January-February 2010

In this 'Wonks Gone Wild,' researchers say the hierarchical role-playing in Mardi Gras parades gave way to a free marketplace for beads, which included 'negotiated transactions.'

In this edition of 'Wonks Gone Wild,' researchers find that men overrated, and women underrated, the likelihood that they would participate in sexual activities with a new partner at Mardi Gras.

In this edition of 'Wonks Gone Wild,' a researcher spends 500 hours at Mardi Gras celebrations to learn what makes revelers participate in deviant behavior.

In this edition of 'Wonks Gone Wild,' one researcher finds an answer to the Mardi Gras question: How do I get someone to throw me some beads?

Self-taught private investigator Jim McCloskey has helped free more than three dozen people who were imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit.

College party-goers share their reasons puffing on the patio ... and other odd studies highlighted in this month's Cocktail Napkin.

Only more and better data will settle a dispute about the possibility that environmental pollution can cause inheritable disease.

The BBC finds the right way to counter Holocaust deniers: You have the public question them.

Long after the benefit concerts are finished, the victims of hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis suffer severe emotional aftershocks. Is there a better way to respond to disaster?

GIS mapping technology is helping underprivileged communities get better services — from education and transportation to health care and law enforcement — by showing exactly what discrimination looks like.

Three books suggest America has slipped into a polarized state of undermined self-government. None convincingly suggests how we can slip back out.

Researchers find that disappointed voters on Election Night 2008 experienced a dip in testosterone levels. How do they know? They measured the voters' spit, of course.

A leading canine researcher says dogs understand more than 150 words and can count up to four or five. He has compiled a list of the world's smartest dogs. See if your pooch cracks his Top 7.

Could soil engineered specifically to maximize carbon storage dampen some effects of climate change? Very possibly.

Armed with mobile phones and the Internet, trusted networks of family and friends spread the news of electoral fraud and escalating tensions in Iran, transfixing the world with photos and videos of demonstrations against the regime.

Writing words by hand is a technology that's just too slow for our times, and our minds.

Can the unusual politics, economics and culture of the Alaskan salmon trade serve as a model for sustainable world fisheries?

Producing 'natural' cotton clothing is a huge and filthy global business that, Chinese-commissioned research shows, will be extremely difficult to clean up.