From The Global Spiral, a special issue on the need for a new vision in science, including Roy Clouser (CNJ): A New Philosophical Guide for the Sciences: Ontology without Reduction; James W. Skillen (CPJ): Is a Science of Politics Possible?; Adolfo Garcia de la Sienra (Veracruzana): The Economic Sphere; Daniel F. M. Strauss (UFS): The Significance of Unity and Diversity for the Disciplines of Mathematics and Physics. Science and the arts need not be strangers: Fifty years ago C. P. Snow described the gulf between the two cultures — today we can be more optimistic about bridging it. A review of The Three Cultures: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and the Humanities in the 21st Century by Jerome Kagan. A review of Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz. A review of Heaven's Touch: From Killer Stars to the Seeds of Life, How We Are Connected to the Universe by James B. Kaler. A review of The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins (and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more and more). A review of The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive? by Peter Ward. A review of Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science by Carol Kaesuk. Learning to categorize the life on our planet is surprisingly difficult for the human mind. A review of The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self by Thomas Metzinger. From New Scientist, here are 13 more things that don't make sense. Here are the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize winners.

Gayle Brewer and Charlene Riley (Central Lancashire): Height, Relationship Satisfaction, Jealousy, and Mate Retention. Julia Mensink (LSE): Poverty facts travelling between production and usage domains: How successful has the HDI been? Invasion of the pod car: The dream of personal rapid transit picks up speed. At one time, self-help books were considered a little odd; now they have moved into the mainstream and the new "science of happiness" has become a cultural orthodoxy. Naming the sky: The true story of one man's quest to give George Plimpton a permanent presence in orbit. From M/C Journal, an article on the promiscuous afterlife of Super 8. Exclusivity for all: Rob Walker on buying expensive luxury goods — along with an aura of virtuous thrift. A look at how concepts are born in the hippocampus. Tests on skull fragment cast doubt on Adolf Hitler suicide story. From The Exiled, Michael Moore didn’t give us The Answer in his twenty-year filmic harangue, because nobody knows The Answer, but he’s certainly identified the main problems and outlined a number of lively suggestions for action (and more); and is America the last sucker-nation on Earth? Nature's clones: A look at what twins have taught us. Monsters ink: How Maurice Sendak made the world safe for monsters, and vice-versa. Two new studies suggest older people have difficulty suppressing stereotypes, which means many may become prejudiced against their will. A review of Athanasius Kircher's Theatre of the World by Joscelyn Godwin. The new gender gap: Women are doing better in the recession — because men are doing worse. 

From The Nation, the first counter-revolutionary: A review of Hobbes and Republican Liberty by Quentin Skinner (and more). An excerpt from Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect by Paul A. Rahe. Alex Voorhoeve on how Brian Barry, who died earlier this year, took forward the arguments of JS Mill’s On Liberty (and Alan Haworth on how to read On Liberty today). Terry Eagleton reviews Enlightening: Letters 1946-1960 by Isaiah Berlin (and more and more and more and more and more and more). Hilary Bok reviews A Brief Inquiry Into the Meaning of Sin and Faith: With "On My Religion" by John Rawls. A review of Theology, Political Theory, and Pluralism by Kristen Deede Johnson. Revelation and political philosophy: An exchange with James V. Schall, author of At the Limits of Political Philosophy. From City Journal, a review of The Idea of Justice by Amartya Sen (and more and more and more and more and more) and Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? by Michael Sandel (and more and more by Herbert Gintis). Michael Sandel wants to talk to you about justice. Philosophy gets its Virtual Socrates: Sandel's "Justice", long one of the most popular classes at Harvard, will now be available for free online. A review of Public Philosophy in a New Key, Volume I: Democracy and Volume II: Imperialism and Civic Freedom by James Tully. The first chapter from Emergency Politics: Paradox, Law, Democracy by Bonnie Honig. A review of The Life and Death of Democracy by John Keane. A review of Democracy Kills by Humphrey Hawkesley (and more).

The oil industry is on a roll this year with new discoveries. Politicians know that voters will punish them if fuel prices soar, but if they openly put the search for oil at the heart of their foreign policies, they are liable to be denounced as cynical and immoral. Locating oil is difficult in the best conditions, but in the Arctic it is nearly impossible. An article on Farouk al-Kasim, the Iraqi who saved Norway from oil. Deterring foreign investors: Iraq’s ramshackle oil ministry is not encouraging foreign investment. Jumpin' Jack Verdi, it's a Gas, Gas, Gas: An article on Iran and the Pipelineistan Opera. Geography and geology have brought riches to Azerbaijan; with a major gas pipeline project looming on the horizon, Peter Savodnik reports from Sangachal, where the geopolitics of global energy are anything but an abstraction. A review of A Swamp Full of Dollars: Pipelines and Paramilitaries at Nigeria’s Oil Frontier by Michael Peel (and more). From FP, despite a valiant start, impoverished, oil-rich Chad has succumbed to the resource curse (and more); and is there any way oil-rich countries can avoid the resource curse? Ghana, the newest member of the oil-producing club, has a good shot. Are petro-execs intrinsically more corrupt than other businessmen?: An excerpt from Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil by Peter Maass (and a review and an interview and more). Ignore the optimists: Peak oil is real. A look at why our oil addiction is about to make life a lot nastier. Would you know how to survive after the oil crash? The Era of Xtreme Energy: Michael T. Klare on life after the age of oil.