Lauren Brown

A new study by the National Council on Teacher Quality finds a glaring inadequacy in the US’s education system: teacher preparation. Students entering university programs in education are not learning the most up-to-date methods to teach reading. They are not trained to teach new standards for core curriculum (known as Common Core Standards). Too many students, who are not top performers are let into these programs. And teaching students in training aren’t placed in classrooms with effective teachers.

Cory Booker has helped constituents shovel their driveways and offered them refuge from Hurricane Sandy. Now, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey—the state’s largest city—has his eye on higher office: he’s running for US Senate. In a talk last night, Booker explained why:

Things are looking grim for young Americans starting work.

Those poor parents who thought the digital age would usher in an era of spotless playrooms and always-occupied kids.

Freakonomics hosted a podcast this week where authors Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt explore whether tipping should be banned. Dubner says:

You wouldn’t necessarily expect to get health insights from McDonald’s—but it doesn’t mean the company isn’t offering them. At an analyst conference this week, McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson revealed that he’s lost 20 lbs (9 kg) over the past year, though he still eats his company’s fast food every day. He says the weight loss is due to being more active. And he added that it’s rare to see “very, very heavy” Europeans since they tend to walk a lot.

A new McKinsey report names genomics—combining and synthesizing the structure of genes, from crops to cancer—as one of 12 disruptive technologies, projecting it could have an economic impact of $700 billion to $1.5 trillion per year by 2025.

A new Pew Research report on emerging economies finds that almost a quarter of Americans have trouble affording food. “This reported level of deprivation is closer to that in Indonesia or Greece rather than Britain or Canada,” the report says.

Toronto mayor Rob Ford may be smoking crack. Disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner just launched a bid to run for New York City mayor. London mayor Boris Johnson has a secret lovechild. Osaka mayor Toru Hashimoto raised ire when he defended the use of wartime sex slaves.  Mayoral antics are getting better than reality television.

Angelina Jolie revealed in the New York Times op-ed pages today that she underwent a double mastectomy. People will call her refreshing in her honesty, courageous for having such radical surgery, and truly devoted to her family for making such a preemptive, potentially life-saving move. Indeed, Jolie is all of those things.

In the West, insects are pests, a source of torment with whole industries devoted to their destruction. But they might be the key to the looming global food crisis. (The food supply has to double by 2050 to feed a projected population of 9 billion.)

Egg donations thrive off the young and desperate. For years, US college campuses have been plastered with signs imploring young women to “donate” their eggs—for $8,000. More recently, the number of women selling their eggs (and men their sperm) soared amid the recession and high unemployment.

The oft-repeated claim that the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t approve drugs quickly enough is simply false. The actual approval process usually only takes six to 12 months. So why does the US lag behind Europe in the number of new drugs it brings to market?

Look no further than your daily bread—and the yeast that makes it rise—for a lesson on organizational dynamics.

Startups may be on the decline but they’ll never completely disappear. No matter how well large companies master innovation, startups are the best—if not only—place to foster the really big ideas.

It’s easy to bash big pharma. Last year, 11 of the 12 cancer drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration were priced above $100,000 a year.

Amid threat of thermonuclear war, North Korea is celebratory in advance of its most important holiday of the year, the birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung, celebrated on April 15. Today, through the streets of its capital city Pyongyang, runners from 16 different countries participate in the 26th Mangyongdae Prize Marathon.

Go ahead, let the workers daydream on the job.

“Do as I say, not as I do” is the new mantra in business education.

The headline has been corrected.

Prices from Starbucks Asia and Pacific division; US cost for New York City

Biotechnology was supposed to trigger a food revolution: Higher crop yields and the end of world hunger. Or so promised once-chemical producer Monsanto, now the mother of all agricultural biotechnology companies. But 20 years on, conventional methods of breeding have actually done more to lift crop yield than genetically modified crops ever have, says  food journalist, author, and professor Michael Pollan.

Americans celebrate Halloween today by donning silly costumes, watching scary movies, and consuming lots of candy. While the holiday has not quite caught on around the world, the candy certainly has.

With its $4 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm from owner George Lucas, Walt Disney gains control of one of the most storied franchises in US film history: the Star Wars saga that Lucas created.