* Gore Vidal dies at 86. * Vidal in conversation with his literary executor on influence, American education, Palin, the Bill of Rights. * Electricity and material benefits legitimizes dictatorship while Indian politicians ignore basic life needs. * Life for Syrians is little improved on entering refugee camps in Turkey's Siberia. * Scientists
* If you live in America, you are four times more likely to be murdered than if you live in Britain. * Obama's winning on messages, but Romney's talking points are Americans' hot-button issues, Gallup shows. * Jonah Lehrer’s deceptions. * The 2012 Olympics gold medals are
* 600 million without power in India. * Daily life becomes a tale of survival as Aleppo fight continues in Syria, sparking a refugee crisis. * Syrian rebels explain why they left the Free Syrian Army to fight with al Qaeda against Assad. * Drone pilots talk about their day job. * Promises of free
* Photographers on shooting violence. * How primate behavior and socialization can explain gun violence. * The five most potentially habitable alien planets. * Q&A with a programmer who hopes to direct a movie before he loses his eyesight. * The healthiest fat in your body is in the back of your neck,
* President Romney will find it hard to cut spending; President Obama will struggle to increase it any further. * How to hide your money off-shore. * Life in the town of Wolfeboro, NH, where Romney vacations. * Growing up black in Jackson, Miss. * List of the most important American painters to emerge
* The "nocebo effect"—being told a harmless substance is harmful—can be strong enough to kill. * On contemporary experiments in LSD, including "micro-dosing." * Jad Abrumad revisits Radiolab's origin story. * Geneticists say a cousin of the Neanderthals coexisted with modern humans and bred with
* London mayor chides Romney for suggesting Olympics may go sour. * Romney's book says Britain is a tiny island making things that nobody wants. * Related: Romney probably wouldn't like sculptures made from pencil lead. * Contenders for current practices that are destined for future condemnation. * Brief notes on
* U.S. Dept. of Agriculture expects food prices will jump next year due to Midwest drought. * As the U.S. faces the worst drought in 50 years, experts address how we can prevent another Dust Bowl. * New study of hunter-gatherer tribe elevates diet over exercise in fighting obesity. * Washington
* Obama calls for greater common sense in gun-control policies, but offers no details. * Former boy soldier calls for global treaty to regulate trade in arms. * New Fiat features an espresso machine that only brews when the car is stopped. * Pictures from a German's 23-year road trip
* Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists doing their best to hijack the Syrian revolution. * Mexico has only one legal gun store; American gun-control policies look insane in comparison. * When its people sparked the Arab Spring, Tunisia had the lowest firearm ownership rate in the world. * "Nominalizations"—zombie
