As Islamic State fights us with our weapons, a law and computer science professor makes a case for making military equipment with kill switches; more than half the world’s wildlife has vanished; meanwhile, listening to your favorite music may make you more intelligent. These discoveries and more below.

Jewish Professors Hit Back Against Pro-Israel Campus ‘Blacklist’ The AMCHA Initiative singled out the professors because, during the conflict between Israel and Hamas this past summer, they signed a petition calling for an academic boycott of Israel.

The End of the Selfie Hype Cycle They’ve become boring. And that means they’re finally getting interesting.

Neoliberalism Has Brought Out the Worst in Us An economic system that rewards psychopathic personality traits has changed our ethics and our personalities.

The Political Geography of Hong Kong’s Protests The territory’s residents are demanding democracy in city intersections, not central squares.

Half of World’s Animals Have Disappeared Since 1970 A shocking report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has found that 52 per cent of the world’s animals have vanished in 40 years.

Lack of Warning in Japan’s Mt. Ontake Volcano Eruption Raises Questions With all of the technology in place to monitor volcanoes and earthquakes, especially in Japan, it’s a fair question to ask: why was there no warning before the deadly eruption of Mount Ontake in Japan on Saturday?

Commodity Fetishism It just so happens that, in class yesterday (actually, in both courses I’m teaching), I presented Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism.

FCC Makes Pitch for TV Stations’ Spectrum The Federal Communications Commission is adopting a hard-sell strategy for next year’s spectrum incentive auction in an effort to entice reluctant broadcasters to participate.

New Online Journal Offers Daily Dips Into JSTOR’s Deep Archive A 1931 analysis of Herman Melville’s posthumous literary reputation doesn’t exactly scream headline news in 2014. But that essay, published decades ago in the journal American Literature by O.W. Riegel, got a new lease on life this week, thanks to an online journal, JSTOR Daily, that made its official debut on Wednesday.

College Is Ripping You Off: Students Are Cash Cows, and Schools the Predators Higher ed is sold as the key to an affluent life. It’s really a big business designed to leave you buried in debt.

White House Exempts Syria Airstrikes from Tight Standards on Civilian Deaths Amid reports of women and children killed in U.S. air offensive, official says the ‘near certainty’ policy doesn’t apply

If You Look At One Graph About Inequality Look At This! You might have heard about recent reports stating that global inequality is decreasing.

Optimism About MOOCs Fades in Campus IT Offices MOOC fever is cooling, at least among campus information-technology administrators, according to the 2014 edition of the Campus Computing Survey, an annual report on technology in higher education.

Will The True Voice On Climate Change Please Stand Up? Who should political leaders follow when it comes to climate change: environmental scientists, powerful corporations, or a million marchers?

Did We Really Create IS? It has been alleged in many online circles that Western powers and their allies created the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which, along with the Khorasan Group (an al-Qaeda cell), a US-led coalition is now reportedly battling in Syria.

Amazon’s ‘Transparent’ Is the Best Show Ever Created by a Tech Company Making great television is hard.

The Case for Kill Switches in Military Weaponry Existing technology might have made it possible to disarm IS from a distance.

Prison Bankers Cash in on Captive Customers Pat Taylor doesn’t believe in going into debt. She keeps her bills in a freezer bag under her bed, next to old photo albums, and believes in paying them on time religiously. For Taylor, living within your means is part of being a good Christian.

Can Your Favorite Song Make You Smarter? Whether your favorite song is Bach’s “Toccata And Fugue In D Minor” or Lil Wayne’s “Let It Rock,” your brain reacts to it in the same way.

Los Angeles Is Building an e-Highway The road would eliminate truck emissions, and is being tested in a corridor that connects the port to downtown.

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