From the Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, Sara Martino, Kristin Dillon, and Brennan Jordan (Richard Stockton): The Rise of Obesity in Young Women: Does the Media Have An Impact?; and Denise E. DeLorme and Fred Fedler (UCF): Endowed Newspapers: A Solution to the Industry’s Problems? A review of The Political Thought of Jacques Ranciere: Creating Equality by Todd May. In Search of Silence: One man’s quest to find the quietest places on earth and keep them that way.  The one thing markets don't make: No amount of regulation will restore our sense of honour and shame — economics needs ethics. A review of Nature Red in Tooth and Claw: Theism and the Problem of Animal Suffering by Michael J. Murray. From The Hindu, seeing a woman getting kidnapped in front of one’s eyes and the public reaction to it brings home many truths; and all about -ite, -ian & -ist: Does an “-ite”, then, denote a closer, perhaps even more slavish, association with a person than a mere “-ian”? As social emulsifiers go, nothing can beat a happily babbling baby. A spectre is haunting America: Ghosts of neoliberalism trouble Obama’s response to the recession. Should students be allowed to vote, via clickers, in class? Melvin Konner, author of The Jewish Body: An Anatomical History of the Jewish People, on the Jewish body: The circs; the sex; the nose jobs; and the muscle-Jews.

From Al-Ahram, is Bahrain another Kuwait? To blow things out of proportion is not the wise thing to do; and the ascendance of a business class in other parts of the world has fostered democracy — can the same happen in the Arab world? Pachamama: Ecuador provides the world with a bold new legal framework for protecting the biosphere. From Carnegie Ethics Online, Matthew Hennessey on Obama's moral obligation to Africa; an interview with Alex J. Bellamy on the responsibility to protect; and an interview with Simon Dalby on environmental security. A look at how top dailies are killing cartooning. With the Web’s advertising engine stalling just as newspapers are under pressure, some publishers are second-guessing their liberal attitude toward free content. Modern life can allow little time to maintain meaningful relationships, so what's the optimum number of friends? An easy way to lose your shirt: Why foreign-exchange trading is hazardous. Learning from slums: The world's slums are overcrowded, unhealthy and increasingly seen as resourceful communities that can offer lessons to modern cities. Who should Obama look to for advice?: Jimmy Carter. From Campus Progress, a review of Stanley Fish's Save the World on Your Own Time; and a review of Alan Michael Collinge's The Student Loan Scam: The Most Oppressive Debt in U.S. History — and How We Can Fight Back. 

From The New Atlantis, Ari N. Schulman on why minds are not like computers: Fundamental confusion about artificial intelligence; an excerpt from P. W. Singer's Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the Twenty-First Century (and more from Bookforum); reality and the postmodern wink: James Bowman champions curmudgeonliness as an antidote to cynicism; nations, liberalism, and science: Peter Augustine Lawler on civil theology and civil biology; a review of books on the medical and social questions that mental illness raises; and Wayne Ambler on reform and recalcitrance in Twain’s " Connecticut Yankee". A review of How Professors Think: Inside the Curious World of Academic Judgment by Michele Lamont. From Australian Review of Public Affairs, what job, which house? Simple solutions to complex problems in Indigenous affairs. Why bluffing about books is a civilised art. A review of Gambling, Freedom and Democracy by Peter J. Adams. Can MySpace get its mojo back? With Facebook soaring, and top talent leaving, News Corp.'s social network needs answers. Rewiring the Brain: Wired goes inside the new science of neuroengineering (and part 2). From Psychiatric Times, is pathological lying a symptom or disease? From Obit, we realize we aren’t supposed to speak ill of the dead, but we adore it, often to a perfectly scandalous degree. 

From Prospect, goodbye, homo economicus: The economics profession must bear a lot of the blame for the current crisis — if it is to become useful again it must undergo an intellectual revolution, becoming both broader and more modest; and after capitalism: The era of transition that we are entering will be disruptive — but it may bring a world where markets are servants, not masters. Is China the New America? The Great Depression made the United States the world's unquestioned financial leader — the current crisis can do the same for China. From Adbusters, an interview with Michael Hardt on Generation Obama's revolutionary potential. From Bookforum, Scott McLemee reviews books by Antonio Negri, the master theorist of the resurgent global left. The trouble with outside activists: Do-gooders from out of state are still flocking to help New Orleans rebuild; are they actually doing as much harm as they are good? Sex is natural, so why are so many people so bad at it? Why is the Religious Right obsessed with other people's sex lives? From Slate, a look at why American churchgoers like to shop around; and an excerpt from Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible by David Poltz. The Geist of the Zeit: an interview with Simon Reynolds of fanzine Monitor.