More than eight out of every 10 prescriptions dispensed in the US is generic. This growth is due to a large number of top-selling drugs going off patent over the past decade, as well as innovations in…
The director of the Paris mosque, Dalil Boubakeur, in the front line
Stephane Mahe/Reuters
Muslims in France and the French host population are locked in a discriminatory equilibrium. This is the conclusion, summarized in our soon-to-be published book, of a six-year research program that investigates…
China’s President Xi, front and center, doesn’t mind sharing the stage.
Reuters
China begins 2015 as the world’s largest economy, in terms of purchasing power parity, a key milestone in the country’s rise. And one that likely will herald a change in how China engages with the rest…
Hurricane Sandy pummeled cities along the east coast in 2012, causing billions of dollars of damage.
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Climate change is as much an economic problem as an environmental one. The effects of climate change, such as damage from more severe weather or health problems from higher temperatures, will impose a…
In this year’s State of the Union Obama has new found confidence
Larry Downing/Reuters
There are many ways to look at the Obama approach to the 2015 State of the Union – the idea that the President’s strategy is ruining the culture and tradition of the State of the Union address is just…
A Western diet may be negatively affecting your brain not just your belly.
Jams
Do you eat only when you’re actually hungry? Many of us eat even when our bodies don’t need food. Just the thought of food entices us to eat. We think about food when we see other people eating, when we…
Racial disparities in tip size can’t be explained by discriminatory service.
Brian A Jackson/Shutterstock
Within the US restaurant industry, blacks are generally considered comparatively poor tippers. One recent survey of roughly 1,000 restaurant servers from across the nation found that 34% thought blacks…
Shareholders deserve a greater say in who sits in these seats.
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Common mythology holds that shareholders of public corporations choose who sits on the board of directors. Nothing could be further from the truth. Under the laws of most states, directors are automatically…
The public response to the murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner has been compared to the 1960s civil rights movement. There are many differences between what happened 50 odd years ago and today but…
Selma director and co-writer Ava DuVernay has crafted a new and important vision of an oft-examined era in our nation’s history.
Stanley Wolfson/Library of Congress
Hollywood films that depict American history deeply influence our sense of national identity. Films that portray Civil Rights and Black Freedom history are particularly important. Beyond entertaining moviegoers…
Fill it up with hydrogen.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
In an effort to jumpstart adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles, Toyota Motors earlier this month made more than 5,600 patents available to other carmakers. A few days later, General Motors introduced…
Currency wars have been predicted for years. Outright monetary battles were last seen during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when governments competed to devalue their currencies to gain market advantage…
The “engineer” of civil rights legal victories
law2.umkc.edu
The civil rights movement produced many different types of leaders. Thurgood Marshall, argued successfully before the Supreme Court that racial segregation laws violated the US Constitution. Diane Nash…
Harvard and Rutgers scientists propose a new, potentially more accurate way, to measure the rate of sea level rise.
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When you ask yourself what the biggest unanswered scientific questions are, “how did sea levels change over the past 100 years?” is unlikely to appear at the top of your list. After all, haven’t we already…
Is there more to the concussion crisis than what the science can tell us?
Wikimedia Commons
The sports media has a fascination with concussions. Not only is there a huge volume of stories about the issue, but there’s also an urgency to the tone of the reporting. The heightened coverage has served…
Hacking and making a profit isn’t as easy as it looks.
Reuters
In the wake of the latest high-profile hack of Sony and claims of “cyber-vandalism” being thrown about, it’s normal to feel a sense of unease. Just this week, yet another proposal for new cybersecurity…
To understand public heath, you have to understand how the public lives.
Commuters via STH/Shutterstock
Many of today’s public health issues – diabetes, cancer, obesity, cardiovascular disease – are strongly associated with social inequalities. Literature from across the world shows that gaps in income…
It’s what comes after the great scientific discoveries that Russia has traditionally missed out on.
Bin im Garten
Loren Graham, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Russia’s economy is highly dependent on the price of oil, as are a few other countries, such as Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Russia differs from those other countries, however, in having a very strong scientific…
First Lady visits charter school in Washington DC.
Yuri Gripas/Shutterstock
Depending on who you ask, charter schools may be either an important solution to persistent educational inequality, or a misguided attack on public schools as Americans know them. Both sides are firmly…
A carbon tax could help lighten the flow out of these stacks.
Shutterstock
For most of the world’s large economies, the sharp decline in oil and energy prices is great news. Cheaper energy will help boost economic growth and is especially welcome for lower- and middle-income…
Directors Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee don’t see eye-to-eye on much of anything.
With Spike Lee’s Da Sweet Blood of Jesus in the news for the film’s straight-to-Vimeo release, and Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight currently in production (see Samuel L. Jackson’s Camera+ page for…
Leaky blood vessels in the lung can lead to acute respiratory distress.
Chest X-ray via Guzel Studio/Shutterstock
When you get an infection, your immune system responds with an influx of inflammatory cells that target the underlying bacteria or viruses. These immune cells migrate from your blood into the infected…
Federal contractors are among the working poor
Gary Cameron/Reuters
Fifty years ago, Lyndon Johnson spoke of war on poverty and pursuit of a great society. He talked about investing in education and employment and about eliminating social exclusion that comes with poverty…
With controversial headline “This brazen Islam” a French magazine in 2012 claimed Muslims were infiltrating hospitals, cafeterias, swimming pools, schools
Commentators in France and elsewhere have taken the recent terrorist attacks in Paris as an occasion to reflect more broadly about Muslims in France. Many read the attacks as a sign of French Muslims…
The unfinished Crazy Horse memorial in Custer County, South Dakota.
Bernd00/Wikimedia Commons
More than a century after he died, the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse, who famously fought General Custer in the Battle of Little Bighorn, is thought of as transcendent force – attuned to the universe in a…