But the newest research is showing that many properties of the brain are genetically organized, and don't depend on information coming in from the senses.

As women are empowered, violence can come down, for a number of reasons. By all measures, men are the more violent gender.

By all measures men are the more violent gender.

One of my favourite kinds of movie is the American picaresque, in which the characters make their way across the country, learning about life against the gorgeous backdrops of that vast land.

Democratic forms of government are vulnerable to mass prejudice, the so-called tyranny of the majority.

The American television punditocracy - the pollsters, political consultants and other talking heads who become as ubiquitous as air every election cycle - can be incestuous and herdlike.

To err is human. To blame someone else is politics.

I always felt different because I didn't pick one specific clique or group to be a part of, and I didn't choose one thing to be. I cheered, sang in chorus, was in student government, played in rock bands, went to dirt races in western PA... My interests have always been diverse.