As America turns its health-care system over to the market, pharmaceutical reps are wielding more and more influence—and the line between them and doctors is beginning to blur

The Drug Pushers

Because anyone, anywhere, at any time can say anything about you on the Web, reputations are scarily open-source.

You Are What You Post

Coaches can hurt their athletes by working them out too long or too hard. Similarly, a protein that keeps testicles making sperm wears down the organ, new research shows. The results suggest a new tactic to prevent testicle damage.

Buffing Up The Family Jewels

Fukuyama thinks that we won the Cold War mainly because an unworkable system reached its inevitable point of collapse, helped by the actions and inactions of Mikhail Gorbachev; that, apart from oratory and some funding of pro-democracy groups, we did little in the way of intervention; and that we ought to thank our stars and decline to draw grand policy lessons. Grand lessons were drawn, though, and that is why so many American intellectuals believed that regime change in Iraq was not only readily achievable but cosmically mandated. If they thought that this is a view shared by the author of “The End of History,” they know better now.

BREAKING AWAY

Colbert’s book, currently untitled, is scheduled to come out in the fall of 2007.

‘Truthiness’ in publishing: Colbert to write book

There is lots of chatter and philosophizing about information overload, but it seems to apply mostly to baby boomers. Young workers are comfortable with a deluge of information. For them, filtering huge amounts of information is intuitive and the notion of information overload just doesn't exist, according to Ashley J. Swartz, the president of Eicko Media, a new-media marketing firm. This is not to say that young workers do not have issues with technology.

Most twentysomething workers look at computers all day, and the issues they face are about combatting cubicle alienation and maintaining friendships when technology no longer serves as a social gathering place.

Geeks need face-to-face interactions to fight cubicle alienation

Over the course of a career that spanned six decades and took her from humble beginnings in Havana, Cuba to a world-renowned artist in the United States, Celia Cruz became the undisputed Queen of Latin Music. Combining a piercing and powerful voice with a larger-than-life personality and stage costumes, she was one of the few women to succeed in the male dominated world of Salsa music. ¡Azúcar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz highlights important moments in Cruz’ life and career through photographs, personal documents, costumes, videos, and music.

Celia Cruz became an influential and legendary musical figure—in her native country, her adopted country, and around the world. Listen to examples of her music at different periods of her career and view photos and costumes from throughout her lifetime.

Azúcar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz

"The strategy is working," the president said.

Bush Points to Signs of Success in Iraq

We should never forget that the Taliban came to power in the chaos that followed the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent U.S. disengagement from the region. With the Bush administration and political Washington focused on Iraq, many Afghan leaders worry that the reduction of U.S. forces is a sign that we will again lose sight of Afghanistan. We do so at our peril. Let us not forget that the Sept. 11 plot was launched from Afghanistan, and not from Iraq.

Off Course in Afghanistan

There is no doubt that the costs of the invasion have far outweighed the benefits. But in the long view of history, will that always be true? If, after all this chaos, a new and different kind of Iraqi politics emerges, it will make a difference in the region. Even now, amid the violence, one can see that. The old order in Iraq was built on fear and terror. One group dominated the land, oppressing the others. Now representatives of all three communities -- Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds -- are sitting down at the table, trying to construct a workable bargain they can all live with.

These sectarian power struggles can get extremely messy, and violent parties have taken advantage of every crack and cleavage. But this may be inevitable in a country coming to terms with very real divisions and disagreements. Iraq may be stumbling toward nation-building by consent, not brutality. And that is a model for the Middle East.

Why Iraq Is Still Worth the Effort