Dong Laifang says there isn\’t enough food in her house for breakfast before going to school. When the 11-year-old makes the half-hour walk back home for her lunch break, her mother usually has a bun for her to eat. Dinner usually means noodles, sometimes with a few vegetables that barely grew in the parched dirt […] … learn more→

Here’s a Jeopardy question for you: What do The Client, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and A Time to Kill have in common? Sure, they’re among John Grisham’s bestselling works, but each has also been removed from a library because someone objected to its content. A Time to Kill, Grisham\’s first novel, was released in […] … learn more→

A new study from George Mason University and the Urban Institute reveals that greater spending on medical services means better overall health for Medicare participants. Health Administration and Policy Professor Jack Hadley and his co-authors, Urban Institute researchers Timothy Waidmann, Stephen Zuckerman, and Robert Berenson, analyzed data from more than 17,000 Medicare beneficiaries to draw […] … learn more→

Researchers have developed an aluminum alloy that could be used in a new type of mobile technology to convert non-potable water into drinking water while also extracting hydrogen to generate electricity. Such a technology might be used to provide power and drinking water to villages and also for military operations, said Jerry Woodall, a Purdue […] … learn more→

Recently I featured the New American Bible as a banned book, which was a shock to many and garnered some fairly strong opinions in the comments in the discussions that followed. But would that outrage be just as strong if it were someone else’s sacred text? I\’m about to put that theory to the test. […] … learn more→

When Claire Reardon was growing up in Rhode Island, she regularly reviewed the family’s shopping lists to make sure her father avoided buying shampoo brands that had been tested on animals. Now she is a Northwest Building lab manager, working to ensure that one of Harvard’s most energy-intensive activities is as green as possible. Before […] … learn more→

Cambridge researchers have created a website that combines the Facebook profiles of fans of companies and public figures with personality testing to create what they are describing as a “revolutionary” new marketing tool. What do Barack Obama, Adam Sandler, and the animated comedy Family Guy all have in common? How about David Cameron, Eva Mendes, […] … learn more→

Charlotte’s Web is an award-winning novel published in 1952 by American author E.B. White about the friendship between a pig named Wilbur, and a barn spider named Charlotte. This classic of children’s literature is 78th on the best-selling hardcover list; has sold more than 45 million copies; been translated into 23 languages; and been adapted […] … learn more→

Chinese scientists managed to produce human-like milk from genetically modified cows. The genetically modified milk will be available in the market in two years. … learn more→

The Giver (1993), by Lois Lowry, tells the story of a utopian future society where poverty, crime, sickness, and unemployment are a thing of the past. Jonas, a 12-year-old, is chosen to be the next Receiver of Memories; but Jonas soon learns that the price of this knowledge is more than he expected. Emotional depth […] … learn more→