In 1946, French fashion designer Jacques Heim released a woman’s swimsuit he called the “Atome” (French for “atom”) – a name selected to suggest its design would be as shocking to people that summer as the atomic bombings of Japan had been the summer before.

In 1901, one of the most famous metaphysical experiments of the 20th century was performed by a Massachusetts physician. His name was Duncan MacDougall, and he believed that, if the soul were real, it should have measurable weight. He...

Even in its relative infancy, 3D printing has created an enormous list of possibilities: dental aligners to straighten your teeth, unique toys for your children, inexpensive custom prosthetics for people with limb deficiencies, and restoring lost...

Outsiders are once again attempting to alleviate political conflict in Venezuela.

A decade and a half after a failed coup against Venezuela’s iconic leader Hugo Chávez, his successor, Nicolás Maduro, is similarly embattled. He faces an emboldened opposition and widespread frustration, as the state of the nation deteriorates.

The...

The State College of Florida recently scrapped tenure for incoming faculty. New professors at this public university will be hired on the basis of annual contracts that the school can decline to renew at any time.

The decision has been highly controversial. But this is not the first time tenure has...

Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – the Islamic Republic’s ultimate authority – reluctantly blessed the nuclear agreement between Iran and the West that was signed in June 2015 and went into effect in January. Since then, he has gone out of his way to emphasize that his endorsement didn’t mean he wanted to normalize...

Mass incarceration damages individuals and communities in ways that scholars are just starting to explore.

New research that we’ve published with our colleague Mary Laske Bell shows that African American men who are former inmates are irrevocably harmed by time they spent behind bars.

This finding is troubling because incarceration has...

Federal rules mandating network neutrality – the concept that all internet traffic should be treated equally – were upheld recently by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The decision was hailed as a win by civil-rights groups, entrepreneurs...

Back in 1991, the eminent political scientist Samuel Huntington pointed out that democratic transitions around the world often come in waves.

He pointed to a “third wave” of democratization that began in the 1970s with...

The estimated annual health care costs related to obesity are over $210 billion, or nearly 21 percent of annual medical spending in the United States. Americans spend $60 billion on weight loss products each year, trying everything from expensive meal replacement products to...