What effect, if any, does religious belief have on us? Two books, both published in 2009, tackle the topic but come to very different conclusions.

How important is it for kids to spend a significant amount of time in unstructured outdoor play?

Economic, financial and industrial downturns are causing international distress; the prescribed cure creates its own set of debilitating consequences.

The idea of a moral basis for behavior is uniquely human. Morality implies that we bring judgment to our decisions.

A month after learning he was losing his battle to pancreatic cancer, Randy Pausch gave one last lecture to students and colleagues, hoping to leave a legacy.

In Flat Earth News, Guardian journalist Nick Davies shows how a vocation that once prided itself on uncovering the truth is no longer able to do so.

The problem of how blind processes of evolution create new species and biological systems through small steps is addressed in two recent books.

Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine suffers from overstatement, and at times it seems her probing enthusiasm stretches too far to fit examples to her thesis.

Bella DePaulo’s book about singles uses humor and sarcasm to explain, to singles as well as couples, that singles can be just as happy as their married friends.

According to author Kevin Bales, slavery has three primary elements: control through violence, economic exploitation and the loss of free will.