Rather than bridging economic disparities between students, higher education seems to be widening them; although Google’s new customizable maps sound like a great idea, they filter out a lot of useful information; and although some would like to blame the collapse of the middle class on the Internet, truth is it was falling apart long before the World Wide Web. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

Why American Colleges Are Becoming a Force for Inequality
Higher education should be closing the gap between the rich and the poor. But college economics are driving them further apart.

Is This Virtual Worm the First Sign of the Singularity?
A far-flung team is trying to build the first digital lifeform to work out the basic principles of the brain.

It’s Time for Journals to Be Author-Reviewed
A friend sent her most promising manuscript to a journal that we’ll call The Ivy League Business Review. She received immediate confirmation that it was received, although the e-mail did not indicate whether or when it would be sent out for peer review.

The Potential Problem With Personalized Google Maps? We May Never Know What We’re Not Seeing
Google has crammed a dozen notable updates into the revamped Google Maps that was unveiled this week at the tech giant’s annual I/O developer conference.

Who Owns the Future? Not the Middle Class
Jaron Lanier, in the latest contribution to the public conversation about how we live with technology, blames the Internet for the fall of the middle class. Only the problem is he’s wrong.