THE outcome was never in doubt. On December 12th America's central bank kept short term interest rates unchanged at 5.25%. What mattered was the statement accompanying the Federal Reserve's decision.
The world's richest countries, which have contributed by far the most to the atmospheric changes linked to global warming, are already spending billions of dollars to limit their own risks from its wo
THE dollar's tumble this week was attended by predictable shrieks from the markets; but as it fell to a 20 month low of $1.32 against the euro, the only real surprise was that it had not slipped soone
A RECENT sketch on "Saturday Night Live" suggested how the world would be if Al Gore had won the presidency in 2000. "In the last six years we have been able to stop global warming,&quo
In bringing up children, every parent watches eagerly the child’s acquisition (学会) of each new skill-the first spoken words, the first independent steps, or the beginning of reading and writ
Violin prodigies (神童), I learned, have come in distinct waves from distinct regions. Most of the great performers if the late 19th and early 20th centuries were born and brought up in Russia and E
American society is not nap (午睡) friendly. In fact, says David Dinges, a sleep specialist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. There’s even a prohibition against admitting w
Psychologist George Spilich and colleagues at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, decided to find out whether, as many smokers say, smoking helps them to think and concentrate. Spilich put yo
There is no denying that students should learn something about how computers work, just as we expect them at least to understand that the internal-combustion engine (内燃机) has something to do wit
The way people hold to the belief that a fun-filled, pain free life equals happiness actually reduces their chances of ever attaining real happiness, if fun and pleasure are equal to happiness then pa