G cover
Prominent Bostonians share secrets on staying healthy
Answers ranged from dog-walking to breakfasting on cucumbers.
Juliette Kayyem
War ends, a soldier at a time
lucas jackson/Reuters
After two tours in Iraq, a guardsman from New Bedford is one of the last to leave.
New operating room a high-tech wonder
Brigham and Women’s has opened a new surgical facility that allows surgeons to use just the right equipment for a wide variety of procedures.
Some Bostonians looked for a hiatus from Christmas
Bostonians out and about during Christmas Day made a point of relaxing as best they could, as they attempted to slow the breakneck speed of the holidays.
High stakes fueling patent wars
Tech firms like Google, Samsung, Microsoft, and Apple are embroiled in about 100 patent lawsuits in at least 10 countries.
GOP hopefuls leave small N.H. town cold
In the bellwether town of Ashland, conservative and moderate voters alike say it is difficult to make a case for any of the Republican presidential contenders.
Singles pick friends over family on holidays
More unmarried people have supplanted their biological families with groups of friends and neighbors whom they hold dear, a new study shows.
“Would I like to see my daughters now? I would. But... as long as they’re with somebody, I’m comforted.”
Marty Manson, whose daughter, Adina Davies, is spending the holidays with friends
Inside The Boston Globe
Columnists
Metro
Bottle redemption centers struggling
The number of bottles and cans being returned has dropped in the state, in part because redemption centers are rapidly going out of business.
Business
Tech lab plus
Gadgets worth checking out
Stump is just a sawed-off chunk of plastic that makes any mobile device a lot easier to use.
Politics
analysis
On tax deal, House GOP should have quit when it was ahead
House Republicans snatched political defeat from the jaws of victory in the showdown over Social Security payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits.
Nation & World
Arab monitors head to Syria, opposition skeptical
President Bashar Assad’s regime has intensified its crackdown since agreeing to the Arab plan to stop the bloodshed.
Sports
New Celtic Brandon Bass hits the boards in debut
Brandon Bass had a double-double in his first Celtics game, with 20 points and 11 rebounds, including five offensive rebounds.
Health and wellness
G Force
He speaks his mind on health
Dr. Salah D. Salman, a former Lebanese cabinet minister and former surgeon at the Mass. Eye and Ear Infirmary, wrote a critique of the American medical system.
Arts
BOOK REVIEW
‘Physics on the Fringe’ by Margaret Wertheim
Science writer Margaret Wertheim tells the story of James Carter, one of the more interesting outsiders she has encountered in her many years on the beat.
Opinion
“It isn’t that geopolitical strategy and Middle Eastern politics are irrelevant to those who go to war; it’s just that, in the midst of the fighting, thinking about those matters is a luxury.”
Juliette Kayyem
Ideas
The practice of sending commercially printed cards soon became wildly popular. It reached the United States in 1875…By 1958, the average US family mailed 100 Christmas cards.
Mark Feeney on the history of Christmas cards