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Erran Baron Cohen is drinking coffee at a cafe in Temple Fortune, an enclave of synagogues and kosher shops in north London. With a mop of dark curls, Erran looks [...]

Trends show that more books are becoming available than ever before, and in many more formats. However, innovations are causing anxiety in the publishing industry because they imply radical changes in how books are supplied to readers. The possibility of restricting public access to digital books is also discussed.

Birth rates in Europe have declined below the level required to prevent decreasing population. The economic consequences of falling birth rates include fewer workers and but they can also be beneficial as there will be fewer children who are in need of government and family budgets. Birth rates of Japan, China, and USA, and the possible environmental impacts of lower birthrates are also presented.

Fair trade labeled products like coffee, which indicate environment-friendly farming and fair price for small farmers, are being sold extensively in Europe and the United States. However, critics raise questions about the high price of the products, and ultimately hurting small farmers by forcing them to stay in an uneconomic environment even when global prices tumble.

The aim of the American wing of the Slow Food Movement is to save some of the 63% of indigenous crop varieties that have disappeared from cultivation since Europeans first foray into the shores of North America. The list of plant and animal varieties that need saving includes endangered oyster, Ozette potatoes and wild rice and this movement is gaining importance not only in the America but also world wide.

Some academic scholars in the US claim that playing video games is good for literacy, problem-solving, learning to test hypotheses and researching information, while critics worry that gaming is making children more socially isolated, less experienced in working with others and less creative. More and more researchers are studying why video games are so engrossing and some are even urging educators to incorporate games' best learning features into school programs.

Harvard University President Lawrence Summers is of the view that women hold less tenured faculty positions in science and engineering field as compared to men due to biological inferiority in them. The belief led to a mixed reaction amongst the people with female scientists opposing him and the supporters believing that he raised a legitimate question for scientific inquiry.

Alternatives to traditional medicines are growing in the United States, but prayer is the most popular form. Scientifically there is no way to study prayer as an isolated phenomenon, but research data strongly suggests that there is a positive effect.

Women are becoming the fastest-growing group contracting HIV as their number with HIV has risen in every party of world. A United Nations report released in November 2004 revealed that women contribute 60 percent of the infected people in Africa that is the most affected continent.