Critical Issues in Literature

"A new technique known as Crispr has revolutionized humans' ability to edit DNA, fueling excitement, concern and confusion. See how much you know about what's possible by choosing whether the advances below have already happened, are hypothetically possible or remain in the realm of fiction. "

"After a virus was created from mail-order DNA, scientists are sounding the alarm about the genetic tinkering carried out in garages and living rooms."

""Initially, helicopter parenting appears to work," says Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of How to Raise an Adult. "As a kid, you're kept safe, you're given direction, and you might get a better grade because the parent is arguing with the teacher." But, ultimately, parents end up getting in the child's way. In the first episode of Home School, The Atlantic's new animated series on parenting, Lythcott-Haims explains how helicopter parenting strips children of agency and the ability to cultivate their own tools to navigate the world. "Our job as parents is-like it or not-to put ourselves out of a job," she says. This episode of Home School was produced by Elyse Kelly."

"Autonomous drones are being called the biggest thing in military technology since the nuclear bomb. David Martin reports."

"Animal cloning is becoming more common - and cloning extinct species could be on the horizon. Could parks and zoos for these creatures be round the corner?"

"Comparisons between Orwell's novel about a tightly controlled totalitarian future ruled by the ubiquitous Big Brother and today are, in fact, quite apt. Here are a few of the most obvious ones."

"Really, we know how we should eat, but that understanding is continually undermined by hyperbolic headlines, internet echo chambers, and predatory profiteers all too happy to peddle purposefully addictive junk food and nutrition-limiting fad diets. Eating well remains difficult not because it's complicated but because the choices are hard even when they're clear. With that in mind, we offered friends, readers, and anyone else we encountered one simple request: Ask us anything at all about diet and nutrition and we will give you an answer that is grounded in real scientific consensus, with no "healthy-ish" chit-chat, nary a mention of "wellness," and no goal other than to cut through all the noise and help everyone see how simple it is to eat well. Here, then, are the exhaustively assembled, thoroughly researched, meticulously detailed answers to any and all of your dietary questions."

"A BRIEF Q&A WITH DAVE EGGERS ABOUT HIS NEW NOVEL, THE CIRCLE"

"Time has been kind to 'The Circle.' Dave Eggers's 2013 technophobic potboiler has grown less absurd with age."

"Three approaches to guiding your students to take ownership over their discussions of shared texts."

It's 2035, the Second American Civil War has been won by the other side, and you find yourself in a heap of trouble with Attorney General Logan Paul. (The future is very troubling.) He has dispatched an all-seeing eye-in-the-sky to tail you, an agile flying machine equipped with 13 cameras and a top speed of 25 miles per hour. The drone knows your face, your gait and your clothing. It hovers persistently behind your back, moving when you move, stopping when you stop, resisting every effort to shake it. You run into the woods, but you still can't lose it. So now what? Clip this article and save it as a guide for surviving our airborne future. In a woodsy park in San Francisco last week, I had an encounter with just such a self-flying drone, and I found only one trick for escape. Hint: It involved the indignity of repeatedly running around a tree. "

"The types of peer relationships youth make in high school matter for mental health through young adulthood, a new longitudinal study suggests."

"It's no big surprise that engineers and scientists working in cutting edge tech are often fans of science fiction. Nor is it a surprise that, when many of them get to a place in their career where they can choose which projects to work on, a whole lot of folks seek to bring to life the kind of amazing sci-fi technology they grew up reading about and watching in movies. Here are seven examples of tech that was once the domain of science fiction, now turned science fact."