Somalia is prosecuting female genital mutilation for the first time. The victim, a 10-year-old girl, died from the operation.

Massachusetts is considering a bill to set up a system of ratings on ISPs based on how far they respect network neutrality.

It sounds nice, but with so few ISPs, it might not do a lot for network neutrality.

"Just in time" production, with no inventory, is very efficient — and terribly fragile, since it tends to convert any narrow problem into a broad stoppage.

My conclusion is that disaster preparedness at the national level includes requiring the production of everything people really need to be done the robust, old-fashioned "inefficient" way.

Our current rate of emission of greenhouse gases will lead (in a few decades) to heatwaves with temperatures of 55 C (131 F).

California requires each portable phone to carry a remote shutoff device. This was meant for turning off phones that had been stolen, but now it is being used for other cases too.