More than half of jobs are found with the help of a social tie, whether a friend, relative or distant acquaintance. For example, a friend may tell you about a job opening at her firm or a parent may offer you an internship at his company.

For the eight million people in the U.S. who were...

With the world’s population expected to exceed nine billion by 2050, scientists are working to develop new ways to meet rising global demand for food, energy and water without increasing the strain on natural resources....

Two years ago, I was in the United Kingdom working on a follow-up project for my books “Black London” and “Black Victorians/Black Victoriana.” While looking through old British newspapers, I was astonished to read...

President Barack Obama’s visit to Japan and Vietnam this week will be historic.

It provides him the occasion to resolve some lingering issues from two past American conflicts in Asia. The visit will also reassure America’s allies and strategic partners in the area about the country’s commitment to Asia, particularly in light of...

Despite massive government, medical and individual efforts to win the war on obesity, 71 percent of Americans are overweight. The average adult is 24 pounds heavier today than in 1960. Our growing girth adds some US$200 billion per year to our health care expenditure,...

Did you hear about the secret meeting earlier this month at Harvard Medical School? The one where scientists schemed to create a parentless human being from scratch? Maybe you read one of the skeptical newsarticles, or the...

Have you ever been listening to a great piece of music and felt a chill run up your spine? Or goosebumps tickle your arms and shoulders?

The experience is called frisson...

As it seeks to modernize its nuclear arsenal, the United States faces a big choice, one which Barack Obama should ponder before his upcoming Hiroshima speech.

Should we spend a trillion dollars to replace each of our thousands of nuclear warheads with a more sophisticated substitute attached to a more lethal delivery system? Or should we keep only...

Last month, the FDA proposed setting a limit of 100 parts per billion for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal. This proposal came after FDA analysis of research linking inorganic arsenic exposure to lung and bladder cancer, adverse pregnancy outcomes and decreased performance on...

“Disaster narrowly averted” was the British Guardian newspaper’s view of the defeat – by only 31,000 votes out of 4.64 million – of the far right Freedom Party in Austria’s presidential elections this past weekend.

But it is hard to escape the conclusion that varied forms of populism – whether...