A mid-week round-up of our favorite stories.

Energy efficiency can help the planet and save us money at the same time, but a bill to push through such measures failed in the Senate yesterday.

TAI board member Eliot A. Cohen takes the Obama Administration—along with the whole political establishment—to task for its adolescent posturing.

MOOCs have only begun to drive innovation in higher education, say researchers. Even if the technology is still in its early stages, the demand for flexible and cheap higher education will only grow.

To avoid being infected by the deadly MERS virus, Saudi Arabians should wear face masks and gloves when handling camels, say the kingdom’s officials. In other news, MERS travels to Florida (but not by camel).

Elon Musk and his electric car company Tesla are unlikely to build their next job-creating venture in the Golden State, where the company is based. California’s environmental review laws are so cumbersome that the green company is considering several red states as potential hosts for its new factory.

Over 30,000 Participants in Detroit’s pension funds are preparing to vote on whether to accept the city’s bankruptcy deal or to take their chances in bankruptcy court.

President Obama is a political webmaster and a master manager who also really knows how to wow an audience with his powers of speech. He is not a creative or independent thinker, however, as his Middle East legacy is starting to show.

China’s toxic smog may grab all the headlines, but the country is wrangling with another insidious enemy: soil pollution. Nearly 20 percent of the country’s arable land is polluted, threatening the country’s food supply.

The West needs to expand the scope of its sanctions against Russia, not just to respond to what the Kremlin has already done in Ukraine but also to make it think twice about what it might do elsewhere.