Faced with plummeting endowments and overextended commitments, public universities are moving toward privatization, writes Edward J. K. Gitre, who worries about the long-term consequences.
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Saffa Khan is on four college wait lists, and writes that these lists "prolong the holding pattern of teenage life." Instead, colleges should simply reject those without a reasonable chance of getting in.
Former CIA director James Woolsey says America can end its oil addiction (and its reliance on OPEC) by using more electricity, natural gas and biofuels for transportation.
Citing numerous clues, experts believe that a painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art that was long attributed to the circle of Francesco Granacci is really by Michelangelo.
John Dickerson writes that Sarah Palin has become more a celebrity than a politician. Like Al Gore, she is "a personality–influential, polarizing, and not likely to be president–who talks about political affairs."
Elif Batuman unearths seven unproduced screenplays written by famous intellectuals, including Nabokov's story of a sexually frustrated London circus dwarf, and Sartre's failed Freud epic.
It has been a bad ten years for the economy. It may in fact have been the worst decade since the 1930s. As I’ve written, the current recession is in […]
There may be plenty of fish in the sea, but we humans tend to get overwhelmed by too many possibilities—whether in choosing potential mates or choosing between brands of jam […]
Ever wonder what it’s like to lead a life of chastity? Jesuit priest and author James Martin explains. “I find people can be freer with me. When I become close […]
A rapidly forming stereotype about autistic people is that they can’t use stereotypes. In the words of this site about kids with Asperger’s Syndrome, for instance, “they are usually free […]
Massimo Vignelli was once traveling by train with the great Le Corbusier and his circle. It was the dead of summer, and as a young architecture and design “groupie” Vignelli […]
Years ago, back in 1994, when I returned to Atlanta to stay, I went to a reception for Judge Leah Ward Sears, who had been selected by Governor Zell Miller […]
The recent case of a Tennessee woman who sent her 7-year-old adopted Russian child back to Moscow is becoming a test for the international adoption vetting process, writes Daniel Wood.
"If the Rubik’s Cube is like life ... then a good life is like a good puzzle," writes Stefany Anne Golberg. "It can be solved within the order of solitude but is more rewarding in the chaotic company of others."
Author Paul Theroux says that e-books seem "magical" to him, but that something is lost when we give up the "physicality" of a book.
With several relatively youthful Republican members currently serving on the Supreme Court, Mark Greenbaum argues that the age of Obama’s nominee will be a critical factor.
Stress hormones may indirectly promote the spread of cancer in the body by hurting the immune system's anti-tumor mechanisms and encouraging new blood vessels to form.
Does assassinating top terrorists really make us safer? Robert Wright looks at research suggesting that "decapitation doesn’t lower the life expectancy of the decapitated groups."
Despite the fact that cilantro is happily consumed by millions of people around the world, it inspires "a primal revulsion among an outspoken minority of eaters" who say it tastes like soap.
"Hyenas ... have been terribly misunderstood," writes Constance Casey. "The creatures may not be beautiful, but they don't deserve contempt."
Scientists now believe that the trace metal contaminants around ancient sun-like stars are "remnants of rocky, potentially water-bearing bodies that crashed into their mother stars."
A new study suggests that birds, bats, and lizards may play an important part in preserving the Earth's climate by eating insects that forage on plant life.
It may butcher the English language at times, replacing simple words with a series of abbreviations, but for better or for worse the internet and mobile technology have reintroduced literary […]
A recent study on college students’ preferences for dating vs. hookups is, unaccountably, generating national media attention. The authors found that a bunch of 19-year-old college freshmen in the South […]
Seeking the hidden causes of behavior, some scientists work on the scale of brain regions and neurons, searching inside people’s heads. Others work on the scale of crowds, neighborhoods and […]
If looking for ancient bones to dig up sounds like hard work, that’s because it is. According to anthropologist Donald Johanson, even modern tools such as GPS don’t save scientists […]
News of Norman Mailer via his widow’s memoir makes us want to remember all the things he wrote—and said. Like this: “A novel, at its best, really is an imaginary […]
Poorly rendered female characters proliferate in crime novels because their authors are lazy, writes novelist Christopher Rice. He lists four clichés that come up again and again.
Michael Lind thinks that changing immigration policy shouldn't be considered as a way to address projected Social Security and Medicare budget deficits.
New protostars that will eventually be 10 times as large as the sun have been discovered in the massive Rosette molecular cloud, 5,000 light years away.