Ken Stier

A four-decade project to catalog the basic structures used to build life pays dividends for everything from new drugs to Bjork’s performances.

Regarding the crisis in American research universities, Louisiana State University System President John V. Lombardi argues that when athletics are on the cutting block, he'll see that as a sign of disaster.

In a Q&A session, computer scientist Francine Berman, vice president for research at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, explains how funding decisions made in Washington help or hinder innovation at universities.

In a Q&A, historian Robert M. Berdahl, president of the Association of American Universities, (since retired) describes how fiscal pressures at the state level undermine research universities already battered by the recession.

In a series of upcoming Q&A sessions, academics and other observers will review the fiscal and competitive challenges facing U.S. research institutions and what might solve them.

A century and a half after defective mules prompted a law on false claims, the federal government is still working kinks out of the process.

The people behind the burgeoning field of serious games aim both to get people to care about solving world problems while learning that all answers have their consequences.

The United States has dumped billions of dollars into Pakistan as it has sailed closer than ever to becoming a nuclear-armed failed state. Where do both nations go from here?

As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits India, we look at its neighbor and enemy Pakistan, America's oldest friend in the Subcontinent. The United States has dumped billions of dollars into Pakistan as it has sailed closer than ever to becoming a nuclear-armed failed state. Where does it go from here, our Ken Stier asks in the first of a two-part analysis.

Are Liberia's new steel and rubber concessions a sign of reform — or the exception that proves corruption still rules in resource-rich countries?

Attorneys who put the 'pro' in pro bono start girdling the globe to offer free help for countries struggling to implement the rule of law.

In a deft bit of science diplomacy, Syracuse University has been engaging with a North Korean counterpart to bring a bit of knowledge — and some trust — to the Hermit Kingdom.

The Yale economist known as a bubble-popper extraordinaire is bullish on tomorrow, even if that tomorrow may be a decade away.