Rebecca Saxe

Associate Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, MIT

cooperating in large groups is a signature accomplishment of the human brain: among similar species, we are remarkably good at working together and negotiating our differences.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

U.S. Senator from New York

The scourge of sexual violence in the military should be intolerable to all Americans and it's time to bring it to an end once and for all. We must commit ourselves not just to a zero tolerance policy, but we need to get to a point of zero occurrence.

Dr. Peggy Drexler

Author, research psychologist and gender scholar

While men seem to welcome the existence of dual income households, and marriages marked by (mostly) shared responsibilities, there's a hitch: The guys still want to be the primary breadwinner. That is, she can bring home the bacon, so long as it's not all of it.

Tracy Morgan

Actor

Growing up in the hood surrounded by a lot of poverty, music was one of the only things that made people feel good. That's why we need music and arts. We've got to put instruments in young people's hands because that's the kind of thing that really touches the soul.

David Bromwich

Professor of Literature at Yale

Different as they are, the scandals all point to a single disorder that afflicts the Obama White House and the Holder justice department. The name of the disorder is paternalism, and its leading symptoms are suppression and secrecy.

Marian Wright Edelman

President, Children's Defense Fund

On this 50th anniversary of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade it is a time to remember, honor, and follow the example of the children who were frontline soldiers and transforming catalysts in America’s greatest moral movement of the 20th century.

Arianna Huffington

This week, Jaweed Kaleem looks at threshold choirs, a growing movement using a capella song to soothe the dying. And Radley Balko puts the spotlight on Bisbee, Arizona, a town at the center of the state's debate over gay marriage.

Elliott Negin

Director of News & Commentary, Union of Concerned Scientists

Despite the fact that ExxonMobil is still a significant contrarian funder, the flurry of media interest in the company's funding agenda sparked by UCS's exposé died down soon after its release and remains feeble to this day. What happened?

John Pavley

CTO @ The Huffington Post, Blogger

It's the second day at Google I/O 2013 in San Francisco. While the other members of the HuffPost tech team on site have been pursuing sessions on Android and Google Glass, I've been focused on something much more mundane: the World Wide Web.

Tom Frieden, MD, MPH and Pamela Hyde

Research has shown us that intervening early at the individual, family, and community level can delay or prevent the on-set of mental and substance use disorders. We also know that these can be treated, and individuals with these conditions can lead healthy productive lives.

Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks

Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth

In crisis, the wrong question to ask is, "What have I done to deserve this?" The right one is, "What am I now being summoned to do?" Each of us has a task. Every life has a purpose. We can bear the pain of the past when we discover the future we are called on to make.

Shelley Emling

Editor, Post 50

Just because you've been getting away with a social gaffe for decades doesn't mean you shouldn't stop making it. By the time you're 50, you should know a thing or two -- or 25 -- about etiquette.

Geoffrey R. Stone

Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago

I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU, a strong proponent of press freedom and a staunch believer in both a robust First Amendment and a vibrant Fourth Amendment. But I also care about rational public discourse, and the furious condemnation of the Department of Justice in this situation is way over the top.

Christina Huffington

It's important for younger women to see that success does not prevent mental health issues and that mental health issues do not prohibit success.

Carol Hartsell

Senior Comedy Editor, The Huffington Post

You hold in your hands a letter. Not an email, not a Facebook message, not a DM. An actual, physical missive. It is an epistle, of the ilk our fathers and their fathers once wrote. In short, this is a real "brick and mortar" affair you are looking at.

Lena Desmond

Find a boy who travels because you deserve a life of adventure and possibility. You deserve to live light and embrace simplicity. He will live in every moment with you because this is how he lives his life. Together you will make the whole world your home.

Bob Cesca

Political Writer, Host of The Bob & Chez Show

The congressional Republicans are outraged by the IRS story, but they haven't been able to scramble to the floor of the House quickly enough to target left-leaning groups.

Barbara Ficarra

Journalist; Founder, Healthin30.com; Media broadcaster

Do we all have the power of empathy? Are we hardwired to know what other people want? Is it easy to think about other people's thoughts?

Michael Zakaras

Writer and strategist who specializes in social entrepreneurship and public policy

In our efforts to solve difficult social problems in particular, we rely too heavily on reason and numbers and econometrics, and not often enough on empathy. And by empathy I don't just mean our emotions, and I certainly don't mean feeling sorry -- that's sympathy.

Marlo Thomas

Award-winning actress, author and activist

I was as stunned as everyone else by Angelina Jolie's revelation on Tuesday that she'd had a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer. That's not only because one of the most famous women in the world had managed to keep such a dramatic secret under wraps for so long (although that is pretty amazing).

Mark E. Robson, M.D.

Attending Physician, Clinic Director, Clinical Genetics Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

I have been involved in research in this area for 17 years, since shortly after BRCA1 and BRCA2 were discovered, and I have no idea what I would do if I were a woman faced with this decision. The diagnosis of a mutation is just words on paper, but the risks they foreshadow are very real.

Jim Wallis

Christian leader for social change; Author, 'On God’s Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn’t Learned About Serving the Common Good'

Violence against women is the most prevalent and the most hidden injustice in our world today. It's time for all people of faith to be outraged. It's time for our Christian leaders to stand up and say that women, made in the very image of God, deserve better.

Bob Burnett

Berkeley writer, retired Silicon Valley executive

Republican policy no longer represents the teachings of Jesus. The GOP favors the rich and ignores the poor, disadvantaged, sick, elderly, long-term unemployed, and other unfortunates. Republicans may be religious, but they're not Christians.

Rob Watson

Dad, LGBT activist and businessman

The Friday before Mother's Day, my work associate asked me for a favor. "I may need to work altered hours on Monday, if that is OK," she started. "I have a memorial service that I need to go to." And then, almost under her breath: "It was a suicide."

Brenda Ray

Half the Sky Movement crew member

Edna Adan not only trains mid-wives so they can return to their rural environment and provide pre-natal and birthing support, but also teaches them to carry with them the message that genital mutilation of any girl or woman does not serve them.

Beth Woolsey

Writer, humorist at the Five Kids Is A Lot of Kids blog

If you pay attention, kids will teach you how to laugh loudly, how to love deeply and how to live fully. They will also ruin all your stuff.

Jonathan Appel

Associate Professor of Psychology and Criminal Justice, Tiffin University

There is an order or organization in destructive human behavior which can be illuminated with research and clinical observation -- and can have many implications for intervention. Neuroscience is providing a major piece of the puzzle towards this understanding -- but only a piece.

Richard Brodsky

Senior Fellow, Demos

The litany of Congressional Republican nuttiness in the past 20 years is impressive. Think back on assertions that Hilary Clinton was involved in murdering Vince Foster and Whitewater, and the Mother Of All Scandals the Lewinsky/impeachment saga.

Gene Marks

Small business management columnist, author, speaker, and business owner

We know you've been doing it for years now, so why hide anymore? Instead, just tell the public what you're doing is yet another service you're providing, particularly if you concentrate on those groups that really make our lives worse.