The mental side effects of a drug withdrawal are often debilitating, and can include anxiety, confusion or mild to severe depression. This is true of cigarettes, alcohol, and heroin. But could it apply to the internet as well? According to a study conducted by the London based behavior research company Intersperience, 53 percent of people feel upset when they are separated from the internet, and 40 percent feel "lonely." Do these withdrawal symptoms mean that the Internet is a drug? And if so, what should be done to curb our national addiction?

Journalist McKenzie Funk reports on AIG’s use of private firefighters who fight only the fires that menace AIG-insured houses. More severe wildfire seasons have made it possible for insurance companies to hedge, dilute, distribute, and disperse additional risk, allowing companies like AIG to expand rapidly. His article, "Too Big to ...

As the polar ice caps melt, scientists are mapping the floor of the Arctic Ocean – including the natural resources like natural gas and oil. On today's first Underreported, McKenzie Funk describes the Healy Mapping Mission and how countries around the world are trying to lay claim to what’s underneath ...

Canada's prime minister Stephen Harper is in talks with President Bush right now, and Harper is asserting his nation's claim to the Northwest Passage through the warming, resource-rich Arctic. An ice-free North Pole would offer important new shipping lanes and an estimated 175 billion barrels of oil and 912 trillion ...