The US is once again on the precipice of default on its national debt – not because of a fundamental inability to generate and collect tax revenues (a la Greece), but because of political shenanigans over the country’s debt ceiling.

The...

President Obama has urged states to cut back on too much testing. In a Facebook video message October 24, the President urged states to devote no more than 2% of classroom time on testing. The pressures of testing, he said, were taking the “joy out of teaching and...

As Republicans prepare for Wednesday night’s presidential debate, Jeb Bush’s campaign is on life support.

Dismal poll numbers and dwindling fundraising have driven the Bush campaign to the verge of collapse. On Saturday Bush even hinted that he might drop out of the race, declarin...

Hurricane Patricia, which barreled across Mexico October 20-24, was the most intense hurricane ever formed in the western hemisphere, exceeding 200 miles per hour in sustained winds. This hurricane occurred...

Doctors know a lot about when to start medications to treat disease. But sometimes our focus on starting medicines means we can confuse providing more care with providing better care. And better care sometimes means fewer medicines, not more.

For instance, patients with high blood pressure who...

The influence of student poverty on student learning is indisputable. International studies demonstrate that in every country, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are much less likely to excel in school than their more fortunate peers.

The easy explanation has been...

In 2002, a conservative Christian pastor named Michael Dowd and his science writer wife, Connie Barlow, quit their jobs, sold their possessions, and purchased a van they decorated with symbols of a Jesus fish kissing a Darwin fish. Since that time, these...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that insufficient sleep is a serious public health concern, because it can lead to many immediate dangers such as car crashes as well as long-term health problems like diabetes. The blame for sleep deprivation is often pinned on our...

Africa’s prosperity increasingly depends on China. Given recent signs of a slowdown in the world’s largest economy, Africa’s short- and long-term outlooks seem precarious.

The latest sign arrived on October 23 when China cut two...

Playboy’s decision earlier this month to jettison the nude images in its print edition lays bare the magazine’s own naked truth: it was always really a lifestyle magazine, with nudes simply acting as window dressing.

If it seems counterintuitive for a...