I discovered recently that my calculus students do not know the meaning of the word “quorum.” Since a course in American government is a high school graduation requirement in most states (including here in Florida), I was taken aback.

How...

After Super Tuesday, print and broadcast media have woken up to the very real possibility of President Donald J. Trump.

But they can’t seem to understand that their own decline is a major reason for his success. Win or lose, Trump has changed the face of media and politics alike. It’s a simple formula: new media + reality TV = new media...

Since William Smith’s publication of the first geologic map of England in 1815, geologists have used maps to show the distribution and character of rocks at the Earth’s surface, and display their interpretations of the underlying geology. These maps help guide exploration for...

With the release of the fourth season of “House of Cards,” all 13 episodes are available for Netflix subscribers. Some fans might space each episode out over the course of the ensuing weeks. But many will binge-watch –...

Mattel recently announced that their half-century-old centerfold would be getting a brand new look. The new Barbie will come in three different body shapes (tall, curvy and petite) and a variety of skin tones, eye colors and hairstyles.

Barbie’s new look is likely the result of...

The protests over race and diversity that shook campuses across the U.S. in 2015 continue to reverberate.

In January the president of Ithaca College resigned. In February Princeton University began public discussions of the controversial legacy of its former president and U.S. President...

The populations of most countries of the world are aging, prompting a deluge of news stories about slower economic growth, reduced labor force participation, looming pension crises, exploding health care costs and the reduced productivity and cognitive functioning of the elderly.

These stories are dire, in part because the most widely used measure...

In one of the earliest signs of how a divided Supreme Court will deal with environmental cases in the post-Scalia era, the court on February 29 handed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a victory over farming...

We are in the middle of a long-term global transition away from fossil fuels and toward more efficient, renewable-based energy systems. This shift will deliver many benefits, including jobs, reduced air...

There have been dramatic changes in the U.S. energy system under our current president – a big drop in the use of coal, a boom in domestic oil and gas development from fracking, and the rapid spread of renewable...