Art Education Department News

It’s clear that diet and genes contribute to how fat you are. But a new wave of scientific research suggests that, for some people, there might be a third factor — microorganisms.

Meredith Vieira rejected the high-powered world of TV news 15 years ago to spend more time with her family. Now she has landed one of the most coveted jobs in television journalism on her own terms.

Why is a segregated community O.K. when kids are the ones excluded?

The House minority leader talks about trying to win back a Democratic majority, blog critics and why a female speaker would be a bigger deal than a a female secretary of state.

In a “Pimp My Ride” era, no object is immune to the customized “cool factor.”

Why multiethnic societies may not be prone to strife.

Road not taken; road that shouldn’t be.

Hot words about the Israeli-Hezbollah war.

An organic fruit farm yields a bittersweet harvest.

I, too, may be “just too old to get it,” but I think Rob Walker gave today’s hipster youth too much credit in his interesting article (July 30). I think what he describes is a new breed of entrepreneur rather than a new artistic or social movement. I’d argue that wearing a Hundreds or Barking Irons T-shirt is no more revolutionary than wearing a Ralph Lauren polo emblem or a Lacoste alligator — it merely announces membership in a smaller, perhaps cooler, clique. What are these new brands trying to change but where we buy and how much we pay for T-shirts? Offering a fashion alternative to kids looking to express their individuality is not art; it’s just good business.

Learning the meaning of “mother” during natural childhood in Japan.

At 25, he was chosen to revive the venerable house of Rochas. Four years, seven collections and innumerable accolades later, he finds himself out of a job — and talent alone no longer seems enough in the world of fashion.

My views of Israel.

Shame, stigma and the pathologies of intimate relationships are the new frontier in the fight against AIDS in Africa. How do you treat what is lodged in people’s minds?

Neocon interventions, R.I.P.

The co-founder of Bitch magazine talks about the best female character on TV, how young women care more about ‘‘The OC’’ than Ms. and how her magazine got its name.

Will Bollywood become Mumblywood?

Disaster preparations; scholarship reparations.

Videos that show homeless people harmed and humiliated are taking reality TV to a new, disturbing level.

How an art toy adapts its form to the functional portable storage drive.