archive

Better to learn how

The inaugural issue of Studies in Literature and Language is out. From ETHOS: Dialogues in Philosophy and Social Sciences, Cecil Celebi (Ankara): Walter Benjamin and Political Potential of Cinema; and Dilek Kantar (Mersin): Forms of Medieval Myth in Contemporary Cinema ("This paper is a structural analysis of the use of dream vision in a popular medieval poem, Sir Orfeo, and the first released trilogy of Star Wars films (Episodes IV, V, and VI).") What should the US do about the 26 million people who are currently unemployed, underemployed or marginally attached in the labor force? Juliet Schor thinks we all need to work less. An interview with Amy Gutmann, chair of the US presidential bioethics commission, on the challenges of bringing synthetic biology to the public arena. Potty in the USA: Why we're slow to the toilet. Pissing Match: Is the world ready for the waterless urinal? A look at how people use the stigma tag of eugenics to destroy the credibility of a particular area of research or groups of researchers. Is social networking making us dumber? Nicole Rudick reviews Alix’s Journal by Alix Cleo Roubaud. Kabuki Democracy: Eric Alterman on why a progressive presidency is impossible, for now. The Middle Awash area of Ethiopia is the most persistently occupied place on Earth; members of our lineage have lived, died, and been buried there for almost six million years — where better to learn how we became human? The introduction to The Wind from the East: French Intellectuals, the Cultural Revolution, and the Legacy of the 1960s by Richard Wolin. Going Postal: Higher postal rates are good for the economy, businesses and consumers, and the environment. An interview with Peter Ward, author of The Flooded Earth: Our Future in a World Without Ice Caps.