No matter how far human society progresses, there will always be criminal acts of violence. While many of the crimes have stayed the same, methods of self-defense looked a little different one hundred and fifty-four years ago.      The 1857 issue of Scientific American featured an invention aimed at preventing strangulation, the Anti-Garrote Collar. [...]

Shortly after moviegoers had settled in to watch a midnight premier of The Dark Night Rises on Friday morning, a heavily armed gunman entered the Aurora, Colo., theater through an emergency exit and opened fire. In just a few minutes the assailant shot more than 60 children and adults—killing at least a dozen—before police arrested [...]

Last month, psychiatrists at Stanford University announced that sleepwalking is on the rise. More than 8.4 million adult Americans—3.6 percent of the population over 18—are prone to sleepwalking. That’s up from a 2 percent prevalence the same authors found a decade ago. And as the latest issue of Scientific American Mind notes, a subset of [...]

RALEIGH, N.C.—Bone-hunters and anthropologists typically guard their fossils as priceless specimens. I’ve learned to ask: “Is that real or a cast?” when shown a specimen. Often it’s a replica. So, I was as thrilled as a 12-year-old today when I saw two real, contemporary human skeletons and several human skulls during a tour here of [...]

In North Carolina, as you well know, we like our science with a side of crazy. The old Flying Burrito Brothers tune says, “The scientists say it’ll all wash away, but we don’t believe them anymore,” and we love our country music here, so we made quite a splash with the legislative nuh-unhs about sea [...]

VANCOUVER. You could call his classroom a rescue mission. Each September, Tyson Schoeber takes under his wing 15 fourth through seventh graders that normal classrooms have left behind, defeated and too often, deflated. Ten-year-olds arrive unable to decode more than a few words without help. One eight-year-old who loved geography had trouble finding any book [...]

This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty, prostitution and urban anthropology in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here. ————————- Sonya and Eric: Hunts Point, Bronx. Courtesy of Chris Arnade. Sonya’s going to court today to see [...]

This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty, prostitution and urban anthropology in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here. ————————- In response to the newly-released US 2013 National Drug Strategy (PDF), I’ve written a portrait of those [...]

This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty, prostitution and urban anthropology in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here. ————————- Roland: Hunts Point. Courtesy of Chris Arnade. Roland’s new to drugs and the street life at 21 [...]

This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty and prostitution in NYC. For more on the series, look here. ————————- Emily, Jackson Heights. Photo courtesy of Chris Arnade. Her eyes were frightening, wide, confrontational, their color stolen by lenses the shade [...]

This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade’s photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty and prostitution in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here. ———- Each year, about 100,000 people return to New York City communities from the city jails; another 25,000 return from [...]

The most studied media empire topics in the last 20 years, and arguably the most popular, lie in the fantastical realm — aliens, vampires, dual realities…and drug dealers. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Matrix, Alien, and The Wire comprise the most academically cited TV shows and films of recent times. There are, of course, a [...]

One thing I’ve learned through stories from addicts in the Bronx is just how deeply drugs infiltrate the prison system. Brought in through family members or by correctional officers themselves, addicts routinely tell me the same story: obtaining drugs and maintaining an addiction in prison is simple. As Jhonas notes, “You can get anything in [...]