Astronomers have used all sorts of tricks over the years to try to convey the mind-boggling scale of the universe to us ordinary folks. If you could drive your car from here to the nearest star at 60 m.p.h., they've told us, it would take 11 million years. If the Sun were a beach ball sitting on a football field's goal line, the Earth would be a pea on the 50-yard line. And so on. Things got a ...

As most parents of small children will reluctantly admit, nothing can occupy a child quite like television. Unfortunately, the scientific evidence suggests that using the boob tube as a babysitter has its price: the more time babies spend sitting in front of the screen, the more their social, cognitive and language development may suffer. Recent studies show that TV-viewing tends to decrease babies' likelihood of learning new words, talking, playing and otherwise interacting with others. A new study ...

School integration has vexed policymakers for more than half a century. The Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that schools can't keep kids out based on race. Then in 2007 it ruled that schools can't bring kids together based on race. After the court struck down two race-based integration schemes in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., attention turned to diversifying schools via students' household-income levels. Economic integration, a concept first floated by early public-school crusaders like Horace Mann, is ...

Kathryn Stockett never intended to write a best-selling novel. In fact, when she started writing her debut novel, The Help, she didn't think anyone would ever read it. But since coming out in February, her story about the complicated relationships between African-American domestic servants and the white women who employed them in pre-civil rights Mississippi has spent over 30 weeks on the New York Times' best-seller list. Stockett talked to TIME about growing up in Mississippi ...

It's just before noon on a Tuesday, and despite the rain, a few dozen schoolgirls in white uniforms and navy cardigans are milling about the 7-Eleven on Tong Chong Gai, a bustling Hong Kong side street of restaurants and cafs. A few of the teenagers grab chocolate milk and sushi rolls from the open chiller. The others queue up to order a hot lunch at the brand-new food counter that is manned by half a dozen employees in bright ...

FIA presidential candidate Ari Vatanen believes that Nelson Piquet Jr should have been punished for his role in Formula One's "Crashgate" affair. Vatanen told CNN: "I do not understand why Nelson Piquet Jr wasn't punished. For me his immunity was not correct." The former world rally champion, who is hoping to succeed FIA president Max Mosely was scathing of Piquet Jr's behavior throughout. "He only went public after he was sacked," Vatanen said. "He should have said no in the ...