The Present

Inequality and racism are connected, but maybe not as much as you think.

Finland’s recent decline in international test scores has led many to question whether its education system is truly the best.

It’s hard to see big changes coming, but if you know your own blindspots, you can do it.

Half of Americans do not trust the federal government or social media sites to protect their data.

Our culture has its own mistaken assumption: that the individual is an autonomous human intellect independent from the social environment.

Few realize that the US was once “ruled” by a beloved monarch from San Francisco.

Asia is experiencing a boom in terms of education and business.

What does your phone know about you?

The story of that one time a U.S. city was run by a Soviet, and what it was like to live in it.

Companies refer to like-minded strangers when recommending products to you.

A new study of thousands links right-wing authoritarian attitudes and feeling one’s life is more meaningful.

The technology is poised to change how many companies operate.

A new study outlines why the tobacco and coal industries warrant “corporate death sentences.”

Here’s how “human work” will supplant the traditional idea of jobs.

Numerous critics have called for the ban of the infamous instruction manual for violent civil disobedience.

For the Japanese in World War II, surrender was unthinkable. So unthinkable that many soldiers continued to fight even after the island nation eventually did surrender.

Advances in satellite imagery are shining a light.

Who were the most divisive Americans?

Why are soda and ice cream each linked to violence? This article delivers the final word on what people mean by “correlation does not imply causation.”

A new book on the music distribution service claims it is.

That’s one way to reduce the national debt.

Why do people buy into stories that are clearly lies? Hannah Arendt can help us understand.

Evolutionarily speaking, being gay is still something of an enigma

Seemingly small moments of discrimination often pass unnoticed.

Through calculated use of gossip, women, non-citizens, or slaves wielded a potent weapon against those who wronged them.

The world’s next superpower might just resurrect the Middle Ages.

Finland and the U.S. have chosen opposing answers to the question of how much standardized testing is too much.

Former NYTimes executive editor Jill Abramson dissects the big problem with internet news.

…and hopes for big benefits.

Throughout history, anarchists have been responsible for bombings and assassinations, including some very recent ones.