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The most astounding facts

A new issue of Vice is out. From Psychology and Neuroscience, a special section on the neurobiology of stress. This is what many successful female comedians, from Joan Rivers to Sarah Silverman, have always known: if your lines are threatening, your face had better not be. A review of A Short History of Celebrity by Fred Inglis (and more). Does executive experience really make for better presidents? From population and environment to arms trade and war, the data visualized in The Little Book of Shocking Global Facts covers some of the most astounding facts about the world we live in. The Death — or the Evolution — of the Midlist Author: Is the publishing crunch killing midlist authors, or just forcing them to move on? A review of The Obama Victory: How Media, Money, and Message Shaped the 2008 Election by Kate Kenski, Bruce Hardy, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson. If there were such a thing as Emerging American Essayist Laureate, John D’Agata would be it. Two decades after government-imposed prudishness ended with the Soviet collapse, Russians still shy away from embracing European-style sexual mores. Disaster Politics: An article on why earthquakes rock democracies less. The Baby Business: U.S. couples adopting from abroad often think they're helping vulnerable couples — the reality is more complex and poorly regulated. Lines of Flight: Does the locavore movement offer an alternative to corporatism?