Anecdotal observation tells us that working mothers often drop their careers when their work hours become too demanding. This theory has now been confirmed by a study led by Youngjoo Cha, an assistant professor of sociology at Indiana University. Her research found that once average working hours exceed 50 hours a week, women with children […]

Argentines are now paying over nine pesos for every dollar on the country’s currency black market. La Nacion reports that rampant peso inflation and tight controls on the US dollar are pushing prices up on the “blue dollar” higher than it’s ever been. In this graph from the story, the red line is the price of the […]

A number of universities have been integrating online coursework into their programs in recent years. But Duke University has just pulled out of an online education consortium at the behest of its faculty, the New York Times reports: While [Duke provost Peter] Lange saw the consortium as expanding the courses available to Duke students, some […]

The shale bonanza just keeps on giving. The Williston Basin, one of the biggest sources of shale oil and gas in the US, has much more recoverable energy than previously estimated. This resource, located primarily in North Dakota (there are some fields in South Dakota, Montana and Canada), may have three times as much undiscovered […]

To attract business to her state, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez (R) has taken a page from the playbooks of Governors Bobby Jindal and Sam Brownback: cutting the corporate income tax. While Governor Martinez has yet to follow Jindal and Brownback in their (unsuccessful) attempts to abolish the tax entirely, she clearly wants to join the […]

The Russian energy firm Gazprom is increasingly off its stride in Europe, its largest export market. Bulgaria has managed to negotiate a 20 percent price cut in its new ten-year contract with the gas giant, an unprecedented reversal of fortune from only a short time ago. Gazprom had cut off gas to the Ukraine in […]

India and China remain locked in a standoff in the high Himalayas. Chinese troops erected a fifth military tent at the camp they set up 16 days ago, 19 kilometers inside Indian territory in the remote northern region of Ladakh. “High placed sources” told India’s Zee News that the Chinese troops are unlikely to withdraw.The […]

Newly elected Italian PM Enrico Letta is getting bolder and more assertive by the minute, judging by his remarks at a recent Berlin press conference. According to the FT, Letta said that a single European currency doesn’t do enough to promote economic growth in member countries. He stated that more political union is needed to help […]

Nearly half of all students arrive to college woefully unprepared academically. Now some colleges are looking to massively open online courses (MOOCs) to close the gap. The New York Times reports: While [MOOCs] have enrolled millions of students around the world, most who enroll never start a single assignment, and very few complete the courses. […]

According to reports, the Nigerian military massacred hundreds of civilians in an orgy of bloodletting in a village called Baga on the shores of Lake Chad. Adam Nossiter has the grisly details in the NYT: Days later, the survivors’ faces tensed at the memory of the grim evening: soldiers dousing thatched-roof homes with gasoline, setting […]