At the beginning of the twenty-first century, crime fiction is a topranking literary genre, and has become part of mainstream culture. The crime novel’s position of pre-eminence derives from its broad fan base and its readership, with publishing houses devoting whole series and large print runs to the genre. Evidence of the prevalence of a popular obsession with crime stories is also to be foun...

Medical romance fiction is a subgenre of popular romance fiction that features medical professionals in their work environment. This essay explores the way professionalism is portrayed in popular medical romance fiction written during the early twenty-first century, a period of significant disruption in both the public image and self-understanding of organized medicine. I analyze a selection of...

This paper examines the experiences of two elementary teachers’ implementation of mathematical modeling in their classrooms and how the enactment by the teachers and the engagement by students exhibited their creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication skills. In particular, we explore the questions: (1) How can phases of mathematical modeling as a process serve as a venue fo...

The relatively muted warming of the surface and lower troposphere since 1998 has attracted considerable attention. One contributory factor to this “warming hiatus” is an increase in volcanically induced cooling over the early 21st century. Here we identify the signals of late 20th and early 21st century volcanic activity in multiple observed climate variables. Volcanic signals are statistically...

This paper explores issues emerging in education as contemporary learners find more powerful alternatives to traditional classroom learning. Learning in the 21st century should be connected, engaged, relevant and challenging. 21st century learners are offered multiple ways to task. They can create weblogs and access people via SMS (short message service), send photos on mobile phones, communica...

This article considers triumphs and challenges for biostatisticians working in oncology at the beginning of the 21st century. The impact of three major articles in biostatistics in the 20th century is considered: Cornfield's 1951 paper on estimating comparative rates from clinical data; Mantel and Haenszel's 1959 paper on obtaining summary measures of relative risk, adjusting for stratification...

Following the 1900 congress in Paris, the beginning of the 20th century saw comparative law emerge as a significant discipline. This paper suggests that the early 21st century is seeing the decline, or maybe even the ‘end’, of comparative law. In contrast to other claims which see the 21st century as the ‘era of comparative law’, there are at least four trends which give rise to pessimism: ‘the...

Teachers have a significant responsibility when it comes to preparing their students for the future. This is a future beyond statewide testing initiatives and the upcoming school year. Some states have adopted standards focusing on preparation for the 21st century. The guiding mission of these standards is that every public school student will graduate from high school globally competitive for ...

This article analyzes Keynes’s “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren”—an essay presenting Keynes’s views about economic growth into the 21st century—from the perspective of modern growth theory. I fi nd that the implicit theoretical framework used by Keynes to form his expectations about the 21st-century world economy is remarkably close to modern growth models, featuring a stable stead...