In The News

Our Vanishing Night

Verlyn Klinkenborg October 20, 2008
The growth of cities across the globe has obscured the line between night and day. Artificial lights that regularly brighten the night sky for human activity in metropolises and their suburbs has repercussions on humans and other living organisms that are only now beginning to be understood. Increased light disrupts the migratory patterns of birds, confuses newborn sea turtles, upsets amphibious...

Generation Faithful

Michael Slackman October 6, 2008
The city of Dubai is has been in a storm of transformation in recent years, going from oil- and gas-based growth to a real estate, trade and financial hub in the Middle East, meshing a population consisting of 80 percent emigrants from more than 200 ethnicities. Such tremendous growth and diversity have led to a "socially freewheeling yet unmistakably Muslim state" that raises...

Turkish Soap Star Sparks Divorces in Arab World

October 2, 2008
A male lead in a Turkish television show, “Noor,” has demonstrated that husbands can be good looking, charming and attentive to the ambitions of their wives. Muslim clerics criticize the show, but female viewers in Palestine, Saudia Arabia and other Muslim nations are fascinated by an idealized relationship, albeit an arranged marriage, with both man and woman striving for equality and...

China’s Image Sullied by Tainted Milk

Mary Kay Magistad October 1, 2008
The latest scandal involving tainted milk adds to the perception that the label “Made in China” covers layers of warnings: a potentially resentful work force, suffering low pay and abuse; managers who place profits over safety, striving for quantity over quality in production; minimal quality-inspection procedures and enforcement; and government authorities conditioned to hide rather than expose...

Fast Food Hits Mediterranean; A Diet Succumbs

Elisabeth Rosenthal September 30, 2008
When obesity and its problematic health effects grabbed headlines in developed countries like the US in the 1990s, researchers contrasted eating habits to those in Mediterranean countries like Greece, where life expectancies remained high and incidences of serious disease remained relatively low despite widespread drinking and smoking. Researchers credited the use of olive oil and daily...

The Power of Negative Thinking

Barbara Ehrenreich September 29, 2008
Author and advocate for the working class Barbara Ehrenreich sees in the current United States financial crisis not only the well-reported roots of corporate greed and "its crafty sibling, speculation," but also an overall shift in American society that has made "delusional optimism" part of mainstream thinking. Permeating throughout all facets of American culture, exuberant...

A Muslim Creationism Debate: Taking on Darwin in Turkey

Daniel Steinvorth September 26, 2008
Fundamentalist Muslims join forces with fundamentalist Christians in protesting the work of British naturalist Charles Darwin, who offered the theory on natural selection as a mechanism to evolution. Darwin theorized that offspring inherit traits from their parents, some traits allow for better survival rates and over time species adapt to changes in the environment – all well documented by...