Lifestyle

Delhi's air crosses AQI 400, Mumbai's 10-km commute takes two hours, Bangalore's groundwater is falling. Tier-1 cities are victims of their own success.

India's new middle class buys premium phones while hunting discount deals — aspiration mediated by anxiety in an economy that offers no guarantees.

Ayodhya's Ram Mandir, the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, Tirupati's pilgrim economy: India's religious tourism boom — development policy in sacred dress.

From Fabindia's heritage craft to Dior's global status symbols: how India's wealthy stopped buying rootedness and started buying the same luxury vocabulary

India's exam machine sorts brilliantly, thinks poorly: millions of engineers following algorithms, few who question them. Why the incentives make reform hard.

India solved calorie hunger but not protein hunger. What national surveys show about protein intake, stunting, and why vegetarian diets need diversity to work.

After the marches fade, ordinary cases remain. Policing is necessary but insufficient — most threats come from known people. The case for community-led safety.

Bangalore traded the Garden City for India's Silicon Valley — and got neither. Traffic, lost green cover, priced-out identity: the cost of the IT bet.

SAGA reviews Townhouse Books & Café in St. Charles: an indie bookstore in an 1853 Victorian house on the Fox River — plus sandwiches and salads.

Yoga raises your heart rate when you flow continuously through poses — sun salutations, power yoga, vinyasa. A look at when yoga counts as real cardio.

Plastic surgeons say selfies drive business as millennials seek surgery over what they see in their photos — while psychologists warn the pressure warps values.

Anjali Varghese performed a three-hour solo Bharatanatyam arangetram at The Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin — a visual feast of adavus, abhinaya, and rhythm.

At a 2015 Cupertino fundraiser, Indian-Americans raised $75,000 as the first step toward a $4 million, 200-bed eye hospital in Bihar with 25,000 free

On June 18, 2015, the Eye on India festival hosted actor Anupam Kher in conversation with journalist Victoria Lautman at Film Row Cinema in Chicago.

Why do Indian-American families push so hard on academics? From skilled-worker immigration to the tiger-parent ethos, a look at the culture of excellence.

In 2015, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell pledged to remove artificial flavors and colors from their menus. Customer pressure — not corporate kindness — made it happen.

In 2015 California tore out 2,100 football fields of lawn as the drought deepened. Gov. Jerry Brown said daily-watered grass would be a thing of the past.

Some people say Wi-Fi makes them sick. The WHO says their symptoms are real — but there is no scientific basis linking them to electromagnetic exposure.

A 12-year-old asked Quora what he could do now to join a top university later. The advice he got is worth reading at any age.

A popular Quora thread asked what Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and others did between ages 10 and 22. The answers share a striking pattern.

Pew's 2015 Religious Landscape Study found America's Hindu population reached 2.23 million — making Hinduism the fourth-largest faith, tied with Buddhism.

A Philadelphia dad took his kids to the Boston Marathon, got a warning letter from the school, and wrote back a reply that went viral worldwide.

The Supreme Court ruled that abusing in-laws and barring them from the matrimonial home amounts to mental cruelty — a valid ground for divorce.

A 2015 community announcement: Ekjut, the Chicago-area theater wing, presents Rangmanch par Ek Sham Aap Ke Naam, after the hit staging of Pyar ka Panchnama.

In 2015, drinks giant Diageo committed to voluntary nutrition and alcohol-per-serve labeling across brands like Smirnoff, Tanqueray, and Guinness.

A 21-year Finnish study found men who took saunas 4–7 times a week had far lower rates of fatal heart disease — with the usual observational-study caveats.

Sometimes the allergen isn't the fruit — it's the antibiotic sprayed on it. The 2013 blueberry-pie anaphylaxis case that traced back to streptomycin.

Suchitra Sharma on why lying and loving coexist — from white lies to protect a partner to Clancy Martin's 'Good Lovers Lie' argument.

Shubhli Bhalla reviews Ashwin Sanghi's The Krishna Key — a thriller weaving the legend of Krishna with modern-day murder and conspiracy.

A viral video of a pen-selling child visiting McDonald's for the first time — and what 'first time' videos reveal, and conceal, about poverty.

Psychologist Arthur Aron's 36 questions — escalating self-disclosure designed to build closeness — went viral after Mandy Len Catron tried them in the NYT.

Suchitra Sharma on the Vatican's 'burqa made of flesh' remark about plastic surgery — and why conforming to society's beauty standards is a failure of

Shubhli on why 'it is none of my business' is a cop-out — told through the old mouse-trap parable: when trouble comes, it comes for everyone.

In January 2015, five Disneyland workers contracted measles — including two who were vaccinated — as California's outbreak passed 53 confirmed cases.

From the ₹1 shagun to the nimbu-mirchi totka: a tour of the superstitions — kala tika, black cats, knives as gifts — woven into everyday Indian life.

A 2015 survey of UK divorce lawyers found Facebook cited in over a third of cases — as evidence of infidelity, hidden finances, and rekindled old flames.

When her young niece asked to borrow $25 for a dress, Ayn Rand replied with a famously severe lesson in responsibility — a 1949 letter that went viral in 2015.

A viral story claimed an anonymous woman cured her cancer with ginger and honey. The claim is unverifiable, the source page is gone, and there is no

Suchitra Sharma reflects on how Facebook memorialized accounts keep a loved one's presence alive — 'life goes on' even after death, in the virtual world.

RoboDynamics' Luna — a 5-foot, open-source home robot running Ubuntu and ROS — returned in 2014 with a Kickstarter campaign at $999.

Pamela Druckerman's delightful reflection on the small, hard-won lessons of middle age — from spotting narcissists to the joy of unmedicated sleep.

A Harvard-affiliated study found that eight weeks of mindfulness meditation produced measurable changes in brain regions linked to memory, empathy, and stress.

A simple five-step wake-up routine — set intentions at night, move the alarm across the room, hydrate, and get dressed to move — that makes early mornings

Rajkumar Hirani's PK, starring Aamir Khan as an alien baffled by organized religion, released December 19, 2014 — and went on to become the highest-grossing

Indian singer-songwriter Surjo released his debut album 'The Key Has Turned' in November 2014 — twelve acoustic songs written over three months.

The 'alkaline diet' claims your food can fix your body's pH — it can't. Here's what your body's acid-alkaline balance actually is, and what diet really can do.

Olivier Lafont, the French actor who played Suhas Tandon in 3 Idiots, launched his epic fantasy novel Warrior with Penguin India in late 2014.

In 2014, Imperial professor Chris Toumazou launched Geneu — skincare matched to your DNA via a 30-minute cheek-swab test.

Managing anxiety to tackle a big project, fear to apply for a job — emotional skill matters more than IQ. Here is how to raise a child with high emotional

A 2014 conversation with Koral Dasgupta, author of Power of a Common Man — on Shah Rukh Khan’s marketing genius, her research with 2,000 fans, and writing

A burger costs less than a salad — not by accident. The economics that make ultra-processed calories the cheapest calories, and what they really cost.

Economist Ramanan Laxminarayan's 2014 TEDMED talk warns that antibiotic overuse — in medicine and farming — is burning through our most finite medical resource.

In 2014, ecommerce platform Zepo put four Bandra street chaiwalas online at ChotuChaiWala.com — weekly subscriptions of Mumbai's cutting chai, delivered to

A 2014 study found ATCV-1 — an algae virus thought unable to infect humans — in the throats of 40 of 92 healthy people, who scored modestly lower on

When Hollaback’s NYC street-harassment video went viral in 2014, India’s IndieTube tested Mumbai: Pooja Singh walked for 10 hours in a skirt — and wasn’t

A 2014 TI reflection on body image — the ears, the forehead, the endless list — and the Jubilee Project video that asked why children love their bodies more

A 2014 guest column from Paris-based writer François Gautier on Indian-American identity, brain drain, and cultural pride. From the TI archives.

Therapist Dr. Kelly Flanagan's 2014 essay: marital communication is just reacting — the real troublemakers are nine overlooked patterns: ego, shame, loneliness.

In 2014, Seattle passed an ordinance fining residents and businesses for sending food waste to landfills instead of composting. From the TI archives.

Emma Watson's 2014 UN speech launching the HeForShe campaign reframed feminism as a human issue, becoming one of the most-shared videos of the year.

Turmeric is one of the most studied spices — but 'as effective as 14 drugs' misreads the science. What curcumin research really says, and why

Plantar fasciitis plagues new runners. Heel cups, ball massage, contrast therapy, and night splints — TI's 2014 guide to foot pain, reviewed.

In August 2014, YouTuber Mark Rober showed how a phone thermal camera can read your ATM PIN from keypad heat — and the simple trick that defeats it.

A 2014 Gallup study found that college graduates who had a mentor were twice as likely to be engaged at work and thriving in life — but only 22% ever had one.

Pizza, ice cream, pakoras, doughnuts, white rice — the foods we love that love our waistlines back. A 2014 TI list, fact-checked for today.

In 2014, Chicago's Pankaj and Swati Garg launched Somrus, an Indian cream liqueur of cardamom, saffron, and rose — and Wine Enthusiast gave it 94 points.

In September 2014, German DIY chain Hornbach released a viral ad: a father paints his house black so his bullied goth daughter feels loved at home.

Most marriages don't fail in a single dramatic moment. They fail slowly — taken for granted, compared, cheated, or fought over money. What actually breaks them.

A 2014 NYT report on the 'pretesting effect': students who flunked a quiz before studying did 10% better on the final. Why failing first helps you learn.

In 2014, news anchor Dan Harris was telling TED audiences that meditation would be the next running. TI's Suchitra Sharma on why the skeptics were missing

Spite houses — homes built to annoy a neighbor — are architecture's pettiest subgenre. From Boston's Skinny House to a spite tower on Plum Island, a tour of

By 2014, some parents had learned to reach teenagers by meeting them on social media. Why it sometimes worked — and why the platform was never the point.

Obesity is linked to poorer memory and cognition in animal studies — and chronic inflammation may be the bridge. What the research says about fat, the

Sreepathy's Retro Reel Vol. 24 on A Few Good Men (1992): Jack Nicholson's magnetic villainy, Aaron Sorkin's crackling dialogue, and why 'You can't handle

Retro Reel Volume 23 revisited M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense — the 1999 thriller with six Oscar nominations and cinema's most famous twist.

A 2014 Garvan Institute study found shivering and moderate exercise both trigger irisin release, nudging white fat toward energy-burning brown fat.

A simple eye-makeup playbook: the products worth spending on, a no-drama daily routine, and one rule for balancing bold eyes with the rest of your face.

Chubbiness, Japan's plus-size girl band: ten marshmallow girls chosen from 3,500 auditionees in 2013 as a pushback against the industry's worship of thinness.

Dream interpretation is pop psychology, not settled science — but the classic readings of five common dreams run from Freud to the modern dream dictionary.

Sreepathy's Retro Reel recommends The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) — William Wellman's stark western about mob justice and Henry Fonda's man-in-the-minority.

Stability balls are great fitness tools — but used wrongly with heavy weights, they can explode. A trainer explains the Garcia injury and safe ball use.

The traveler sees what he sees; the tourist sees what he has come to see. A quiz and a reflection on how to actually experience a new place.

When long marriages end over 'incompatibility,' is it really incompatibility — or a midlife crisis? A reflection on marriage, divorce, and the work in between.

From a fit-at-60 Pinky Roshan to a 72-year-old doing push-ups: age is just a number, and exercise works at every stage of life.

The 'Chai, Chat with Books' club reviews Gone Girl: Gillian Flynn's devilish thriller of a marriage gone bad, deceit, and two narrators you can't trust.

Flip teaching reverses the classroom: students watch lesson videos at home and do homework in class. Early results — like Clintondale's — were striking.

Part 3 of a three-part interview with Amish Tripathi: the Upanishads, his favorite books, why Shiva, and the future after the Shiva trilogy.

Not seven pounds — about a third of a kilo. But holiday weight gain is the weight you never lose, and it compounds yearly. The measured evidence and what to do.

Part 2 of a three-part interview with Amish Tripathi: rejection by every publisher, self-publishing The Immortals of Meluha, and the free-chapter marketing

In 2013 Tylenol added red caps warning of liver damage from acetaminophen overdose. Here's why the most common household painkiller can be dangerous.

Part 1 of a three-part interview with best-selling author Amish Tripathi: the philosophy of evil that sparked the Shiva trilogy and his instinctive writing

In 2013 France moved to ban beauty contests for girls under 16. The trigger: a Vogue photo of a sexualized 10-year-old that shocked the country.

A Dutch endocrinologist argued sugar should be treated like a drug — with warning labels and a sugar tax. Here's his case, and what research says.

Forget celebrity diets. The National Weight Control Registry tracked 10,000+ people who lost weight and kept it off — their shared habits are the real key.

A practical packing guide for travelers: match clothing to weather, carry the essentials, pack for your trip length — and travel light.

Nina Davuluri became the first Indian American Miss America in 2013 — and met the moment's racist backlash with grace: 'I have to rise above that.'

Booties, not full boots, are fall's must-have shoe: how to wear ankle booties casually and formally, from flats to heeled styles.

Facebook made us put our 'game face' on all the time — and a 2013 University of Michigan study found the more we used it, the worse we felt.

Retro Reel on Spielberg's Munich (2005): a chilling espionage thriller that becomes a genre-defying meditation on the moral cost of revenge.

An 8-year-old in Slaughter, Louisiana shot his 90-year-old grandmother after playing Grand Theft Auto IV. Later, investigators learned he thought the gun

Celebrity trainer Bob Harper says it's all about diet: you can't out-train a bad diet. How the calorie deficit works — and why exercise still matters.

A 2013 Johns Hopkins study found that malt liquor brands like Steel Reserve and Colt 45 were linked to the most alcohol-related ER visits.

Michelle Obama's 'Songs for a Healthier America' — a 19-track hip-hop album with Jordin Sparks, Ashanti, DMC and more — to fight childhood obesity.

From clothing sizes to wages to workplace respect, plus-size women face bias everywhere — and exercise isn't the whole answer.

Tired of saying 'hurry up' instead of 'I love you'? A mom's vow to slow down and live in the present with her kids — inspired by Rachel Macy Stafford.

Part 2 of the 'Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin' story — Sudhir Mishra's 1996 single-night thriller, and the true family incident behind it.

Spanking and shouting don't teach kids lessons — they teach kids that hitting is okay. Here's what to do instead when your child misbehaves.

An introduction to Pranic Healing: a no-touch practice built on prana — life force — flowing through the body, worked with to support health.

Every minute of exercise may buy you seven minutes of life. How little exercise is enough, and how do you turn it into a habit that actually sticks?

No time to exercise? A 15-minute home workout that mixes cardio and strength can build real fitness. Here's how the 5-4-3-2-1 plan works and why diet still

Process praise beats person praise: why praising a child's effort — not their 'greatness' — builds resilience, and why praise for everything backfires.

Jared Fogle lost 245 pounds on Subway sandwiches and became a famous pitchman — then in 2015 he was convicted of child sex crimes and sentenced to over 15

The 'tongue patch' diet sews a mesh patch onto the tongue to make eating painful. Doctors called it dangerous — and it was never FDA approved.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan skipped meeting Al Pacino to look after Aaradhya — and the media made it national news. An essay on judging women's choices.

From an Indian Army study on leave and affairs to Bangalore's IT crowd: an op-ed asking whether monogamy is believed but not practiced.

WDSRA Girl Scout Troop 200 sponsored the Naperville Municipal Band's Ice Cream Social at the June 13, 2013 concert in Central Park, Naperville.

Pew's 2013 'Breadwinner Moms' report: 40% of US households with kids have moms as primary or sole earners, up from 11% in 1960.

Retro Reel Vol 19: a true 1996 Hyderabad story — a gun at a cinema ticket window, then 'based on a true story' flashes on screen. Guess the film!

South Korea led the world in per-capita plastic surgery in 2013 — roughly one in five women, resume headshots, and graduation-gift nose jobs.

A Charlotte mom called police on her own 13-year-old for stealing $5 worth of Pop-Tarts — and had him arrested for misdemeanor larceny to teach him a lesson.

On May 23, 2013, the Boy Scouts of America voted 61% to admit openly gay youth — ending a century-old ban, while keeping the ban on gay adult leaders.

Eesha Khare, 18, of Saratoga, California, won $50,000 at Intel ISEF 2013 for a supercapacitor prototype that could charge a phone in 20–30 seconds.

An Arizona State study found people low in vitamin C burned less fat during exercise — a reminder that adequate nutrition supports metabolism.

Sreepathy's Retro Reel on Argo (2012): Ben Affleck's dramatization of the Canadian Caper, and what it says about American commitment and meddling.

Newly named Cannes 2013 jury member Vidya Balan turned to designer Sabyasachi for her red-carpet saree looks at the festival.

Shakti Durga, a former Sydney lawyer turned spiritual teacher, discusses her path, her followers, and the idea of the modern female guru.

Ajay Rochester says she has regained 105 pounds since winning The Biggest Loser, opening up about the pressure of being the show's public face.

Juice cleanses, the Zone, Five Factor, South Beach: the celebrity diet plans of 2013, how they worked, and the fine print behind them.

Immigration officer Chris Holmes quit his Border Force job by piping his resignation letter onto a cake — 18 eggs of pure career change.

English Vinglish showed what it costs not to speak English in India; Anju Gattani on Shashi's quiet stand for her own worth.

After hadouken photos came ‘quidditching’: jumping snapshots recreating Harry Potter's broomstick sport, born in Japan and spreading fast.

A University of Winnipeg study of 2,300 students linked heavy texting to shallower moral reasoning — the brevity of the medium may be to blame.

Cornell's Terry Acree on how sight and smell shape flavor: tint Sauvignon Blanc red and tasters taste merlot — a sniff can even sweeten water.

Dubai police showed off a £360,000 Lamborghini Aventador at Dubai Mall — a supercar patrol car as much about marketing as catching speeders.

A 20-year-old woman was gang-raped in a moving car by her husband and two relatives in west Delhi; all three attackers were arrested.

WDSRA recruited runners and walkers for the 2nd Annual DuPage Human Race 5K in Downers Grove, backing programs for people with disabilities.

Veteran teacher Gerald Conti's resignation letter: 27 years at Westhill High, and a farewell to a profession he says ‘no longer exists’.

McMaster's Stuart Phillips explains why lighter weights, more reps to fatigue, build muscle as well as heavy lifting — with less injury risk.

Blended-family chaos meets The Prince: one mom's Machiavellian experiments — Target budgets, school rivalries, and one well-timed white lie.

India's women crime writers — Kalpana Swaminathan, Madhulika Liddle, Swati Kaushal — on plotting murders, female detectives, and gender myths in fiction.

Slow metabolism or just slow habits? The honest, natural ways to nudge your metabolic rate — strength training, protein, sleep — without gimmicks.

Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In argued women hold themselves back at work. The backlash said the system holds them back. Inside one of 2013's fiercest debates.

A 2013 travel startup's gamble: pick two destinations, pay before you know which one you get — for fares cut up to 40 percent. How GetGoing worked.

Short sleep is strongly linked to weight gain — and lab studies show why: less sleep means more eating, especially late-night snacking. The honest evidence.

Why do women still give up their names at marriage while men never do? On identity, history, and the quiet pressure behind the tradition.

The short version: Your memory of a meal counts toward feeling full. Recalling lunch in detail reduces later snacking; eating distracted increases it.

Dale Stephens, founder of UnCollege, argues that with the average graduate carrying $27,000 in debt, college is a gamble worth rethinking.

Romance author Sonali Dev shares seven rules for keeping the love alive when you're losing your mind — from holding hands to yelling it out.

The short version: The 5:2 diet — five normal days, two ~500-calorie days — produces weight loss, but no more than ordinary dieting.

In 2013, Beau Chevassus of Enumclaw, Washington, ordered a 48-shot, $47.30 Frappuccino — then the priciest drink in Starbucks history — and got it free on

In a candid 2013 interview, Nigella Lawson talked about conquering America, her famous figure, the losses that shaped her, and why we should eat less but

Jennifer Love Hewitt graced Shape's March 2013 cover in a bikini, crediting Buti — a yoga-dance-plyometrics fusion — and 60 minutes of daily exercise for

Forgetting names isn't a memory defect, says Kansas State psychologist Richard Harris — it's an interest defect. Care more about people and the names stick.

A Naperville book club takes on Aravind Adiga's Booker-winning 'The White Tiger' — and splits three ways over its brutal portrait of class and caste.

Author Anju Gattani on Walmart's India entry: why a retail giant's American playbook collided with Indian roads, kirana shops, and cultural walls.

A 55-year-old Temple City postal worker was arrested on suspicion of felony child cruelty after allegedly choking an 11-year-old girl at a Commerce park

A 2012 remark by a Karnataka High Court judge sparked outrage — but a national health survey found 54% of Indian women themselves said wife-beating could be

Pittsburgh police said a determined 6-year-old girl didn't hurt anyone when she crashed her mother's car while trying to drive across town to visit her father.

Why periods trigger stubborn breakouts — and the dermatologist-backed ways to prevent them, from salicylic acid to prescription options.

A Melbourne reader's diary of an Indian comedy night: Raju Srivastava, Irfan Malik and Ali Hasan had a full house laughing at itself for four hours.

Pew's January 2013 study found 21% of Hispanics financially support both a parent and a child — vs 5% of whites — and Indian-American families have long

British headlines in the early 2010s announced that fat transfer, injecting a patient's own fat into the face, hands, or buttocks, had become more popular than…

Only a fraction of each Girl Scout cookie box reaches the local troop — so if your goal is to help the girls, handing the troop a donation beats buying a box.

A 2013 University of Miami study found people shown messages about tough times ate 40% more food — and reached for the high-calorie options first.

A University of Utah study found the people most convinced they can multitask are actually the worst at it — the most skilled multitaskers are the ones who

A 2012 University of Wisconsin study found men report more attraction to their female friends than women feel in return — and it can strain both friendships

The nightcap is sleep's most successful con: alcohol helps you fall asleep, then fragments the night, suppresses REM, and worsens snoring.

The most expensive foods are the most faked: olive oil, honey, spices, juices, and fish top the global food-fraud list. How to buy smarter.

Mary Kay Beckman sued Match.com for $10 million after Wade Ridley, a man she met on the site, hid in her garage and stabbed her ten times.

Cougar Town's Nicole Sullivan told Us Weekly that celebrity moms lie about shedding baby weight, saying she felt broken flipping through the magazines.

The car-insurance analogy for health coverage sounds intuitive but collapses on contact: bodies are not cars, and illness is not a driving record.

Lance Armstrong confessed to doping in a January 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey, ending a decade of denials after USADA stripped his seven Tour titles.

Chronic sleep deprivation raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and dementia. Sleep is not downtime; it is maintenance.

Chicago lottery winner Urooj Khan died of cyanide poisoning a day after collecting his check. Police suspected foul play; no one was ever charged.

From eating breakfast to cutting white carbs, the diet strategies celebrities actually use, with honest verdicts on which ones are worth stealing.

A Social Security Administration employee in Baltimore was formally reprimanded in writing for excessive workplace flatulence, and the internet noticed.

Gallup's 2012 global wellbeing poll found Latin Americans the most positive people on earth and Singaporeans the least, proving money is not happiness.

A meditation on December: the year's final month as a season of reckoning, ritual, and the quiet arithmetic of what the year added up to.

Christian parents in Encinitas, California threatened to sue their school district over classroom yoga, calling it Eastern religious indoctrination.

Days after the December 2012 Delhi gang rape, Amitabh Bachchan asked the question haunting India: a nation that worships goddesses yet brutalizes daughters.

In December 2012, researchers proposed that epigenetic 'epi-marks' explain homosexuality, offering a new answer to an old evolutionary puzzle.

Pope Benedict XVI joined Twitter on December 12, 2012, sending his first tweet to the world's Catholics and to anyone else paying attention.

Diet, fashion, and now weddings: Indian couples are giving the big fat wedding a vegan twist, from dairy-free feasts to cruelty-free finery.

Thieves dug up dozens of graves at Paris's Pantin cemetery for gold teeth, and gravediggers were among those arrested in the 2012 crime wave.

From Russia's paperwork maze to India's beautiful chaos, eight destinations where even seasoned travelers are smarter with a guide at their side.

Belgian researchers built a curved LCD display that fits inside a contact lens, promising text messages and directions projected straight onto the eye.

When Charlie Bit My Finger passed 500 million YouTube views in 2012, the 56-second home video became the defining artifact of the early viral internet.

Jane Perez was sued for $750,000 over her Yelp reviews of contractor Christopher Dietz. The case became a landmark fight over online free speech.

Thieves stole thousands of dollars in donated Christmas gifts from St. Anne's Parish in Shrewsbury, MA. Then Hasbro stepped in to replace them all.

Seniors at The Willows in Newhall protested a 2012 order to remove their Christmas tree. The management company backed down within a day.

Naperville's 'Chai, Chat with Books' club brings eight women together over chai and chaat to talk books. A diary note on why book clubs endure.

Researcher Terri Orbuch found that when husbands felt close to their wives' parents, couples reported happier marriages. The in-law effect is real.

Organic or fresh? USDA scientist Gene Lester's research suggests the question is wrong: what matters is how recently produce was picked and handled.

Back in 2012, a 99-cent Android app promised to rescue Thanksgiving with tandoori turkey, kalakand, and five more fusion recipes. The idea outlived the app.

In 2012, Walmart opened at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving and Target at 9. The Black Friday creep had officially swallowed the holiday itself.

In 2012, FDNY firefighter Anthony Harper said colleagues harassed him after he quit the firehouse meals and went vegetarian. The department denied it.

A rodent study reported by the New York Times found that exercise blunted the memory-impairing effects of a high-fat diet. Here is what it did and did not show.

Diwali is the festival of lights, but the real diya is the mind. A short reflection on what the festival asks of us, from our 2012 archives.

This book column looks at Lawrence Anthony's The Elephant Whisperer: a rogue elephant herd, a Zululand reserve, and a bond that crossed species.

Fabiola Mann, 15, of Harrow-on-the-Hill scored 162 on the 2012 Mensa IQ test — two points above Einstein and Hawking — and hoped to study medicine at Cambridge.

For cancer patients facing the physical and emotional toll of treatment, companion animals can provide comfort, structure, and a quieter kind of support.

No magic, no crash diets: three rules for weight loss that actually hold up — eat honestly, move daily, and fix your sleep before your supplements.

Chai, Chat With Books is a small suburban book club of eight women who share a love of reading over tea, chaat, and lively conversation.

A 2012 school debate in Tennessee asked a fair question: if homework is practice, why score it like a test? The case for and against grading homework.

In 2012, Indian-Americans were petitioning the USPS for a Diwali stamp — a campaign, led by Ranju Batra's Diwali Stamp Project, that finally succeeded four

Farm stays and harvest holidays: why some travelers are trading beach resorts for dawn milking, muddy boots, and a week of a farmer's life.

Weight loss is not magic and never instant. If the weight took months or years to put on, losing it takes time too — steady habits beat crash diets.

Gaithersburg Elementary scrapped worksheets in 2012 and assigned only 30 minutes of nightly reading — and test scores held up.

Stanford and Northwestern researchers taught volunteers a 30-character password without ever telling them — using a Guitar Hero-style game.

A 2012 European Heart Journal study of 43,265 people found a subset of obese people at normal risk of heart disease and cancer — if they were fit.

McDonald's announced its first all-vegetarian outlets near Amritsar's Golden Temple and the Vaishno Devi shrine — a milestone for the Big Mac empire.

Cosmetic procedures promise confidence, but the brochures skip the risks. An honest look at what surgery can and cannot change, and the questions to ask first.

Dhoom 3 took over downtown Chicago in 2012 — Aamir Khan's villain, Abhishek and Uday Chopra's cops, and a river shoot that stopped traffic.

Sony's Bravia XBR-84X900, unveiled at IFA 2012: an 84-inch 4K LED TV at 3840x2160 — four times Full HD — with 4K X-Reality Pro upscaling.

The American groom was once the top prize in India's marriage market. Brides' families are looking twice — and often looking away.

Besse Cooper turned 116 — one of only eight people ever to do so. Her secret, per Guinness: mind your own business, and don't eat junk food.

Women were told to fear the weight room. The men had it right all along: lift heavy, eat enough, rest — and stop doing endless cardio.

Facebook has killed the mystery of school reunions — so why do people still go? On nostalgia, comparison anxiety, and the ones worth attending.

The One of a Kind artisan exhibition in Naperville brought together dozens of Midwestern makers — ceramics, jewelry, textiles — with a growing South Asian

Shabnam, once Shirley Ann Hodges, married Gul Khan in 1997 and was imprisoned in Karachi for 13 years - until Pakistan human rights groups took up her case.

Rosie O'Donnell's August 2012 heart attack — which she nearly ignored — spotlighted how women's cardiac symptoms differ from the classic chest-clutch.

Brittany Wenger, 17, won the 2012 Google Science Fair with a neural network that detects breast cancer malignancy with 99% accuracy.

Adelaide and Colorado scientists found opioids trigger addiction via the immune system's TLR4 receptor — and (+)-naloxone blocks it in lab studies.

Three daycare workers in Dover, Delaware were arrested in August 2012 for encouraging toddlers to fight each other — and filming it on their phones.

Ten accessories that transform any room — from statement lighting to layered textiles to a single perfect plant. Small touches, big difference.

Ten fitness goals worth chasing — from a 5K to a two-minute plank to a sunrise yoga practice. A bucket list for women who want to feel strong.

MONEY magazine named Naperville one of America’s best places to live in 2012 — top schools, Ribfest, Centennial Beach, and the famous Riverwalk.

An August 2012 Pediatrics study found that students in states with strong school junk-food laws gained less weight — evidence that policy shapes waistlines.

Detroit Public Schools promised new Nike shoes to students who showed up on Student Count Day in 2012 — because in Michigan, attendance day means funding day.

In August 2012, an IIM-Ahmedabad professor's decision to renounce the material world made headlines — a reminder of what the rat race costs the soul.

Austin Wierschke, 16, of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, retained the title of America's fastest texter — winning $50,000 in the LG championship in Times Square.

Russian police found 70 members of the Fayzarahmanist sect — including 20 children — living in an underground bunker near Kazan for nearly a decade.

Thousands of Indian parents follow their children to America — and find themselves in a strange limbo: comfortable homes, loving families, and days that

Don MacKenzie bought a 17-pound, roughly 80-year-old lobster nicknamed Lucky Larry from a Connecticut restaurant — and set him free in Long Island Sound.

Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan carried the Olympic torch through Southwark, London, on July 26, 2012 — a day before the Games opened.

How McDonald's turned its McCafé coffee line into a serious Starbucks rival — and won a Consumer Reports blind taste test on the way.

Jittery after Aurora, 100 moviegoers in Edgewater, NJ were evacuated from a Dark Knight Rises showing when a man opened the emergency exit mid-film.

Savannah Dietrich, 17, faced contempt charges for tweeting her attackers' names in defiance of a court order. On July 23, 2012, the charges were dropped.

Crash diets promise magic, but lasting weight loss comes from food as daily medicine: whole foods, gradual habits, and the wisdom of traditional eating.

Three simple cucumber preparations for hot weather: a cucumber-radish raita, a quick kachumber-style salad, and a cucumber-mint cooler.

Blind-tasting research says the price tag changes how wine tastes more than the wine does: what the studies on expensive vs cheap wine actually found.

The bathroom scale is a noisy, misleading instrument. The case for tossing it — and judging your health by behaviors instead of a number.

Food neophobia — reluctance to try unfamiliar foods — peaks between ages two and six; researchers say picky eating is a normal stage, not a parenting failure.

The 2012 Summer Writing Program in Naperville wraps up on July 26 — with the possibility of year-round lessons, and student work to be published.

The research on lasting weight loss points away from rigid restriction and toward sustainable plans: total calories over time matter more than banning any

Marrying into Indian family life means marrying the family, the festivals, the food debates — and learning that 'compromise' has a much larger cast than two.

In early July 2012, Brad Pitt's mother Jane Pitt wrote to the Springfield News-Leader endorsing Mitt Romney and criticizing Obama on abortion and gay marriage.

Why US road-accident victims can win life-changing damages while India's Motor Accident Claims Tribunals award far less — and what the road toll costs families.

The latte factor is real — a $5 coffee is $1,825 a year. But the 'cut your lattes' framework also ignores the structural forces no budget can fix.

The 2012 internet loved 'never post this on Facebook' lists. The unasked question was harder: what is social media actually for?

A school in India reportedly used height as an admissions criterion. Why the policy failed every test — developmentally, ethically, and legally under the

The 'nagging' label frames repetition as a character flaw instead of what it usually is: the response to commitments that were never kept.

Nora Ephron died June 26, 2012, at 71. Readers who returned to her final book, I Remember Nothing (2010), found the quiet goodbye she never announced: 'What

Why does 'lucky skin' look so effortless? Dermatologists point to seven boring daily habits — sun protection, sleep, hydration, and food-first nutrition.

IIT Delhi's plan for a new Sonipat campus reopened a national question: can the IITs scale up access without diluting the excellence that made them elite?

India's famously low-crime villages — like doorless Shani Shingnapur in Maharashtra — run on community trust and panchayat dispute resolution, not locks.

Once a lovers' paradise, Bengaluru's Cubbon Park lost its quiet corners to traffic and Metro works — now a plan for 92 acres of fragrant gardens may win

A Journal of Labor Research study found regular exercisers earned about 9% more than non-exercisers — likely through energy, cognition, and productivity.

Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi won the 2012 French Open mixed doubles title 7-6, 6-1 over Santiago Gonzalez and Klaudia Jans-Ignacik — their second Grand

The foraging movement went mainstream: many plants dismissed as weeds — dandelion greens first among them — are edible, nutritious, and genuinely delicious.

In June 2012, a world-renowned parasitologist was ejected from a Barnes & Noble children's section — because a shopper felt 'uneasy' about a man alone.

Research complicates the more-is-better view of exercise: excessive training carries real risks, scientists warned, though inactivity remains the bigger danger.

Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton hit Allison Melnick's birthday party in June 2012 — the formerly feuding pair's friendship, visibly back on.

A survey found 96% of women feel guilt daily vs 70% of men. Is it conscience, conditioning, or the impossible standard of doing everything at once?

Couples who work out together stick with it longer and report higher satisfaction. The science of social accountability — and the Koehler effect that makes

Snigdha Nandipati's 2012 Scripps win on 'guetapens' made five straight Indian-American champions — and turned the spelling bee into a study of preparation

Antilia — Mukesh Ambani's 27-storey Mumbai residence — remains the sharpest symbol of India's inequality debate: obscene excess, or a family's private money?

India's Supreme Court ruled that sex obtained through a false promise of marriage constitutes rape under the IPC — a major statement on consent in Indian law.

A Swiss woman died of starvation after attempting 'Breatharianism' — living on sunlight alone. The medical verdict on the lethal belief is unambiguous.

A 2012 study exposed extreme vanity sizing — Armani's '33-inch' jeans measured far larger. Why the clothing industry lies to you about your waist.

A five-year-old arrived at school with 89 grams of marijuana in a backpack. The headlines wrote themselves — but the real story is about a child's

Can street smarts be taught? A look at whether parents can pass on the ability to read situations, spot danger, and navigate unfamiliar environments.

Desmond Hatchett of Knoxville fathered 30 children with 11 women by 2012 — and his minimum-wage income left some mothers receiving .49 a month in child support.

Denmark tried a fat tax in 2011 and repealed it in 2012; Mexico's sugary-drink tax worked better. The economics and the liberty debate behind taxing

No living writer knows censorship like Salman Rushdie. His decades-long argument: censorship protects the powerful, never the weak — and it has only

Satyamev Jayate aired in 2012 without commercial breaks — a deliberate choice that changed how India watched television tackle female foeticide and child abuse.

High triglycerides raise heart-disease risk even when cholesterol looks normal. What they are, the NCEP ranges, and the food-first steps that bring them down.

A May 2012 study: one US child under three lands in the ER every four hours from a bottle, pacifier, or sippy cup — mostly from falls while walking.

When 'Satyamev Jayate' debuted in May 2012, critics attacked Aamir Khan's emotions instead of the issues. Film critic Subhash K.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's novels map the interior lives of Indian and immigrant women — and much of their power lies in what her characters leave unsaid.

A Bombay High Court judge's 'be like Sita' remark to a wife in 2012 sparked a debate about mythology, marital endurance, and what courts owe women seeking

By 2012 up to 90% of young adults in East Asia were nearsighted; researchers blamed the indoor life and prescribed a fix: a couple of hours of sunlight daily.

Child predators rarely act through sudden approaches — they groom. The warning signs experts highlight, and why awareness beats fear.

Family-based behavioral programs — not diets, drugs, or surgery — are the evidence-backed first line for childhood obesity. What they involve.

Brain scans show novels light up more than the language centers — fiction trains empathy, simulates experience, and rewires how we understand others.

Sachin Tendulkar's 100th international century (March 2012) and his 39th birthday — a look at the milestone that defined an era of Indian cricket.

The beauty industry sells empowerment in a tube — but the daily ritual of makeup, products, and perfection has a price. An essay on the pressure.

Salecia Johnson, 6, was handcuffed by Milledgeville police at her elementary school in April 2012 — igniting a national debate on discipline of young children.

Studies once found cohabitation predicted divorce — the 'cohabitation effect'. The real mechanisms: sliding vs deciding, selection, and age.

An Ohio State study found preschoolers whose teachers pointed out letters and words during storybook reading read better one and two years later.

A 2012 Thai trial found curcumin reduced heart attacks after bypass surgery — a real, small, unreplicated study. What it means and what it absolutely doesn't.

In a 2012 Science study, six Guinea baboons learned to distinguish correctly spelled four-letter words from nonwords — no speech required.

ABC News reported on the K-E diet in April 2012: brides-to-be wore nasal feeding tubes for 10 days, fed 800 calories a day, to lose 10-20 pounds.

Sharon Mathai, a Queens-born Malayali on The Voice season 2, charmed three coaches with Adele's 'Rumor Has It' — and chose Team Adam Levine.

Declared stillborn in Chaco, Argentina, a premature baby was found alive in her coffin 12 hours later. Her mother named her Luz Milagros — Miracle Light.

A 2012 study found moderate drinkers solved creative word puzzles faster than sober controls — a narrow effect on divergent thinking, not advice.

Exeter researchers built a 3D printer that extrudes molten chocolate layer by layer — mass-personalized confectionery, before 3D printing went mainstream.

Bubba Watson beat Louis Oosthuizen in a 2012 Masters playoff with an impossible hooked wedge from the pine straw on the 10th — golf's most famous recovery shot.

Skip the fad diets: the fundamentals of everyday nutrition — whole foods, hydration, protein, sleep — work for life and for training alike.

Spanish researchers found that people who ate the most fast food were 51% more likely to develop depression — bad for the waistline, and the blues too.

The CDC put autism at 1 in 88 children in 2012. Behind the numbers — and the deficits they describe — are minds with their own distinct strengths.

Forensic artist Richard Neave reconstructed Jesus with dark skin, dark eyes, and short curly hair — nothing like the fair-skinned figure in Western art.

Sham marriages between siblings and paid foreign partners were a known immigration-fraud route. The mechanics, the detection — and the desperation behind them.

By 2012 the iPhone 4S's 8-megapixel camera was eating the point-and-shoot alive. The honest answer: it depends on what you shoot.

At a New York panel on young brains and video games, experts weighed the iPad's place in childhood: a powerful shelf of toys — or an electronic babysitter?

NBC's The Biggest Loser split its season-13 makeover week across two episodes — April 3 and April 10 — ending with a White House workout alongside Michelle

Fashion keeps sorting women's bodies into fruit and vegetable shapes — pear, apple, carrot, eggplant. The taxonomy says more about marketing than about bodies.

Kindness isn't just a trait kids are born with — research suggests it's a teachable skill, and age three is exactly the right time to start.

A grade-5 story by Shlok Sharma of Naperville: Joe's mom is disappointed in his writing scores and buys him a diary. What happens when he starts his journal?

Lululemon's retail playbook included a deliberate tactic: employees stationed near fitting rooms to eavesdrop on shoppers — customer research without the

Guest review of Khushwant Singh's 1956 Partition classic: Mano Majra, the doomed love of Juggut Singh and Nooran, and why this slim novel still haunts.

Dr. Ken Murray’s viral 2011 essay observed that doctors facing death often choose comfort care over aggressive treatment.

Photos of Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump posing with slain wildlife from a Zimbabwe hunt ignited a 2012 backlash — and a trophy-hunting debate that

One DMV clerk, one refused donor box, and the real arithmetic of giving: a single donor’s organs reach several people on the waiting list.

A prenup with a weight-gain penalty clause made headlines in 2012. Why body-policing contracts are legally shaky — and what they do to a marriage.

What celebrity fitness really involves: hours in the gym, personal trainers, yoga, and strict diets. The honest truth behind the perfect bodies on screen.

Friday cooking column Vol 5: a slow rajma in tomato-onion gravy, jeera rice, and cucumber raita — the weeknight reward meal.

Two body-positivity advocates — Molly Barker and Caitlin Boyle — ditched makeup, blow-drys, and shaving for 60 days. What the experiment revealed about

Hungry at midnight? Here's how to snack late without wrecking your sleep — warm milk, fruit, handfuls of nuts, and what Ayurveda says about night eating.

In 2012 the full Hogwarts castle model — hand-sculpted, 1:24 scale, filmed in every Harry Potter movie — went public at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour.

J.K. Rowling's first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy, was announced in 2012. The trap only a billion-copy author faces: every new book is a referendum.

Holiday kilos, a new year, and an unexpected discovery: one writer's lighthearted account of resolving to get fit and stumbling into a local velodrome.

A 2012 Denver investigation found welfare debit cards used at casinos and strip clubs. The story behind the headlines — and what actually changed.

Leap Day's strangest tradition: women get to propose. From Scottish legend to Leap Year dances, here's where the February 29 custom came from.

A gene variant called 5-HTTLPR was once said to predict divorce. It doesn't. Here's what the actual research found about DNA and marital satisfaction.

Is there really a list of foods you must eat every day? Here's the honest answer behind the superfood hype — and what actually matters on your plate.

A stranger's cruel get down to the gym, fatty remark in a nightclub pushed 26-year-old mother Sarah Gould to lose six stone in time for her wedding.

Penn State researchers found that active people report more excitement and enthusiasm — and that on any given day, being more active than usual delivers a

A Tel Aviv University study found a protein-rich breakfast including dessert helped dieters lose more weight and keep it off over 32 weeks than a strict diet.

In February 2012, Texas authorities removed 11 children from a Dayton home where a registered sex offender lived, finding eight confined, some tied to beds.

Gottman's research says contempt is the strongest predictor of divorce. An argument that maintaining a baseline of respect is a condition for good behavior

A viral video by competitive eater Furious Pete showed how before-and-after fitness photos can be faked in five hours with chips, soda, oil, and a tanning bed.

M.I.A.'s middle finger during the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show in February 2012 became one of the most discussed — and legally disputed — halftime moments.

Maitreyee Das launches her Friday food column — a Bengali fish lover's quest for an easy recipe inspired by a restaurant spinach-and-cod dish.

A humorous taxonomy of Facebook archetypes — the humble-bragger, the vaguebooker, the philosophical memer — and why most of us are two or three of them at once.

The pencil-thin eyebrow of the 1990s is giving way to fuller, more natural brows — a shift toward a more individual, less over-groomed beauty ideal.

A reader review of Khorshed Bhavnagri The Laws of the Spirit World, the automatic-writing book born of the tragic 1980 loss of her sons Vispi and Ratoo.

Footage of Texas Judge William Adams beating his disabled teenage daughter — recorded on her webcam and uploaded in 2011 — sparked a national debate.

Paper-thin fabric, fake pockets, sizes that mean nothing: seven things the women's clothing industry gets wrong that men's clothing gets right.

TMZ reports Heidi Klum will file for divorce from Seal after nearly seven years of marriage — the end of the couple famous for their lavish annual vow renewals.

James Tapke, 41, was charged with child endangering after allegedly binding his 12-year-old daughter with duct tape and shutting her in a dog cage.

Vanity sizing: how clothing manufacturers label garments with sizes bearing little relation to real measurements — a quiet, decades-long consumer deception.

In Mumbai, parents paying Rs 12,000–18,000 in school fees were outsourcing single Std X projects for Rs 26,000 — a booming cottage industry around schoolwork.

The returnee NRI: mid-Atlantic Hindi, unfavourable comparisons, suitcases of American brands. An affectionate roast of the annual NRI season in India.

Zhang Jun, the first Chinese dancer to study Indian classical dance in India, has died — a life of Bharatanatyam, Kathak and cultural diplomacy between

In January 2012, a New York Papa John's printed 'lady chinky eyes' on an Asian-American customer's receipt. She tweeted the photo — and the internet did the

When white leaders succeed, it's competence. When black leaders succeed, it's luck. On the racial attribution bias in sports commentary, business coverage —

A University of Chicago study found that math-anxious female teachers can transmit the 'boys are better at math' stereotype to their girl students — who

Psychologist James Pennebaker's 2011 book The Secret Life of Pronouns: what twenty years of text analysis reveal about the hidden inner life of tiny words.

In 2011, researcher Christopher Sibona surveyed 1,000+ Facebook users on unfriending: who gets cut, why, and what finally triggers the click.

In 2011, sharp-eyed readers repeatedly caught Indian newspapers lifting stories from the Daily Mail and others without credit.

A Christmas letter to Santa from our corner of the world — on what children really want, what adults have forgotten, and the milk and cookies on the counter.

In January 2011, even Mark Zuckerberg's own Facebook page was compromised. If the founder isn't safe, what chance do the rest of us have?

Straight A's don't always mean a great education. On grade inflation, helicopter parents, and what teachers wish parents understood about the parent-teacher

Diaper rash cream on your face? Red wine baths? A clear-eyed look at the internet's strangest skin remedies — which have real science behind them and which

Dr. Wenyuan Shi's UCLA lab tested a peptide mouthwash (C16G2) that wipes out Streptococcus mutans — the main cause of cavities — while sparing the rest of

Pearls & Petals, a day spa in Ahmedabad, rides India's Ayurvedic spa wave — rose, turmeric, sandalwood and saffron, the kitchen apothecary turned into ritual.

Demi Moore announced the end of her six-year marriage to Ashton Kutcher in November 2011, closing one of Hollywood's most Twitter-documented romances.

Happy couples gain weight, singles stay slim: a Heidelberg study of 2,000 people linked relationship happiness to body weight — and a crisis can trigger a diet.

Post-2008, American homes are getting more practical: drop zones replace grand foyers, open family rooms replace formal rooms — and the McMansion is out.

A reader meets Maneka Gandhi at a People for Animals launch and finds her hour-long talk impressive. A brief 2011 snapshot.

Psychology studies link a taste for sweet foods with agreeableness and helpfulness — embodied cognition ties the sensation of sweetness to sweet behavior.

In October 2011, Western governments issued travel advisories for India — and New Delhi pushed back hard. Why S.M. Krishna called the language disproportionate.

In Japan, the yaeba trend has women paying dentists hundreds of dollars to glue on crooked, fang-like canines — a deliberate imperfection seen as cute and

A 2011 guest column on cyber-revenge: when anger meets the internet, the whole world becomes your audience — and the author offers her calming mantras.

Walking or cycling to work is linked to substantially lower obesity risk — because it's exercise built into a routine you already do every day.

Whiskey was never actually a men's drink — it just had a men's marketing budget. On women claiming their pour, neat or on the rocks.

A poem by Shlok Sharma, then a fifth-grader in Naperville, on the mistakes he made — from punching Justin Bieber to falling into a tributary. Childhood humor.

What research actually says about raising a smart toddler: talk more, read aloud, play unstructured — and be skeptical of educational apps.

What actually separates extraordinary people from the rest? Not talent — purpose, discipline, resilience, and the habit of finishing what they start.

Why do some people learn faster? Growth mindset, prior knowledge, deliberate practice, sleep and metacognition — what the learning research actually says.

In 2011, Ohio mother Kelley Williams-Bolar was convicted of felonies for enrolling her daughters in a better school district — one of several such cases.

Psychologists found that for complex decisions, people who slept on it chose better than deliberators — the 'deliberation-without-attention' effect.

In 2011, Additional Solicitor General Darius Khambata's legal opinion forced the Mumbai passport office to concede: a divorced woman may keep her married name.

A reported $1.4 million bill for one undocumented patient's care reopened debate over emergency treatment, uncompensated care, and 'medical deportations.'

A 2011 UK survey found four in ten working mothers had sent a sick child to school, unable to take time off — though a vitamin brand commissioned the poll.

After a student's 2011 suicide at IIM Bangalore, hard questions were raised about pressure, relationships, and support at India's elite institutions.

SAT reading and writing scores were falling in 2011. But for students taking the test, one question mattered more: what actually raises your score?

In September 2011, Indonesian women marched through Jakarta in miniskirts and leggings — Southeast Asia's first SlutWalk — against victim-blaming.

A 2011 reader's review of 'Along the Way,' a novel of Indian IT professionals' loves, careers, and compromises — from Andhra campuses to American cubicles.

Some US cities moved to keep snack trucks away from schools during school hours to fight childhood obesity. Do vendor restrictions work — and are they fair?

An honest essay on stepping back from work to raise kids: the joy, the lost identity, the judgment from both sides — and why every mother is a working mother.

A reader's review of Brian Weiss's Many Lives, Many Masters — the case of Catherine, past-life regression, and why the book eases fear of death.

A Danish study of 161,696 young men linked hospital-treated childhood infections with lower IQ — an association, not proof of cause, from later research.

Budget clothing chains are great for basics and terrible for tailoring. A practical guide to what's worth buying cheap — and what isn't.

Stanford law professor Ralph Richard Banks' provocative 2011 book on the African American marriage decline — and his controversial advice: 'marry out.'

From the undeciphered Indus script to Brahmi, Devanagari, Tamil, and Bengali — how India's writing systems evolved over four thousand years.

Bill Labram and Peggy Fryer fell in love in 1947 and were split by her father. Sixty-three years later, both 80, they finally married.

Attachment research shows the mother-son bond shapes boys' emotional intelligence and outcomes — and the 'separate to become a man' narrative is more

Why would competing organisms ever help each other? The evolution of generosity — kin selection, reciprocity, and why cooperation outcompetes selfishness.

CrossFit inspires devotion and fierce skepticism in equal measure. Guest contributor Nick Perri examines the method, the results, and the injury question.

In 2011, newlywed Reese Witherspoon toured a $14M Malibu home then occupied by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Inside the celebrity real-estate carousel.

Kim Robinshaw lost eight stone after 'virtual gastric band' hypnotherapy in 2011. A remarkable anecdote — but anecdotes are not evidence.

Arun Shourie, SAP Labs' V.R. Ferose, and author TGC Prasad — a gathering of the serious thinkers India's public discourse doesn't reflect enough.

Tabloids fretted over Angelina Jolie's thinness in 2011 — while celebrating the thinness they claimed to worry about. The double bind, examined.

Toning shoes, green tea extract, diet pills — the weight-loss industry sells shortcuts the evidence doesn't support. What actually works is unsellable.

The fear that meatless cooking is less satisfying or less flavorful has proved groundless. What vegetarian food actually requires is technique, not apology.

Navy, burgundy, camel, and emerald — the four colors stylists reach for when a shade has to work on any complexion. Why each one earns its place.

A survey claimed women spend five hours a day gossiping. The methodology collapses under scrutiny — and the stereotype it feeds has a long history.

Reports in 2011 said Rihanna spent about $23,000 a week, not a month, on her hair. Revisiting the tabloid claim, her stylist, and the sauna rescue.

Shubhli Bhalla on judging people by their souls instead of their dress size — a meditation on beauty, spirit, and what actually lasts.

The luxury baby market keeps booming even in downturns. Why parents pay $3,500 for a crib — and why it is not actually safer than a cheap one.

From the Jewish peyot to the Sikh kesh to the sadhu's full beard — why four faiths treat facial hair as a matter of devotion, and how differently they mean it.

A 2011 review in the Journal of Family Practice found no evidence that colon cleansing helps healthy adults — and documented real risks, from infection to

A reader's review of Jean Sasson's 'Princess' — the ghostwritten story of Princess Sultana and the appalling treatment of women in Saudi Arabia.

The sleepover question, the curfew question, the car question: parenting a teenager is a negotiation about control. Research says the painful version is not

Investor Jim Rogers moved his family to Singapore so his daughters would grow up fluent in Mandarin. Was it genius parenting — or a sign of the times?

Psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson's research-backed nine strategies for reaching goals — from getting specific to building your willpower muscle.

Maitreyee Rajaput, Arti Jain and Charmy Sheth swept the top three CA final ranks in 2011 — and girls outscored boys on pass percentage too.

Toronto-born Sim Bhullar, a 7-foot-5 Sikh of Punjabi descent, became the first player of Indian origin to reach the NBA — starting at New Mexico State.

In 2011, an 11-year-old Brazilian boy made spoons stick to his chest. Fun to watch — but science says the trick is sticky skin, not superpowers.

Arun Shourie's book on raising his son Aditya carries his wife Anita's wisdom: gratitude for an ordinary, boring, eventless day — a caregiver's creed.

A 2011 analysis of online emotion reportedly found anger peaking on Thursdays. The likely culprit: the accumulated frustrations of the working week.

A Danish company turned autistic adults' attention to detail into a software-testing advantage — proof that matched jobs beat conventional hiring rituals.

Kerala tops India on female literacy and health stats, yet patriarchal norms in districts like Kannur show progress on paper is not progress for all women.

A delayed study set off debate over whether meditation protects the heart. The honest picture: stress reduction is well supported; cardiac benefits aren't.

A reader's review of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's Palace of Illusions: the Mahabharata retold through Draupadi's fierce, questioning voice.

Neuroscience suggests handwriting engages the brain in ways typing doesn't — from letter recognition in kids to deeper learning in older students.

Demi Moore's DNA Foundation targeted the trafficking of Nepalese women into India's sex industry — a route NGOs say claims thousands yearly.

Botox may do more than smooth wrinkles — research suggests paralyzing frown muscles can blunt emotional experience itself. The science of facial feedback.

A Hamburg teen forgot to mark her 16th-birthday invite private on Facebook. Some 1,500 strangers showed up — and she fled her own party.

Low-fat diets can suppress testosterone and muscle growth, but high LDL is still a heart risk. Where the cholesterol-muscle research actually lands.

From High Line yoga to Bryant Park bootcamps, NYC's free outdoor fitness classes have become a tourist attraction in their own right.

It's not just the bullied kids who sleep badly — the bullies do too. Poor sleep erodes impulse control, and behavior follows.

The Melody, a new Bronx co-op, is NYC's first building designed to fight obesity — with jazz in the stairwells and gyms indoors and out.

Co-sleeping is normal across much of the world, but the safety evidence is nuanced. Room-sharing vs bed-sharing, SIDS risk, and what research supports.

Consumer Reports ranked Jenny Craig the top commercial diet plan in 2011. The honest verdict: structure helps, but maintenance stays unsolved.

Cosmetic surgery was once overwhelmingly female. A growing share of patients are men — and the industry is courting them openly.

Meghana Athreye on the lifelong human search for God — and why every borrowed description, however beautiful, falls short of the thing itself.

Bhutan's 31-year-old king announced his engagement to Jetsun Pema, 21, before parliament — weeks after Britain's royal wedding.

Maria Shriver reportedly suspected the truth long before the LA Times broke it: how the Schwarzenegger marriage unraveled in May 2011.

A 2011 study of 357 adoptive families found marital strain at 9 months predicted babies' sleep problems at 18 months — and not the other way around.

Bubba Watson never took a golf lesson, yet won twice on Tour in 2011. What his self-taught swing says about talent and instruction.

First impressions form in seconds, and clothes do a lot of the talking. Why presentation is communication — and why the judgment it invites isn't fair.

Lemon juice is a popular kitchen remedy for acne — mildly antibacterial but risky in the sun. What the chemistry actually supports, and the caveats.

Years of dabbling in decluttering led to a bigger idea: extreme downsizing. On ruthlessness, Martha Stewart fantasies, and living with less.

Inside New Oriental's $6,100 cram course: two months, six days a week, and SAT math scores 114 points above American applicants — plus a debate about what

A University of Colorado study found fat removed by liposuction returns within a year — elsewhere. Why the body defends its total fat mass.

Blotting a greasy pizza slice or pakodas with a napkin removes a little surface oil — a few dozen calories at most. Modest, but real, and worth knowing.

Studies show marital satisfaction drops after the first child arrives; researchers advise expectant parents to hone their marriage skills alongside baby prep.

On Jamaica Bay in Queens, Hindu immigrants make offerings to the waters — coconuts, clay bowls, limes — creating a sacred geography and a debate about

The unwritten rules women navigate at work — from after-hours drinking to strip clubs — and the expert advice on handling the situations that underscore a

A week before the April 2011 royal wedding, Katie Couric compared Diana's tortured experience to Kate Middleton's prospects — with a personal anecdote from

Sleep position doesn't reveal your personality — but it does affect reflux, snoring, and back pain. What each position does to your body.

An overview of Pranic Healing, the energy-healing system formalized by Master Choa Kok Sui — a 20th-century synthesis of ancient energetic traditions.

Idli in Chennai, parathas in Punjab, kochuri in Kolkata, dhokla in Gujarat — a tour of India’s regional breakfasts, a mosaic of dozens of distinct mornings.

In a British survey, 30% said admitting to mental illness publicly would be difficult — versus 20% for coming out as gay.

Eight hours is a slogan, not a prescription. Why sleep need varies, what the 7–9 hour guideline really means, and how to find your number.

Fear produces compliance without internalization; Baumrind’s research points to high expectations plus high warmth. On why respect works and fear doesn’t.

Research on maternal exercise has shifted the question from “is it safe?” to “how much, and what kind?” — with effects that reach the child not yet born.

A hidden camera discovered in a Mumbai McDonald's women's restroom in 2012 — and what it exposed about surveillance, miniaturization, and the privacy gap in

April is National Sexual Abuse Awareness Month. On why honest sex education is one of the most powerful tools for abuse prevention.

True short sleepers carry a rare genetic variant like ADRB1. Everyone else who sleeps six hours is probably just sleep-deprived and can’t tell.

A Bangalore call-center firm could hire only 3 of every 100 graduates in 2011, exposing India's employability gap and the failures of its education system.

April 2011: after a decade of meat worship, top chefs started treating vegetables as the center of the plate. How they made veggie dishes taste meaty.

At 92, Clara Tang was committed to stand trial for the 2010 killing of her 98-year-old husband in Sydney — Australia's oldest woman to face a murder trial.

Sexting and cyberbullying are devastating young lives, often overlapping: how adolescent impulsivity meets digital permanence — and what parents can do.

Theresa May’s March 2011 student visa overhaul hit Indian students hardest: stricter English and money rules, curbs on post-study work, and a crackdown on

In 2011, Matalan sold padded bras to girls as young as eight. The controversy, the pattern behind it, and the fight over the sexualisation of childhood.

Crying at work carries different consequences for women than for men. What the research shows -- and practical advice for navigating the double standard.

Why group dates caught on in India: safety, lower pressure, and the friend-group as chaperone. Inside the 2011 trend and what became of it.

In 2011, stories of an underground fight circuit in Mumbai echoed the famous film. What the scene said about unmet demand for combat sports in India.

In February 2011, Mark Zuckerberg won a restraining order against Pradeep Manukonda, 31, who stalked him across Facebook, his offices, and his front steps.

Five pounds in a week sounds tempting before Valentine's Day. Here's what that weight actually is -- and what works instead.

Ten gloriously over-the-top Valentine's Day getaway ideas, from Venice in carnival season to Udaipur's lake palaces to the northern lights of Iceland.

Why do so many men forget Valentine's Day? Memory, marketing, and the mind-reading trap -- and the one conversation that fixes it.

Purdue researchers found students who quizzed themselves after reading retained 50 percent more a week later than those who re-read or made concept maps.

India's RTE Act had just banned corporal punishment in schools. Yet the old proverb refused to die. What the research — and the law — actually say.

LinkedIn's 2010 list of the most overused profile words revealed a national quirk: India loved 'dynamic.' America preferred 'extensive experience.'

Fasted cardio burns more fat during the workout — but the long-term fat-loss advantage over fed exercise is far smaller than the myth suggests.

With Facebook nearing 500 million users, one feed now reaches your boss, your clients, and your grandmother. What not to post to all of them at once.

Architect Didi Contractor spent decades in Kangra building with mud while India chose concrete. On tradition, climate, and the status signaling of “modernity.”

Shop.org coined 'Cyber Monday' in 2005, and comScore's analysts called it a marketing gimmick. On the debate over which day really wins online retail.

Heads is 50/50 every flip — yet in Penney’s game, the second player can almost always pick a sequence that wins. On the math intuition misses.

Does teaching handwriting still matter in a keyboard world? On the neuroscience of letter formation, the humble 2B pencil, and bubble sheets.