From New Scientist, the best of expert opinion on population. Let's try cap-and-trade on babies: Population growth is the real driver for higher greenhouse gas emission, so why don't more mainstream solutions start there? Capitalism in Wonderland: The inability of received economics to cope with or even perceive the global ecological crisis is alarming in its scope and implications. From Mother Jones, a special section on the Copenhagen Climate Countdown. Recipe for Failure: Why Copenhagen will be a bust, and other prophecies from Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, the foreign-policy world's leading predictioneer. Anthony Giddens reviews Saving Kyoto: An Insider's Guide to the Kyoto Protocol: How it Works, Why it Matters and What it Means for the Future by Graciela Chichilnisky and Kristen Sheeran. From M/C Journal, a special issue on climate culture. From Physics World, many policymakers have traditionally seen climate models as irrelevant, but recent advances are making such models an essential tool in informing policy choices; publicize or perish: The scientific community is failing miserably in communicating the potential catastrophe of climate change; and like the popular SimCity computer-game series that inspired its name, Clim'City puts players in charge of a virtual city and allows them to choose how it develops. What makes Europe greener than the US? An article on why climate change denial must be taken seriously. Bill McKibben thinks you should know that global warming isn't coming — it's already here. On geoengineering: We may not be able to save ourselves, but at least we won’t be bored.

From The New Yorker, robots that care: Jerome Groopman on advances in technological therapy. Animals reconsidered: Eric Banks describes a book series on humans' interactions with and treatment of some earthly co-creatures. Stoics might not have been so stoical if they’d had bloggers to deal with, says Ophelia Benson. The Audacity of "Precious": Is America ready for a movie about an obese Harlem girl raped and impregnated by her abusive father? Readers can enjoy Electric Literature, a new quarterly literary magazine, any way they like: on paper, Kindle, e-book, iPhone and, starting next month, as an audiobook. Counterinsurgency is at least 50 percent civilian — so where have all the Foreign Service officers gone? An interview with Andrew Losowsky on Stack America: "Think of it as a private magazine club that brings a fresh perspective on the world every two months". Daniel Shaw, editor of Film and Philosophy, laments the reduction of Hannibal Lecter. Obama & Google (a love story): The President relies on Google execs for tech and economic advice as his own regulators scrutinize the online-ad behemoth — is the romance starting to sour?  A review of The United States of McSweeney’s: Ten Years of Accidental Classics by Nick Hornby and Eli Horowitz. The Long Shadow of Willie Horton: More than two decades ago, a governor showed a prisoner leniency, with horrifying results — our justice system hasn’t been the same since. From IRB, hubby’s not undead? Nobody’s perfect: An essay on vampire literature (and more on vampire mania). An interview with Mark Denny, author of Froth!: The Science of Beer.

From Forward, a review essay on six takes on God. A review of Why There Almost Certainly Is a God by Keith Ward. How to read the evidence that God is back in an almighty way — in the bookstores, in popular culture, in world affairs? Can religion fill gaps left by the state, or is it being co-opted into a role that it should not play? A review of Saving God: Religion after Idolatry by Mark Johnston (and more). Karen Armstrong on why we need God more than ever — and why secularism is as dangerous as fundamentalism (and more and more and more on The Case for God). From Eureka Street, an article on Christopher Hitchens' illogical atheism and ethics without God (and a video interview). Faith No More: Christopher Hitchens on what he's learned from debating religious people around the world (and an interview). From Spiked, why they love to hate Mother Teresa: The radical-atheist assaults on the late sister of Calcutta are the intellectual equivalent of mugging an old woman. From Religion Dispatches, a review of Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe by Greg Epstein; and an atheist convention inspires some reflections on the virtue of a positive, productive humanism, rather than the anti-theism that dominates the discourse. An atheist in the pulpit: Public identity and private belief are never more at odds than when a preacher loses his faith. Joshua Leach on the uses of common sense: It's often wrong — yet we'd be in trouble without it. Atheist, gnostic, theist, agnostic: Here's a graph showing a very rough placement of one’s theological position.

From The Wilson Quarterly, a review of Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right by Jennifer Burns and Ayn Rand and the World She Made by Anne C. Heller (and a review by Francine Prose at Bookforum; and more at Liberty and more at Reason; and more and more and more and more and more and more). With two new biographies, the mother of Objectivism is so in vogue now that even designers such as Ralph Lauren are finding inspiration in her writing. Why Ayn Rand is hot again: Brian Doherty on the unconservative Ayn Rand and her relationship to the American right. Mark Sanford on how Ayn Rand has drifted in and out of favor, but she may be more relevant today than ever before. Sam Anderson on the one argument Ayn Rand couldn't win. Howard Roark in New Delhi: The surprising popularity of a libertarian hero in India. From Inside Catholic, John Zmirak on the vanity of Ayn Rand. From Obit, an article on Ayn Rand and the supremacy of self. A life of contempt: Ayn Rand's defining characteristic was hatred — for government, other people, and the very concept of human kindness. Objectionable content: Having waded through her complete works, Gerald Houseman concludes that there should never, ever be an Ayn Rand revival. From Esquire (in 1961), Gore Vidal may not like New York Times' critic Orville Prescott, but he dislikes Ayn Rand's "philosophy" even more. From the Journal of Libertarian Studies, a special issue on the 50th anniversary of the publication of Atlas Shrugged. Molly Sechrest on Atlas Shrugged in Haight-Ashbury: A Memoir. Ralph R. Reiland on how Atlas is shrugging. An interview with Robert Mayhew on Ayn Rand's We the Living.