Michael L. Wachter (Penn): Labor Unions: A Corporatist Institution in a Competitive World. A review of A Treatise of Civil Power by Geoffrey Hill. The first chapter from Personal Roots of Representation by Barry C. Burden. From The Spectator, an article on John Locke’s message: Unintended market consequences. A review of The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (and more). The one question you must never ask an economist: From divorce to drug dealing, they know all the answers but one. More and more on Tyler Cowen's Discover Your Inner Economist. A review of Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier by Robert A. Emmons.
From Skeptic, an article on bioidentical hormones: Estrogen is good. No, it’s bad. No, it’s good. If humans and chimps are 99% alike genetically, how come we're so different? The 1% Solution: Gene-regulating regions separate humans from chimps. Female hyenas avoid incestuous mating by encouraging male relatives to look elsewhere for sex, new research shows. Philosophers wrestling with the big questions of life are no longer alone. Now scientists are struggling to define life as they manipulate it, look for it on other planets, and even create it in test tubes. The Undiscovered Country: The statistics of death show leaps in modern life expectancy but fail to answer the question: Why do we die?
While it may appear that conflict is an inevitable part of interaction between groups, research actually suggests that fighting, hating and contempt between groups is not a necessary part of human nature. One man's epic quest: Gary Lynch has spent decades trying to understand how the brain processes new information so that we can recall it later. A review of Mind (Key Concepts in Philosophy Series) by Eric Matthews. Can computers recognize faces? In at least one way, the smartest machines can't match a baby. Research finds why we are unable to distinguish faces of other races (and sometimes our own). Mapping the Face: New research into how the face stores fat could lead to more effective anti-aging strategies, better facial reconstruction techniques, and may even help doctors assess heart-disease risks.
