Nov/Dec 2012

How Los Angeles can beat the odds and make money off its stadium.

Why this Emory prof is studying the sleeping habits of villagers halfway around the world

Could neuroscientists be the next great architects?

Most of our homes are soaked in mouse urine. It’s at the core of our asthma epidemic—but it helps rodents stay connected.

An American strategist's broadside pales beside a stunning account of how ordinary Chinese grapple with the enigma of their own country.

The danger of falling for a machine that’s just not that into you

How legal wrangling over the chemicals used in lethal injection could shut down capital punishment.

Created as a figure with no personality, James Bond has survived half a century because of what we keep throwing at him—and projecting onto him.

How the science of recall is finally helping us to learn other languages.

Steven Angel uses drumming to teach literacy. Across L.A., juvenile-detention centers, schools, and libraries have fallen in love with his program. But scientists say there’s no reason to believe it should work.

Forced to go it alone into space, China has reaped the benefits of building an aerospace industry from the ground up. Now that the future of America's program looks most uncertain, China may be poised to slingshot ahead.

Over the last five years, the Castro Brothers have carefully groomed a cadre of would-be successors. Veteran Cuba watcher Ann Louise Bardach explains why, even after El Comandante is dead, El Comandante will live a long time.