January-February 2011

After studying four decades of terrorism, Aaron Clauset thinks he's found mathematical patterns that can help governments prevent and prepare for major terror attacks. The U.S. government seems to agree.

Patagonia, Honest Tea, The Timberland Company and Seventh Generation Inc. talk the talk of corporate social responsibility and appear to walk the walk.

The downside to the digital revolution, our readers remind us, can be funny. Or fearsome.

In the Year of Forests, researchers look to save them, and have them save us.

Can California build the new water system experts say it needs — before an earthquake brings the levees down?

In a recent experiment, women who showed interest in college-aged men were more likely to be remembered if they were deemed attractive.

Why incarceration should be just one of many strategies helping neighborhoods that produce bumper crops of crooks.

Turning foreclosed commercial properties into park networks could put people to work, raise real estate values and promote wise redevelopment.

Gary Cohen and his nonprofit, Health Care Without Harm, have persuaded hospitals around the world to close their medical-waste incinerators, dramatically cutting emissions of dioxin and other toxins.

Researchers discover very specific patterns in the movement of bacteria, which has important implications for the treatment of infections.

New books "Self Comes to Mind" and "On Second Thought" examine the origins of consciousness, and the unconscious pulls that influence our behavior.

How the life and death of the Chicago painter known as Hilgos helped bring art — and a better quality of life — to Alzheimer's patients.

Some crime victims find their only real healing comes from a face-to-face meeting with the criminals who hurt them. Can research into this counterintuitive process help more victims regain control of their lives?

Susan Herman, author of "Parallel Justice for Victims of Crimes," wonders what if society did not see its help for victims as mere compassion or charity, but a core societal obligation?

A Penn State power-system expert cites laws of physics to pull the plug on worries that a terrorist attack on a minor substation could bring down the entire U.S. electric grid.

Yale's Bruce Ackerman, a constitutional scholar, warns that unilateralism in the "most dangerous branch" of government is setting the stage for a tragic future.

Before the ideological war over entitlement reform begins, Congress should look to the ways technology can reduce the cost of government. All trillion of them.

Chess player Bobby Fischer's tortured life illustrates why promising young talents deserve better support programs.

Drinking, smoking, taking prescription meds or failing to eat a balanced diet can influence the health of men's future children.