top story in Legal Affairs
A Perennial Epicenter, Now for Same-Sex Marriage
San Francisco City Hall embodies the thrill of wedded bliss while it endures the fallout over Prop. 8
Prop 8 May Be Same-Sex Couples’ Least Worry
A family law professor explains why differences between states over gay marriage may lead to a deluge of court cases.
Five Orcas, Five Slaves or Five Persons?
PETA’s lawsuit on behalf of five orcas at SeaWorld could end in a splash or a belly flop for animal rights.
Lowering Flags of Convenience for Fish Poachers
New international measures to end fish poaching on the high seas would enforce laws where the poacher calls, not where their ships are registered.
Supreme Court Messes With Texas, Voting Rights
There is a way the U.S. Supreme Court can extract some sense out of a wildly politicized Voting Rights Act it heard Monday, argues a prominent redistricting specialist.
California’s Medical Marijuana Morass
In Northern California, where the drug laws can change with the mile markers, a supplier of medical marijuana risks going one toke over the (county) line.
The FCC and Indecency: Here We Go Again
How far can the FCC go in regulating blue language and nipple slips on broadcast media? Three decades since tackling the seven dirty words, the Supreme Court is poised to answer that question again.
Pets, Vets and Stalking Horses
The animal rights movement may set their sights on veterinarians, warn protectors of biomedical animal research.
Should Animals Be Considered People?
In a nation where corporations are people and others want fetuses to be, a core of philosophers and attorneys are trying develop laws to declare animals “legal persons.”
archive
Imagine There’s No Law; It’s Easy If You Try
Law professor David Friedman offers a libertarian thought experiment in which the concept of law — i.e. rights enforcement — is determined by the marketplace, and not the political process.
Neo-Nazis and ‘Defensive Democracy’
Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution, similar to America’s FBI, isn’t doing its job against all the threats its homeland faces.
Making a Case for Televising the Supreme Court
The upcoming U.S. Supreme Court debate on health-care reform offers a prime time to start televising its hearings and allowing cameras in the courtroom.
America Edges to Brink of Armed Police Drones
Europeans are lagging the United States in using aerial drones for police work – and they don’t really mind.
Cigarettes Do Have Free Speech Rights
A federal judge says tobacco companies’ complaints about the heavy hand of government forcing them to gainsay their own products have merit.
What Elouise Cobell Should Really Be Honored For
Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in efforts to force the U.S. government to better administer the Indian Trust, was a leader in having the feds pay for their mandates.
Patchwork of Gun Laws Assists Traffickers
Decentralized regulation in the gun-friendly U.S. creates ample opportunities for guns to leech from lightly regulated areas to stricter locales.
LAPD Cracks Cold Cases With Science, Grit
Since the LAPD’s cold case unit began 10 years ago, detectives have used science to arrest serial killers and dozens of others who thought they had gotten away with murder.
U.S. Crackdown Highlights Mixed-Up World of Medical Marijuana
A federal effort to shut down state-legalized marijuana dispensaries in California is the latest example of the topsy-turvy habitat that growers, users and cops live in with medical marijuana.
The Fear of a Sharia Planet
While laws preventing Islamic legal codes from supplanting American jurisprudence are often thrown out, that isn’t stopping Sharia from becoming a wedge issue in the 2012 election.
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business
- A Perennial Epicenter, Now for Same-Sex Marriage
- Prop 8 May Be Same-Sex Couples’ Least Worry
- EarthScope: A Seismic Shift in Data Gathering
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science
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media
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legal affairs
- A Perennial Epicenter, Now for Same-Sex Marriage
- Prop 8 May Be Same-Sex Couples’ Least Worry
- Five Orcas, Five Slaves or Five Persons?
- Lowering Flags of Convenience for Fish Poachers
- Supreme Court Messes With Texas, Voting Rights
environment
- Quake Rescues Reserve, Shakes Baja Fishing Town
- Children’s Books Increasingly Ignore Natural World
- Conservation’s Earnest Message Could Use Levity
- Traffic Solution: Make Drivers Less Lonely
- Street Makeovers Put New Spin on the Block
health
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Children’s Books Increasingly Ignore Natural World
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Are Some Airlines Just Too Dangerous to Fly?
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Japan's Earthquake: Deciphering the Fury
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Casual Sex: Men, Women Not So Different After All
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Triumph of the Cyborg Composer
from the source
House Bill Puts Transportation in Partisan Crossfire
Transportation used to be one of the few guaranteed areas of agreement when ideology trumped pragmatism in D.C. But that’s no longer the case.
Pressure to Conform Can Inspire Creativity
New research suggests less-creative people do more innovative thinking when they are told individualism is the norm, and instructed to conform.
Better Super Bowl Makes for Better Ads
A lot of people say they watch the Super Bowl mostly for the ads. But it turns out a good game surrounding those ads makes them seem better.
Overseas Troops Finally Get Fair Shot at Voting
After decades of obstacles hindering the voting process, new laws will allow overseas and military voters to submit their votes in time for the 2012 election.
Neglected Tropical Diseases Neglected No More?
World health leaders announce coordinated push to eradicate or control neglected tropical diseases.
Children’s Books Increasingly Ignore Natural World
A survey of award-winning children’s picture books from 1938 to 2008 suggests our increasing estrangement from the natural environment.
Traffic Solution: Make Drivers Less Lonely
Rather than moaning about too many cars on the road, the Ridesharing Institute says the real key to battling traffic congestion and pollution is filling empty passenger seats.
Numerology Doesn’t Know the Score
Various ways of assigning numbers to events, people, and actions is an ancient parlor game, but let’s not take it beyond that.
Conservatives’ Politics of Fear a Biological Response
Researchers looking at how we fixate on threats uncover more evidence of a biological component to the red-blue divide.
Morning People May Be More Creative in the Afternoon
New research finds problems that require a flash of illumination to solve are best approached during the time of day when you’re not at your peak.
Hall of fame
Slugging — The People’s Transit
In Washington, D.C., commuters have taken thousands of cars off highways via a homegrown rideshare system known as “slugging.” Can the government create more slugs — without stepping on any?
Bacteria ‘R’ Us
Emerging research shows that bacteria have powers to engineer the environment, to communicate and to affect human well-being. They may even think.
A New Take on Political Ideology
An evolutionary psychologist proposes a new framework for understanding the root causes of our political beliefs.
The Real Science Gap
It’s not insufficient schooling or a shortage of scientists. It’s a lack of job opportunities. Americans need the reasonable hope that spending their youth preparing to do science will provide a satisfactory career.
Triumph of the Cyborg Composer
David Cope’s software creates beautiful, original music. Why are people so angry about that?
