From The American Scholar, revisiting the gritty Roman neighborhood of his youth, a writer discovers a world of his own invention. More on The Age of Reagan: A History, 1974-2008 by Sean Wilentz. The conservative case for urbanism: Republicans may have an uneasy relationship to global warming, but some are finding reasons to embrace government projects close to environmentalists' hearts — like public transit. An interview with Howard Gardner, the man who outsmarted IQ. From Scotland's Sunday Herald, why the box rocks: 21 reasons to turn on the TV in the 21st century. Verging on absolute zero: We've gone to space, split the atom, and created devices small enough to travel through our blood — but it seems that in science, as in nature, there are some places we still can't reach. Research suggests that adolescents’ niche in school — their popularity, and how they understand and exploit it — offers important clues to their later psychological well-being. From Freethought Today, an article on the Christian soil of the Holocaust. It only gets darker after the lights go down: In movies, popular books and TV, the end of the world makes for an unsettling season. Sex sells: An Orlando producer cashes in on Florida's online porn industry. Heard the one about how many economists it takes to change a lightbulb? The belief that the market would take care of it has been shaken.
