A Million Years Before 'Lucy,' There Was 'Ardi'

More than a million years older than "Lucy," some nearly complete skeletons of Ardipithecus ramidus and thousands of associated fossils provide the most detailed snapshot of our earliest upright ancestors.

Revving Up Brain Skills

Brain training games claim to boost your mental skills, but research has shown they don't make young people smarter. Now a custom-designed computer game has found success in older adults, improving players' short-term memory and attention

Friday Nite Videos -- September 13, 2013

Portside
Stephen Colbert takes exception to Vladimir Putin's Op-Ed. Revving Up Brain Skills. Dante de Blasio. A Million Years Before 'Lucy,' There Was 'Ardi.' Glee Fan Flash Mob.

Unions’ Misgivings on Health Law Burst Into View

Steven Greenhouse and Jonathan Martin The New York Times
Many union leaders have come to the conclusion that the Affordable Care Act contains provisions that may seriously undermine collectively bargained health insurance plans covering millions of their members. In addition, union leaders are angry over the Obama administration's willingness to relax rules for employer mandated coverage while ignoring the threat posed to full-time workers by making a 30 hour work week the threshold for mandatory insurance coverage.

Tidbits - September 12, 2013

Portside
Reader Comments - Syria, chemical weapons, Israel; American Jews Speakout Against AIPAC; Organized Labor's Decline; Pensions; Mexican unions; Announcements - Sept. 16 in New York - Iraqi Workers in Turbulent Middle East - Pres of Iraqi Oil Workers Union speaks; Protest Alexandria Center for Life Science; FAIR celebrates release of new book Dollarocracy; Demand a Robin Hood Tax - New York - Sept. 17 - Restore and Expand Vital Public Services for the 99%

Majority of Workers at Chattanooga VW Plant have Signed Union Cards, UAW Says

Associated Press Chattanooga Times Free Press
Huge victory for organizing workers. A Majority of workers at the Volkswagen assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee have signed cards with the United Auto Workers (UAW) declaring that they want a union. Union representation at Volkswagen would signal a sea change in labor relations among foreign automakers who have resisted unions at their plants in the South.

The Koch Brothers' Secret Bank

Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei Politico
The right-wing billionaire Koch Bros. raised and spent $250 million in 2012 to shape political and policy debate nationwide. Freedom Partners, the front for the mysterious Koch brothers, cut checks as large as $63 million to groups promoting conservative causes, according to an IRS document to be filed shortly.