Sep/Oct 2012
The Neurobiology of Fear
New clues into why some of us get stuck in a state of anxiety and others chill
The Bag Man
Stephen Joseph’s Save the Plastic Bag Coalition maintains that the bags are actually good for the environment, not to mention the economy.
Sarwidi Versus the Volcano
An engineer’s radical idea to help people survive an eruption: stay put
Gangster Anthropologist
Jorja Leap / Youth violence researcher / University of California, Los Angeles
Book Reviews: How the Wealth Gap Damages Democracy
Two new books explain the rise of economic inequality, and suggestthe rich are different than you or me: they have more political influence.
Save the Trees, We’ll Save Your Life
Can medical care motivate Indonesian villagers to protect the rain forest?
The Corrections
In 1896, William Randolph Hearst unleashed his pit-bull ace reporter, Ambrose Bierce, in the nation’s capital to expose the Railroad robber baron's grip on California’s Legislature. Reforms happened. The state was returned to its people. Trouble is, some of those fixes are bringing California to its knees.
The Freethinking Homeless Billionaire and the Flat-Broke State
A long list of politicians and a whole industry of fix-it professionals have failed to restore California to its former glory. Did Nicolas Berggruen—Paris-born, art collector, global investor—and his Think Long committee, know how to rebuild the Golden State? And if so, Why didn’t anyone listen?
Do We Still Segregate Students?
Schools around the nation are 'detracking' classes, putting kids of all achievement levels in the same room. Does that sabotage higher achievers?
The Governor's Last Stand
California's Jerry Brown—now pragmatic, but still profane—is banking on a last-gasp proposal known as Proposition 30 to save the biggest economy in the nation.