A state panel head a lot of good ideas to improve elections in Maine at a public hearing in Augusta last week, but they may not have been the ones they were looking for.

Even many who cherish the “original meaning” of the Constitution recognize that provisions drafted in the 18th century must be interpreted in light of changing technology.

The United States this year is set to have the worst outbreak of whooping cough since the 1970s. From January to mid-July, there were 17,000 registered cases and nine deaths.

Olympic athletes are very special people, but are they more special than, say, Nobel Prize winners, or police officers, or nurses, or spiritual gurus, or brilliant inventors or researchers whose discoveries enhance our lives?

The next time you use your cellphone, watch satellite-delivered television programming, use a cordless power tool, drive on enhanced radial tires, drink a bottle of purified water or find your way with a GPS device, thank the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Very little in the way of surprises were found in a recent survey of baby boomers conducted by the AARP, but lessons can be learned from the headlines produced by the survey.

Nate Silver, the baseball stats geek who has become an All-Star interpreter of political polls, has a record that’s hard to beat.