Culture & Religion

Many signs of Chinese unrest, targeted mostly at local officials, go unreported by state media. An estimated 90,000 riots, protests and mass petitions occur each year, mainly in rural areas.

When children assign labels to objects, they depend less on language than adults do. The finding could help guide parents in communicating with and teaching their children more effectively.

In the spring of next year, MIT will begin offering some of its courses online, for free. Degrees will not be awarded but certificates will be given to students who successfully master the lessons.

SETI, or the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, could be used to look for evidence of alien technology on the surface of the moon. Sure, it’s a long shot. But what if we found something?

The social contract is clear: if you commit a violent crime, you go to prison. But what if you commit a violent crime because you have a brain tumor in a region of the brain that controls good judgment? 

For all that has been said in and about the Steve Jobs book, there’s plenty yet to say, for instance on whether the Apple founder’s accomplishments outshone his shortcomings.

Kim Jong Un is likely to consolidate his political power by sticking to his father’s “diversionary tactic”, namely using military force to divert public attention from domestic affairs.

As Christmas approached, the residents of Whoville got happier and happier. But did this positive emotion make the Grinch want to lash out? Neuroscience has some illuminating answers.

The emergence of neuroscience has shown researchers what happens to our brains when we daydream. Neither good nor bad in itself, daydreaming seems to be our default setting.

A year-long project by experts nationwide has led to a new definition of the term ‘recovery’ which is meant to help doctors, counselors and policymakers who oversee the field.

“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you. But the answer requires a little textual analysis. Where does Christmas come from, if not books?

Read Write Web’s top stories about how the social web has helped us answer questions in 2011 includes the discovery of prehistoric earth-art and a photo archive of all species.

Get in to the holiday spirit by listening to Robert Pinsky read Dante’s Paradiso.

Instead of asking how digital technologies are transforming advocacy, is it more appropriate to ask how contemporary advocacy is transforming digital technologies?

Facing the largest antigovernment protests in more than a decade, the Kremlin has, for now, softened its hard line against opponents. But is it simply digging in to wait them out?

Weeks after Occupy Wall Street organizers apologized for promoting a Radiohead concert that was never to be, Thom York and Massive Attack’s 3D gave a small concert in London.

Just like Hal 9000 in 2001, the next generation of the motion-sensing technology called Kinect may be able to read your lips as well as your emotions, determining if you’re angry with your video game.

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.

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?

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.

The rare woods used to make the world’s best guitars may be running short. Companies are experimenting with innovative ways to use their ever-dwindling supplies of prized timber.

We’ve had the industrial revolution, and now we’re amid the data revolution. ‘Big data’ is a tectonic shift that will continue to affect many things we do for decades to come.

The NATO air attack that killed at least two dozen Pakistani soldiers at the weekend will worsen the already deep American-Pakistani rift and could spark more tit-for-tat retaliation.

When the Pilgrims landed in New England in 1620, they faced disease, a food shortage, a harsh winter and unfamiliar landscapes. Besides befriending native tribes, technology saved the day.

Israel has established itself as a hi-tech hub thanks largely to some government jump-start funding, but compulsory military service and Jewish immigration have also been key.

If and when Iran builds nuclear weapons, the U. S. would have a small arsenal of deterrence measures to discourage Iran from using them. The good news is they are likely to succeed.

A new book reveals the uncomfortable, even ugly, compromises that aid organisations are forced to make with groups and regimes which abuse human rights, to continue their work.

There are a number of issues at stake in the way Americans choose to think of their heritage and celebrate their creation story on Thanksgiving. After all, creation stories serve as a guide for how we function as a society today.

It was a year ago that Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globe Awards and joked The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) accepts bribes. That joke certainly ruffled some feathers since a […]

The argument over pseudonyms–the “nym wars”–is at the heart of Salman Rushdie’s recent tussle with Facebook and how the Internet might be organized in the future.