history

A new dawn of American leadership is at hand. President-elect Barack Obama We have all heard stories about those few magical transformative moments in African-American history, extraordinary ritual occasions through which the geographically and socially diverse black community—a nation within a nation, really—molds itself into one united body, determined to achieve one great social purpose…

At 74, Wole Soyinka remains one of democracy’s great champions on the African continent. The adage “criticism, like charity, starts at home,” has long been a favorite truism of the Nobel Prize-winning playwright and political activist. Sadly, there remains much to criticize, as political turmoil, ethnic warfare, graft and corruption continue to plague his home…

James Watson has long assumed a certain special status among American scientists. The molecular biologist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962, along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, for, as the Swedish Academy put it in its announcement for the prize, “their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids…

Below are excerpts from the Q&A with Nobel laureate and DNA pioneer James Watson. READ Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s thoughts about this interview in an essay about the science of racism . WATCH portions of this conversation in video. James Watson: I’ve thought about these things a lot over the last couple of months, because…