Featured Stories

Before you read further, here’s a disclaimer that this edition’s recommendation, “Courage Under Fire” (1996, rated ‘R’), is not an entrée for a…

January 26, 2012 · 5 min read

Footage of Texas Judge William Adams beating his disabled teenage daughter — recorded on her webcam and uploaded in 2011 — sparked a national debate.

January 26, 2012 · 1 min read

James Tapke, 41, was charged with child endangering after allegedly binding his 12-year-old daughter with duct tape and shutting her in a dog cage.

January 21, 2012 · 1 min read

Jeff Bezos's 2010 Princeton speech, 'We Are What We Choose': the story of his grandmother, the line 'it's harder to be kind than clever,' and why choices,

January 14, 2012 · 2 min read

In Mumbai, parents paying Rs 12,000–18,000 in school fees were outsourcing single Std X projects for Rs 26,000 — a booming cottage industry around schoolwork.

January 13, 2012 · 2 min read

Asha Bhosle, the Guinness-record most-recorded artist in music history, was to be felicitated with a lifetime achievement award at the 2012 Screen Awards.

January 12, 2012 · 1 min read

A Naperville family of four — Iqbal Habib, Zeenat, and their children Fareeza and Ashaz — lost their lives in a road accident in India while on vacation.

January 9, 2012 · 1 min read

How the hydrogen bomb works — fission-triggered fusion, the 1961 Tsar Bomba test at 50 megatons, and the paradox of mutually assured destruction.

January 8, 2012 · 1 min read

Stanford researchers found that gazing at a photo of a beloved reduces pain — activating the brain's reward systems. Love really is a drug.

January 3, 2012 · 1 min read

A University of Chicago study found that math-anxious female teachers can transmit the 'boys are better at math' stereotype to their girl students — who

January 3, 2012 · 1 min read

From bottled water to extended warranties: twelve everyday purchases where the marketing outruns the value — and what to do instead.

January 3, 2012 · 2 min read

Two suburban families — one Muslim, one Christian — became genuine friends. A quiet Christmas-week story about what interfaith friendship actually looks like.

December 28, 2011 · 1 min read

A look at Mama Poppins, the drop-in childcare service at Fox Valley Mall — and what mall-based babysitting says about how suburban families live now.

December 15, 2011 · 1 min read

A Christmas letter to Santa from our corner of the world — on what children really want, what adults have forgotten, and the milk and cookies on the counter.

December 13, 2011 · 1 min read

Persistence closes deals — but applied to dating, it becomes harassment. What high-pressure professions do to personal behavior, and the psychology of power

December 9, 2011 · 1 min read

Straight A's don't always mean a great education. On grade inflation, helicopter parents, and what teachers wish parents understood about the parent-teacher

December 6, 2011 · 2 min read

How Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao's 2011 announcement of son Azad's birth via IVF surrogate opened India's mainstream conversation on surrogacy's ethics, law,

December 5, 2011 · 1 min read

On many levels, that word just about sums up “3 Deewarein” – Retro Reel’s first Hindi movie recommendation. For starters, it is as unlikely a Bollywood film…

December 2, 2011 · 5 min read

The Penn State abuse scandal forced a national reckoning — and pushed parents to have the conversations about bodily autonomy that help children disclose abuse.

November 30, 2011 · 1 min read

By the early 2010s, business leaders and educators agreed the US was falling dangerously behind in STEM — an explainer on the state of science education.

November 28, 2011 · 1 min read