Reza Aslan: The Spirit of ’79 in Iran

For those of us who lived through the Iranian revolution, which toppled the government of the Shah and paved the way for the creation of the Islamic republic in 1979, there is a dreamlike familiarity to the massive riots roiling the streets of Tehran. I remember the seemingly spontaneous rallies that brought the country to a screeching halt. The young, fearless protesters daring the security forces to make them martyrs in the cause of freedom

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A Genetic Link Between Anorexia and Autism?

At the Eating Disorders Unit at the Maudsley Hospital in London, anorexia is not seen as a social disorder — or even primarily a psychological one. While most American treatment providers blame perfection-seeking parents and the media’s idealization of hollow-cheeked actresses for eating disorders , researchers at Maudsley believe the root cause has little to do with social pressure.

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A Suicide Bomb in Somalia Brings Radical Islamist Takeover Closer

Weeks of heavy fighting in Somalia took an even deadlier turn Thursday when a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into the front of a hotel in the west of the country, killing Somalia’s national security minister, a former ambassador and at least 20 others. Somalia’s extremist Islamist militia, al Shabaab, said it carried out the attack

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A Year After the Flood, Cedar Rapids Struggles

“Survivors BBQ. Everyone Welcome,” read the handwritten sign tacked onto a recently rebuilt home last weekend in a Cedar Rapids neighborhood still ravaged a year after the city’s worst flooding disaster. “We’ve become stronger — more of a family,” says Toni Grimm, the home’s owner, talking about her neighborhood, Czech Village, a historic ethnic area bordering the now tranquil Cedar River

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