Real play is the freedom for children to engage with and learn from the world that surrounds them. By mentally and physically connecting children to the world, play empowers them to create and grow for the rest of their lives. It is a fundamental right for all children. Research shows that play is vital to... Continue Reading →

Republicans for years have proclaimed the federal government’s decades-old War on Poverty a failure. “Americans are no better off today than they were before the War on Poverty began in 1964,” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) wrote in his 2016 plan to dramatically scale back the federal safety net. Now the Trump administration is... Continue Reading →

“Would you like fries with that?” may soon be a phrase of the past. As minimum wage levels approach or surpass $15 nationwide, restaurant customers expecting to be greeted by a smiling face will instead be welcomed by a glowing LED screen. As of 2020, self-service ordering kiosks will be implemented at all U.S. McDonald’s locations. Other... Continue Reading →

For the first time ever, scientists using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have found the source of a high-energy neutrino from outside our galaxy. This neutrino traveled 3.7 billion years at almost the speed of light before being detected on Earth. This is farther than any other neutrino whose origin scientists can identify. High-energy neutrinos... Continue Reading →

Last year, I got invited to a super-deluxe private resort to deliver a keynote speech to what I assumed would be a hundred or so investment bankers. It was by far the largest fee I had ever been offered for a talk — about half my annual professor’s salary — all to deliver some insight... Continue Reading →

Ian Burkhart was just 19 when he had an accident that left most of his body paralyzed. “I kept asking the doctors, ‘Is there anything that you guys have heard of that will be able to help?’” he said. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6oNoLWcDqw NeuroLife is an experimental device that can best be described as an artificial link between... Continue Reading →

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes thinks the government should give cash handouts to people with the lowest incomes in order to fight income inequality. And he thinks the money should come from higher taxes on wealthy individuals and even big tech companies, like Facebook. Hughes, 34, was one of Facebook’s co-founders, along with Mark Zuckerberg and... Continue Reading →

They say "labor shortage" like it's a bad thing. "America's labor shortage is approaching epidemic proportions, and it could be employers who end up paying," CNBC reported this week. That was before yet another monthly jobs report showing solid growth in jobs and wages. I always find this framing to be backward. A "labor shortage"... Continue Reading →

A beauty queen gave up her title after a skit was performed at the Miss Massachusetts competition that made fun of the #MeToo movement. Maude Gorman was one of the contestants in the Miss Massachusetts pageant earlier this month, when a crack about #MeToo was made on stage. Gorman, who said she was gang raped... Continue Reading →

The city of Fort Worth is paying homeless people to pick up trash as part of a unique program to clean up the city and turn lives around. Frank Crist, 53, earns $10 an hour to pick up litter in the area southeast of downtown where many homeless people live. He also gets paid vacation... Continue Reading →