odds that a heterosexual man will contract HIV by 57 percent or more. The operation is being performed more frequently.
Scientists in California have shown that a single injection of an HIV-neutralizing antibody into the muscle cells of live mice completely protected the animals against HIV transmission.
While inbreeding increases the risk of birth defects among close relatives, research demonstrates it is not the horror story we image. In some cases, it may produce healthier offspring.
By extracting stem cells from patients with diseases like diabetes, Down syndrome, Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia, scientists can examine how the disorders affect the body.
When the bodies of newborns lack iron, physical and mental development can be stifled. New research suggests that leaving the umbilical cord attached longer prevents iron deficiencies.
The typical American kindergarten now resembles a really bad first-grade classroom. Even preschool teachers are told to sacrifice opportunities for imaginative play in favor of drilling young children until they master a defined set of skills.