bigthinkeditor

Egyptians voted in overwhelming numbers to approve a set of constitutional amendments, setting the stage for Egypt’s first truly contested parliamentary and presidential elections in decades.

The U.S. economy is dealing with its problems by printing trillions of dollars. As these dollars flood the markets, investors have increasingly turned towards gold to hedge their currency doubts.

The Chinese government may be intentionally disrupting access to Google and other Web services as part of a campaign to tighten Internet controls and censor material.

Air power will be enough to escalate this war but not enough to win it. Although prohibited for now by the Security Council, “boots on the ground” will be required to remove Qaddafi.

The recent disasters to befall Japan, to be sure, are tragic, but these losses should not result in more than a small decline in the per capita standard of living of the Japanese people.

As emerging markets become major players in the world economy, nations must insist on growth that distributes income across populations in order to prevent protectionist trade policies.

Television is the most dominant form of cultural expression in our country, beating out movies, print publications, and books. Is it a good idea to cut your kid off in the name of—what exactly?

It’s not just how free the market is. Some economists are looking at another factor that determines how much a country’s economy flourishes: how smart its people are.

A new mother’s body goes through many changes—among them, key parts of her brain get bigger. And the more these areas grow, the greater the mother-infant bond seems to be.

Similar to the way Google crawls the Internet, scientists have mapped a three-dimensional circuit of connected cells in the cerebral cortex, allowing them to navigate the mind’s jungle.

How do you get your point across over an issue as contentious as climate change? As a hearing in the U.S. Congress last week showed, the evidence alone is not enough.

A host of celebrities from David Lynch to Russel Brand and Moby are helping to popularize meditation. Now many are overcoming its New Age, hippie stereotype and learning to relax.

A computer-music system that interacts directly with the user’s brain, by picking up the tiny electrical impulses of neurons, may aid in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Preparing ourselves and our societies for crises—just as Japan does for earthquakes—strengthens communities and helps to calmly pool resources should a tragedy strike.

Distinguished neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran thinks that neuroscience can explain why humans make, or at least appreciate, art. But do we need a scientific explanation of art?

French writer and philosopher Pascal Bruckner says the values that accompany our time’s ceaseless drive to be happy are counterproductive—what we need, he says, is a new humility.

The ancient Chinese practice of tai chi appears to relieve symptoms of depression in older people, a new study shows. Slow movement, breathing and meditation have clear health benefits.

A specialty known as adolescent medicine fills the gap for parents and young people who feel out of place in the pediatrician’s office, but unready for the primary care physicians who see adults.

Amidst the nuclear crisis in Japan, the F.D.A. is alerting consumers to be wary of internet sites and other retail outlets promoting products making false claims to prevent or treat effects of radiation.

Scientists may have found a molecular bounty hunter—a tiny snippet of R.N.A. called microRNA 31—that can kill wayward cancer cells hiding in parts of the body far from the initial tumor.

The companies that introduced products like Doritos, Miracle Whip, Butterfinger and the venti caramel Frappuccino now maintain that the future lies in the health and wellness category.

While women feel pain more intensely than men, they are better at coping with it emotionally, according to a study in London. Men, on the other hand, feel less pain, but are more afraid of it.

We are living longer despite getting fatter, and there is no sign yet that the increase in life expectancy is coming to an end, according to a study from the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Dr. John Ioannidis, a physician-researcher at the University of Ioannina, Greece, claims that up to 90 percent of published medical research that doctors rely on when treating patients is flawed.

Computers may become biological before humans go cyborg since adding computer chips to someone’s brain is a long way away, but adding neurons to a computer may be just around the corner.

Closer to Earth than any time since 1993, the moon will be 20 percent brighter than usual tonight. Will its fabled effects on the body, such as encouraging crime and fertility, be amplified, too?

Should we seek leaders who are visionary, inspiring, brilliant and trustworthy to follow or those who create change by relying on everyone’s creativity, commitment and generosity?

It’s 10 years since the iPod changed the music industry for good. Back then not everyone shared Steve Jobs’ vision of the future.

“By ‘retiring’ from political life, what the Dalai Lama really is doing is prodding Tibetan exiles to take more initiative and stand up for themselves.

Never has postwar Japan needed strong, assertive leadership more — and never has its weak, rudderless system of governing been so clearly exposed.