Cyberwarfare is a threat that is anonymous, hard to trace and hard to defend against.Keyboard image via shutterstock.comLast week, The New York Timesrevealed that the Obama administration had prepared a cyberattack plan to be carried out against Iran in the event diplomatic negotiations failed to limit that country’s nuclear weapons...
The San Bernardino terrorist suspect Syed Rizwan Farook used an iPhone 5c, which is now in the possession of the FBI. The iPhone is locked. The FBI wants Apple to help unlock it, presumably so they can glean additional evidence or information about other possible attacks. Apple has declined, and appears to ready to defy a court order. Its response...
Free Syrian Army fighters on their smartphones.Jalal Al-mamo/ReutersIn 2011, the Arab Spring rocked many parts of the Middle East.
Regime change in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya saw the departure of long-established – seemingly untouchable – political leaders and inspired ripples of protest and disquiet in many neighboring Arab nations. The...
Read more: Five years after the Arab Spring, how does the Middle East use social media?
I was in Washington, D.C., over the weekend to attend memorial services for my old boss, Justice Antonin Scalia.
As one of his former clerks – 15 years ago now – I met his casket on the steps of the Supreme Court on a chilly Friday morning and witnessed thousands of people standing in line for three hours or more to get a brief glimpse...
Read more: Former clerk on Justice Antonin Scalia and his impact on the Supreme Court
The statue of John Harvard, the first benefactor of Harvard UniversityWally Gobetz, CC BY-NC-NDCongress is rattling its saber at colleges and universities with endowments worth U$1 billion or more. Committees from the House and Senate have sent a joint letter to 56 private colleges and universities, asking for comprehensive information about...
Read more: How should we measure the size of a university's endowment?
Since 2009, record sales have soared.'Records' via www.shutterstock.comRemember those big black disks with holes in the middle that used to be played on “turntables?”
They’re not actually ancient history. This past year, worshipers at what novelist Michael Chabon calls “the Church of Vinyl” bought 9.2 million records....
If the U.S. moved to electric vehicles, there would be a substantial cut in air pollution – and health benefits to go with it. thomanication/flickr, CC BY-NDIn Paris late last year, the countries of the world pledged to reduce emissions to keep global warming “well below a 2 degree Celsius” rise in global average temperatures...
Read more: Clean energy could save hundreds of billions in health costs every year
A pallid version of a peace agreement is supposed to go into effect in Syria February 27. We wait with bated breath to see if the aid convoys can deliver relief to thousands of starving Syrians who have been awaiting food for months.
In principle, it should be a time for a degree of optimism, if not rejoicing. But, as we know, few of the parties to...
The mosquito-borne Zika virus has been declared a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” by the World Health Organization.
The virus not only appears to severely harm unborn children but is also hurting the economies of many Latin American and Caribbean countries. The World Bank estimates Zika will cost the world US$3.5...
Read more: How do we know the Zika virus will cost the world $3.5 billion?
While researchers work to develop a Zika virus vaccine to combat the outbreak spreading through South America, efforts to control the spread of the virus are focusing on the mosquito Aedes aegypti.
This particular mosquito is especially good at transmitting disease from one human to another. Besides Zika, this mosquito is also a vector for dengue,...