Joe Carter

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique for measuring brain activity by detecting the changes in blood oxygenation and flow that occur in response to neural activity. For the past few decades it has been considered one of the most promising tools in neuroscience research for . . . . Continue Reading »

Bloody confrontations erupted again yesterday between the Iranian government and pro-reform activists. As often happens in such circumstances, otherwise sober analysts become intoxicated on the fumes of revolution, leading them to reject realism in favor of ahistorical analogies. Robin Wright, a . . . . Continue Reading »

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is from Nigeria, not New Orleans. But the reaction to his attempted bombing of up a Northwest Airlines jet can only be understood in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. After Katrina America underwent one of the most significant spiritual crises in our nation’s . . . . Continue Reading »

Need a last minute gift recommendation for a young reader? Check out Joseph Bottum’s discussion of over eighty children’s books from the Victorian era to the presen day. . . . . Continue Reading »

More people unclear on that whole ” Thou Shalt Not Steal” concept : With the recession, shoplifting is on the rise, according to booksellers. At BookPeople in Austin, Tex., the rate of theft has increased to approximately one book per hour. I asked Steve Bercu, BookPeople’s owner, . . . . Continue Reading »

Biblical Archaeology Review has a scholarly examination of why Christmas is celebrated on December 25—and it’s likely not, as commonly believed, timed to coincide with a pagan holiday: The most loudly touted theory about the origins of the Christmas date(s) is that it was borrowed from . . . . Continue Reading »

A new study reveals a correlation between living within commuting distance of Manhattan and self-reported levels of happiness. The tri-state area—New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey—ranked, #51, #50, and #49 on the list of most unhappiest states. (Washington, D.C. was also included in . . . . Continue Reading »

New Yorker Ada Calhoun has a secret so perverse, so shocking, that it will scandalize her liberal cohorts : Why am I so paranoid? I’m not cheating on my husband, committing crimes or doing drugs. But those are battles my cosmopolitan, progressive friends would understand. Many of them had to . . . . Continue Reading »

You would think that since God had Moses include “You shall not steal” at least three times in the Pentateuch (Exod. 20:15; Deut. 5:19, Lev. 19:11) we’d be perfectly clear on that whole not stealing thing. But Anglican priest Fr. Tim Jones clarifies for us that what God really . . . . Continue Reading »

Almost every day I read something that serves as a reminder that my understanding of the world is sorely limited. But this is the first time such an epiphany came in a sentence about cocaine and opossums : Cocaine’s a hell of a drug, and even more so when laced with another drug that’s . . . . Continue Reading »