IN THE SOUL-SEARCHING sparked by the financial meltdown, Americans have started to look askance at some of the habits and policies that had come to define our country. Excessive consumption and living on credit are no longer seen as acceptable, let alone possible.

Not everybody liked “Slumdog Millionaire” as much as the Oscar committee did. Aside from slum dwellers offended by the title, some critics lambasted its portrait of life in Dharavi, the biggest slum in Mumbai, as exploitative.

FOR SCHOLARS — ESPECIALLY scholars who like to wear pajamas — the Internet has been a godsend. It allows instant communication with colleagues around the globe, and makes tracking down published research a matter of seconds.

IN A WORLD of rapidly diminishing resources, there’s one we tend to overlook. It’s easy to produce and extremely abundant. But instead of viewing it as an embarrassment of riches, we’re more likely to see it as just an embarrassment. This neglected treasure is human waste.