Last week I visited Gettysburg and learned what it means when we hear, "the acts of men shaped the fate of a nation..."

Being there on the Gettysburg Battlefield, I understood service and sacrifice to one's country in a way that I have never understood it before. I could...

As Americans we have little memory of days when our loved ones could be snatched away from us by a contagious illness. We watch our friends and relatives go through cancer diagnosis and treatment, and we know a few people with diabetes or some type of autoimmune disease that requires...

As our minds begin to fill with thoughts of the ghosts and goblins that are sure to haunt this Halloween weekend, it seems a fitting time to think about the stories behind two of the tools of crime detection: DNA evidence and fingerprint identification.

Today you can't watch a...

One of the pleasures of having attended Smith College was being on the mailing list for a mini-fundraiser to celebrate Gloria Steinem's 75th birthday as well as the donation of her papers to the Sophia Smith Collection (the archives at Smith College).

Another pleasure of being a Smith alumna is...

"In all this discussion about health care reform, we never hear about health care. It's
always about insurance," say many people who talk to me about what's going on in Congress.

Good point. The focus of most discussions has been on health insurance, because with the American system,...

We punch short messages into iPhones and Blackberries and use touch typing methods to write longer missives on computer keyboards. After two to five years, these devices are all considered hopelessly out of date, yet these technological inventions employ a keyboard that was designed for reasons that were applicable to...

No one wants to work for a boss who micromanages everything. You receive the assignment; you come up with your plan to get the job done, and the next thing you know he or she is breathing down your neck, second-guessing what you're doing. If you're like most people, you're...

"I know you would all like to see a really strong health care reform bill go through by the end of the year so that all of you can move on to the next causes that interest you," said Chuck Bell, program director of Consumers Union, at a meeting sponsored...

If there are days when you step away from the news feeling discouraged about this country, I have a solution: Plan a trip to Washington, D.C. and spend a day on Capitol Hill. You will be reminded that it is our capital and our nation; you cannot help but relish...

Many years ago recycling happened naturally. In the early 1900s, people "made do" and re-used, from jars for canning home produce to hand-me-down clothing and toys for children. And items were frequently transformed to new uses. Good lumber from a ramshackle house was removed and used in building a new...

Today a mere glitch in cell phone service or -- don't say it -- a malfunction of our cell phones is enough to send most Americans into panic mode. Young people can barely remember a time when we weren't all telephonically tethered, and yet, cell phones are actually a relatively...

Today Labor Day is primarily thought of as the long weekend that marks the end of summer. But as one might guess, Labor Day was started as an outgrowth of the labor movement. As labor unions gained in power, they wanted to establish an annual tribute to the contributions workers...

In what can only be described as a miracle of Internet connectivity, I have heard from a person whom I mentioned in a blog post I wrote last autumn about how and when the tradition of presidential debates began http://americacomesalive.com/blog/2008/09/long-history-of-debates.html. In the post, I noted that debates are a...

The United States Congress has passed a bill that provides for the phasing out of all incandescent light bulbs by 2014 (100-watt bulbs can not be used after 2012).

The primary alternative for consumers today is the Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL). These bulbs are said to be 75...

The recent Food and Drug Administration ruling that mercury used in dental amalgam fillings is not at a level high enough to cause harm in patients was a long-awaited next volley in what is an ongoing discussion about the safety of mercury. The agency did, however, reclassify it from a...

Our current system of health care leaves 47 million Americans without insurance. Some of these people are recent college graduates who tend to be healthy but may still encounter high health costs if they break a leg or are in a car accident; others are working people who still can't...

An opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal last Friday caught my attention because of the way it illustrated the many common misunderstandings about health care reform. The article, "Health Reform and Cancer" (http://http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204886304574306693989102298.html) is written by Myrna Ulfik, who is battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as well as uterine cancer....

More than 5 million visitors come to see the Grand Canyon each year, most of them during the summer months when families have time to travel. This year, as people look out over the canyon expanse, hike the trails, or ride in a helicopter to survey the amazing topography, they...

With sleep-away camps in full swing this month, package delivery services are also a little busier than usual as parents send "care packages" filled with favorite foods or small games to their offspring.

While these camp deliveries no doubt bring delight, the original "care packages" began as badly needed hunger...

Last week's chilling discovery that bodies within Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois were routinely being dug up and moved so that the burial plots could be sold again offers an opportunity to remind Americans that it was only two hundred years ago that "resurrectionists" would routinely raid cemeteries in...