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Scholarly interest in Joss Whedon’s cult classic points to the growing belief that TV shows deserve to be studied as literature.

Hillary Clinton just laid out a hawkish foreign policy vision in a major speech. How do her views stack up against those of Bernie Sanders, her challenger from the left?

Despite decades of attention, the proportion of girls in the juvenile justice system has increased and their challenges have remained remarkably consistent, resulting in deeply rooted systemic gender injustice. The literature is clear that girls in the justice system have experienced abuse, violence, adversity, and deprivation across many of the domains of their lives—family, peers, intimate partners, and community.

By comparing the genomes of different species of molds scientists have reconstructed their history. On Thursday, the scientists reported that cheese makers unwittingly have thrown their molds into evolutionary overdrive.They haven’t simply gained new genetic mutations to help them grow better in cheese. Over the past few centuries, these molds also have picked up large chunks of DNA from other species in order to thrive in their new culinary habitat.

A retrospective, of the life's work of Peggy Lipshutz, an amazing artist, political activist and a truly incredible human being.

Last week, the Florida-based Dream Defenders, founded in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s 2012 murder, announced a six-week “social media sabbatical” from their personal and organizational Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. They promised to digitally resurface in November “with a fresh voice; one that emanates from the grassroots and is a complement to movement work, not just characters.” Two leading Dream Defenders discuss their organization’s decision.

On Wednesday, John Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore quietly announced it had discontinued its program that focuses on Black Lung Disease. The controversial program had been suspended in 2013, two days after a joint investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and ABC News revealed how physicians at the nationally recognized university hospital had routinely helped the coal companies reject the legitimate disability claims of more than 1,000 sick miners.

Ronan Burtenshaw is vice-chair of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Youth Committee and coordinator of Ireland’s Greek Solidarity Committee. He warns it isn’t only Greece that is being forced to choose between staying in the European Union, with austerity, and leaving to face international capital alone. And that neither is a viable alternative. Europe’s Left must learn from Latin America and seek alternative political and economic unions for Europe.

Human rights experts charged the U.S. with sabotaging an independent UN inquiry into human rights violations in Yemen. The Netherlands put forward the resolution authorizing the inquiry, which the Saudis and their Gulf allies vigorously opposed. In what was termed “a shameful capitulation to Saudi Arabia” that “denied Yemeni victims their first real opportunity for justice,” the U.S. pressured the Dutch to modify and ultimately withdraw their resolution.

Alabama passed a strict voter-ID law and then closed 31 DMV offices in the state.