People may disagree on just how higher ed is going to change in the coming years and decades and about just what might replace it. But one thing is for certain: this change is assured.Here’s another cut at the problem: Minerva, a new project of Silicon Valley CEO Ben Nelson, is a new university that […]

Many of our peers in the blogosphere and in the media seem to be enjoying jeering at President Obama for announcing new oversight measures for the NSA’s far-reaching surveillance programs under some duress. “Whistleblower Wins” screamed the Huffington Post headline. Drudge ran with “Stared Down By Snowden”. Snowden made him do it, the thinking seems to go, […]

When you think of thousands of stray dogs on the streets you might think of the Soviet Union, or Peru, or any number of struggling, poor societies. What you probably don’t think of is Detroit.But you should. Rolling Stone reports on Detroit’s exploding canine homeless population: Estimates vary, but groups place the number of strays […]

The leader of Egypt’s Coptic Christians, Pope Tawadros II, has decided to cancel his weekly sermons and other public events at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo. In explaining the decision, Pope Tawadros cited the worsening security situation in Egypt. Copts, who make up about ten percent of the country’s population, have been targeted by Islamist […]

The gloat factor is high in China these days, where many nationalists believe a Sino-Russian tag team has Uncle Sam flat on the mat. According to the ultra-nationalist Global Times newspaper in Beijing (sometimes called the Fox News of China), the world sees the Kremlin as the “winner” and the White House as the “loser” […]

Just a couple years ago, it looked like Turkey was ascendant in the Middle East. It had a booming economy, and Prime Minister Erdogan expressed hopes of reclaiming the dominant position it had enjoyed during the days of the Ottoman Empire. For a while, it looked as if Turkey could become a model and power-broker […]

After a year of steady advances, the MOOC train hit some obstacles this summer. The problems started in California, where San Jose State’s pioneering for-credit MOOC partnership with Udacity was put on hold after more than half of the students who took the first set of courses failed their final exams. Among traditional universities, San Jose […]

A new study released Thursday confirms that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline—oil infrastructure that would bring oil from Canada’s tar sands to refineries along America’s Gulf Coast—will not have an impact on carbon emissions. The study, conducted by the energy consulting group IHS CERA, echoes the findings of a draft State Department report released in March.Environmental groups […]

There’s a must-read today from energy visionary Daniel Yergin in the Wall Street Journal. He analyzes the implications of the end of the commodity “supercycle”—the rising commodity prices, caused by surging demand in places like China, that have brought rapid GDP growth to several key players in the global economy. Some history: The supercycle began a decade […]

It’s been less than a month since Detroit officially filed for bankruptcy, but the effects are already being felt outside the Motor City. Wall Street is growing warier of municipal debt in the state, and so nearby cities and counties are finding it considerably more difficult to borrow money. Three Michigan municipalities have already decided to postpone […]