In Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Obama called for universal early childhood education. Why? Because research by Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman shows that preschool can make a remarkable difference in children's lives.

Drug researcher Carl Hart argues that the ongoing war on drugs continues to disproportionately hurt the black community, while ignoring bigger societal woes like poverty and high school drop out rates. Hart discusses the problems with current drug policies and how they should be changed.

In a shocking crime story for an Olympic legend, double amputee South African runner Oscar Pistorious, who became the first such runner to compete in the Olympics, has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend, 30-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp. Lydia Polgreen is the Johannesburg bureau chief for our partner, The New York Times.

It’s been a poetic, lovelorn, literary week at the Takeaway. In honor of Valentine’s Day, we asked you to share your stories of love and loss, and to do so in exactly six words. These are our favorites.

Next week marks the 100th anniversary of the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art. Better known as the Armory Show, it was the first large exhibition of modern art in America. It was also the first time many New Yorkers found themselves face-to-face with the work of artists like Duchamp, Seurat, and Picasso.

The unrest that erupted into the Arab spring two years ago unleashed a broad political movement of very different groups who united to throw off dictatorial regimes in North Africa and the Middle East. They succeeded in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen, and uprisings continue in Syria and to a lesser extent in Bahrain and elsewhere.