A crack epidemic was raging in Philadelphia in 1989 when Hallam Hurt, then chair of neonatology at Albert Einstein Medical Center on North Broad Street, began a study to evaluate the effects of in-utero cocaine exposure on babies. In maternity wards in Philadelphia and elsewhere, caregivers were seeing more mothers hooked on cheap, smokable crack cocaine. A 1989 study in Philadelphia found that nearly one in six newborns at city hospitals had mothers who tested positive for cocaine. Some social workers predicted a lost generation - kids with a host of learning and emotional deficits who would overwhelm school systems and not be able to hold a job or form meaningful relationships. The "crack baby" image became symbolic of bad mothering, and some cocaine-using mothers had their babies taken from them or, in a few cases, were arrested. The researchers consistently found no significant differences between the cocaine-exposed children and the controls. At age 4, for instance, the average IQ of the cocaine-exposed children was 79.0 and the average IQ for the nonexposed children was 81.9. Both numbers are well below the average of 90 to 109 for U.S. children in the same age group. When it came to school readiness at age 6, about 25 percent of children in each group scored in the abnormal range on tests for math and letter and word recognition. As the children grew, the researchers did many evaluations to tease out environmental factors that could be affecting their development. On the upside, they found that children being raised in a nurturing home - measured by such factors as caregiver warmth and affection and language stimulation - were doing better than kids in a less nurturing home. On the downside, they found that 81 percent of the children had seen someone arrested; 74 percent had heard gunshots; 35 percent had seen someone get shot; and 19 percent had seen a dead body outside - and the kids were only 7 years old at the time.

SModcast is a weekly podcast featuring filmmaker Kevin Smith and his long-time producing partner Scott Mosier. Released each Sunday night/Monday morning, the episodes are generally one hour in length and feature Smith and Mosier discussing current events and other non-sequitur topics. In this Episode we hear tales of art, comics, sex, Facebook and all vices are explored to excess and we learn how boring our lives really are. With Special Guest artist and podcaster David Choe.

Pink Panthers is the name given by Interpol to an international jewel thief network, named after The Pink Panther series of crime comedy films, which is responsible for some of the most audacious thefts in criminal history. They are responsible for what have been termed some of the most glamorous heists ever, and one criminologist even described their crimes as "artistry".They have targeted several countries and continents, and include Japan's most successful robbery ever amongst their thefts. Some law enforcement agencies suspect that the group is responsible for over US$500 million in bold robberies in Dubai, Switzerland, Japan, France, Liechenstein, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Monaco. Law enforcement suspect their involvement in the robbery of the jewellery store Harry Winston in Paris, on December 9, 2008. The thieves escaped with more than €80 million worth of jewellery.

A cancer-ridden science teacher transforms himself into a sinister meth lord. That's the story of 'Breaking Bad.' But it's also the story of how Bryan Cranston became TV's greatest leading man. As the show enters its final stretch, GQ's Brett Martin discovers why Walter White will always live on.

This is a story about a little hedgehog (voiced by Mariya Vinogradova) and his friend bear cub (voiced by Vyacheslav Nevinniy). The two would meet every evening to drink tea from the cub's samovar, which was heated on a fire of juniper twigs. As they drank their tea, the hedgehog and the bear conversed and counted the stars together. One day, the hedgehog decided to bring raspberry jam. As he went to the bear to count the stars, he passed through the woods and found a horse standing in a fog, where the hedgehog can't even see his own pink paw. He is curious as to whether the horse would drown if it went to sleep in the fog. The hedgehog decides to explore the fog.

Einem wie Sandro Wagner hätte ich allerdings nicht unbedingt zugetraut, dass er in der Bundesliga spielt. Der hat bei mir in 42 oder 43 Spielen zwei Tore geschossen. Das ist tatsächlich der Spieler, bei dem ich sagen könnte: »Er hat mich eines besseren belehrt.« Wobei man erst einmal abwarten muss. Schließlich ist man noch kein Bundesligaspieler, wenn man dreimal eingewechselt wird.

LANSA Flight 508 crashed in a thunderstorm en route from Lima, Peru to Pucallpa, Peru, on December 24, 1971, killing 91 people – all 6 of its crew and 85 of its 86 passengers. The sole survivor was a 17-year-old girl who fell 2 miles (3 km) down into the Amazon rainforest strapped to her seat and remarkably survived the fall, and was then able to walk through the jungle for 10 days until she was rescued by local lumbermen.

To anyone who knows anything about skateboarding Mark Gonzales needs no introduction. To those who don't know, The Gonz is a legend, a fearless and anarchic exponent of a style of street skateboarding probably best described as insane.

Sobald eine der Wohnungen der „Alten“ frei wird, gestaltet sie der Eigentümer um. Nach den Umbauten heißen die alten Zweiraumwohnungen dann „Studio“ oder „Loft“ oder wenigstens „City-Appartement“. Das zieht offenbar. „Vor allem bei jüngeren Leuten“, sagt Tanja Füting. Die Maklerin bietet gerade zwei Hochhauswohnungen an der Leipziger Straße im Auftrag eines Kunden zum Kauf an. Eine liegt im 20. Stock, die andere noch zwei Etagen höher. Ein wenig erstaunt sei sie schon über das Interesse gewesen, erzählt sie. „Viele meldeten sich aus dem Ausland.“ Kaufpreise von 2500 Euro je Quadratmeter und teilweise 3500 Euro seien mittlerweile üblich für die Wohnungen in den hohen Etagen.

Bei uns hier in Neukölln gibt's so ein Spiel, das spielen wir jedes Wochenende mit 30, 40 Jungs. Einer ist der Fänger und die anderen laufen weg. Und wenn er einen gefangen hat, darf er ihm 30 Sekunden lang Todesschläge geben und der darf sich nicht mal wehren. Danach ist er auch Fänger und darf seine Wut an den anderen auslassen. Einer bleibt am Ende übrig, der beste. Der, den sie nicht gekriegt haben. Und das ist dann der Gangsterläufer.

An undercover police officer posing for years as an environmental activist co-wrote a libellous leaflet that was highly critical of McDonald's, and which led to the longest civil trial in English history, costing the fast-food chain millions of pounds in fees. Lambert was deployed by the special demonstration squad (SDS) – a top-secret Metropolitan police unit that targeted political activists between 1968 until 2008, when it was disbanded. He co-wrote the defamatory six-page leaflet in 1986 – and his role in its production has been the subject of an internal Scotland Yard investigation for several months. At no stage during the civil legal proceedings brought by McDonald's in the 1990s was it disclosed that a police infiltrator helped author the leaflet.

“The first joint of a little finger can be sliced easily,” he said. “You tie the bottom of it with thread tightly and put your body weight on a kitchen knife. But the second joint was tougher than I thought.” Luckily, there was a brother to hand, who could stand on the knife and slice through the knuckle. The loss of the tip of the pinkie on his right hand was his own fault — he got drunk and started throwing furniture around in a bar. Unfortunately for him, the bar belonged to a friend of his boss. Out came the kitchen knife again, and off came the top of his little finger. But his fourth amputation bore a whole different significance.

Im März 2010 hat das Bundesverfassungsgericht die Pläne der Bundesregierung zur Vorratsdatenspeicherung kassiert. Bemängelt wurde nicht die Speicherung als solches, vielmehr die gesetzliche Grundlage dazu. Die Karlsruher Richter setzten der Regierung eine Frist bis Juni 2013, ein neues Gesetz musste her. Das ist auch geschehen, still und heimlich ausgehandelt, nahezu unbemerkt von der deutschen Öffentlichkeit. Am Abend des 21. März hat der Deutsche Bundestag mit den Stimmen von CDU, CSU, FDP und SPD die Änderung des Telekommunikationsgesetzes sowie die Neuregelung der Bestandsdatenauskunft beschlossen. Herausgekommen ist nicht etwa eine Einschränkung der staatlichen Schnüffelei – sondern das genaue Gegenteil.

Stéphane Breitwieser is a Frenchman notorious for his art thefts between 1995 and 2001. He admitted to stealing 239 artworks and other exhibits, worth an estimated US$1.4 billion (£960m), from 172 museums while travelling around Europe and working as a waiter, an average of one theft every 15 days. The Guardian called him "arguably the world's most consistent art thief."

Die Abkühlung der Kreditmärkte mag zu abrupt vonstattengehen, auch Chu zweifelt allerdings nicht daran, dass in den vergangenen Jahren viel zu viel Geld viel zu günstig verliehen worden ist. Die Neukreditvergabe wuchs deutlich schneller als das Bruttoinlandsprodukt (BIP), für dieselbe Wirtschaftsleistung wurde also immer mehr geborgt. Nach Berechnung von Fitch ist Chinas Kreditvolumen einschließlich der Geschäfte außerhalb der Bilanzen zwischen 2008 und 2012 um 73 Prozentpunkte auf 198 Prozent des BIP gestiegen. Ähnliche Entwicklungen habe es vor den Bankenkrisen in Japan und Südkorea in den neunziger Jahren gegeben. Allerdings betrug der Anstieg dort maximal 47 Punkte, was die Dramatik in China unterstreicht.

As a novelist, Daniel Suarez spins dystopian tales of the future. But on the TEDGlobal stage, he talks us through a real-life scenario we all need to know more about: the rise of autonomous robotic weapons of war. Advanced drones, automated weapons and AI-powered intelligence-gathering tools, he suggests, could take the decision to make war out of the hands of humans.

I think what Kanye West is going to mean is something similar to what Steve Jobs means. I am undoubtedly, you know, Steve of Internet, downtown, fashion, culture. Period. By a long jump. I honestly feel that because Steve has passed, you know, it’s like when Biggie passed and Jay-Z was allowed to become Jay-Z. I think that’s a responsibility that I have, to push possibilities, to show people: “This is the level that things could be at.” So when you get something that has the name Kanye West on it, it’s supposed to be pushing the furthest possibilities. I will be the leader of a company that ends up being worth billions of dollars, because I got the answers. I understand culture. I am the nucleus.

Der Vorsitzende der Deutschen Polizeigewerkschaft, Rainer Wendt, hat sich wohlwollend zur Überwachung von Telefon- und Internetdaten in den USA geäußert und Ähnliches auch für Deutschland angeregt. „Ich habe die große Hoffnung, dass wir uns in Deutschland nicht länger auf unser Glück verlassen, sondern der Bevölkerung klipp und klar sagen, was zur Verbesserung polizeilicher Analysekompetenz nötig ist“, sagte Wendt Handelsblatt Online. Das „wertvollste“ Bürgerrecht sei immer noch der Schutz vor Terror und Kriminalität. „Präsident Barack Obama argumentiert mutig, entschlossen und er hat fachlich hundertprozentig recht“, betonte Wendt. „Diese Politik wünschte ich mir auch in Deutschland und Europa.“ Wendt verteidigte ... die USA und erklärte, Obama sei „voll und ganz“ zuzustimmen. Er rede Klartext, wie es Deutschland und Europa auch dringend bräuchte. „Bei uns regieren völlig überzogener Datenschutz, föderaler Egoismus und wilde Überwachungsfantasien von Politikern, die den Menschen immer wieder einreden wollen, die Polizei würde sie bespitzeln und aushorchen“, sagte Wendt.

The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.

"There is an ethic!" he growls. "A code of hooliganism." Many years ago, Verona needed a win to avoid relegation, which it got, and some fans went on the field and got jerseys from the players. The ultras felt the players didn't deserve such adulation after a disappointing season, so The Hooligan and his brother went down to the pitch, slapped some, punched a few others, and demanded the fans march back into the locker room and give the jerseys back. They beat the crap out of anyone who disagreed. "They always learn," he says. "You punish one and educate a hundred. Adolf Hitler. Perfect."

But Kesselman noticed that the watermarks on his rolling papers were affecting the way in which the paper burned. “I’m always trying to improve the process,” he says, “it’s what I like to do. And this is going to sound strange, but when I’m sitting there smoking, I look at the burning embers, I watch them, I try to see what they are doing and what they are trying to tell me. I really try to connect with it. And I noticed that the embers were following the watermark in a certain way, that the watermark was affecting the burn, making it canoe or run. So I started experimenting. At first I tried to approach the way a scientist would. ‘Okay, so we need to make a cube pattern and control the flame, [Arnold Schwarzenegger voice] we must control the flame!’.

Die Demonstration von rund 10.000 Kapitalismuskritikern, die am Samstag vor der Europäischen Zentralbank gegen die Krisenpolitik protestieren wollten, ist kurz nach Beginn der Veranstaltung von der Polizei vorzeitig beendet worden. Nur etwa zwanzig Minuten, nachdem der Demonstrationszug gestartet war, separierte ein Großaufgebot an Beamten etwa eintausend Aktivisten, die sie der linksextremistischen Szene zuordneten. Sie begründeten ihr Vorgehen damit, dass zuvor Feuerwerkskörper gezündet worden waren und sich die Demonstranten mit Regenschirmen und Sonnenbrillen vermummten. Immer wieder kam es zu Verhandlungen zwischen dem Versammlungsleiter und der Polizei. Die Aktivisten forderten, den Zug weiterziehen zu lassen. Die Demonstranten im Kessel ließen sich eigenen Angaben zufolge darauf ein, die Regenschirme und Seitentranspatente abzulegen. Die Polizei zeigte sich ihrerseits bereit, den Kessel aufzulösen und die Demonstranten weiterziehen zu lassen. Offenbar aber nur, wenn sie die Personalien sämtlicher Aktivisten aufnehmen können.

Top-Fußballer wie Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi oder Wayne Rooney zahlen bei Spielen in Deutschland mit ihren Mannschaften keine Steuern. So will es das Bundesfinanzministerium. Der Erlass gilt für Spiele aller Mannschaftssportarten im Rahmen europäischer Vereinswettbewerbe.  Künstler und Sportler werden im Steuerrecht gleich behandelt. Doch der neue Erlass ist nur für den Sport gültig, nicht für die Kultur.

The oral history of the 2003 World Series of Poker, in which an amateur named Moneymaker turned $39 into $2.5 million and the poker boom was born.