Editor's note

Have extremist views been resonating with more and more Americans? For six years, James Hawdon has been director of the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention; since 2013, he and his team have been particularly interested in how extremist views have spread online, and who’s reading them. Given that the radicalization process often begins with exposure, Hawdon writes that the center’s findings are a cause for concern.

Smoking is the number one cause of preventable deaths in the U.S., claiming the lives of nearly half a million people a year.The bold announcement by FDA chief Scott Gottlieb to begin talks to lower nicotine in cigarettes could, says Michael Eriksen, dean of Georgia State’s School of Public Health, “potentially save more lives than if we ended the opioid epidemic today.”

And do you ever feel your self-control struggling against temptation? New psychology research into the timing of when the angel and devil on your shoulders start their whispering suggests a better way to stick with long-term goals than relying on willpower alone.

Nick Lehr

Editor, Arts and Culture

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A man sporting a Nazi tattoo leaves Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Virginia on Aug. 12, 2017. Steve Helber/AP Photo

Over the years, Americans have become increasingly exposed to extremism

James E. Hawdon, Virginia Tech

Given recent events, you might have had an inkling that extremist views have been resonating. Researchers from the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention have the hard data to back it up.

Politics + Society

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    Max Pensky, Binghamton University, State University of New York; Nadia Rubaii, Binghamton University, State University of New York

    Two genocide and mass atrocity prevention scholars argue Trump's response to the Charlottesville attack is a red flag.

  • Are Islamic State recruits more street gang members than zealots?

    James L. Gelvin, University of California, Los Angeles

    With terrorists striking again in Spain and in Finland, one cannot help but ask -- again -- why people want to follow the Islamic State. Some new theories are emerging.

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One recent analysis by the Organisation of Economic Co-Operation and Development states that gender based discrimination has decreased global income by 16 percent, or US trillion.

  E. Anne York