--- title: Five Best Ideas of the Day: February 6 description: Making democracy work in Afghanistan, housing the homeless veterans of New Orleans, why science and the media need each other, and more. canonical: https://time.com/3698868/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-february-6/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-06T17:39:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:48.551Z article:section: Ideas og:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas og:description: Making democracy work in Afghanistan, housing the homeless veterans of New Orleans, why science and the media need each other, and more og:url: https://time.com/3698868/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-february-6/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Are Today's Best Ideas twitter:description: Making democracy work in Afghanistan, housing the homeless veterans of New Orleans, why science and the media need each other, and more twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Five Best Ideas of the Day: February 6 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Feb 6, 2015 5:39 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Feb 6, 2015 5:39 PM CUT **1\.** [**To salvage democracy in Afghanistan, leaders must make the next election really work.**](http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/05/how-to-save-afghanistans-democracy/ "undefined") By Tabish Forugh in Foreign Policy **2\.** [**In a U.S. first, New Orleans finds homes for all its homeless veterans.**](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2015/0109/In-a-US-first-New-Orleans-finds-homes-for-all-its-homeless-veterans "undefined") By Noelle Swan in the Christian Science Monitor **3\.** [**As rich nations plan the next decade’s agenda for global development, they must bring human rights and accountability to the fore.**](http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=49907#.VNTcMV7F%5F7d "undefined") By the United Nations News Centre **4\.** [**Science and the media need each other. They just don’t know it yet.**](http://wilsonquarterly.com/stories/science-and-innovation-in-changing-newsroom/ "undefined") By Louise Lief in the Wilson Quarterly **5\.** [**This simple Lego contraption allows scientists to safely handle insects.**](http://news.sciencemag.org/plants-animals/2015/02/lego-contraption-allows-scientists-safely-handle-insects "undefined") By Emily Conover in Science  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3698868/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-february-6/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3698868/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-february-6/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: February 6","datePublished":"2015-02-06T17:39:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:48.551Z","description":"Making democracy work in Afghanistan, housing the homeless veterans of New Orleans, why science and the media need each other, and more.","url":"https://time.com/3698868/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-february-6/","keywords":["Innovation","Afghanistan","Media","elections","Human Rights","housing","new orleans","Lego","Science topic","United Nations","democracy","Journalism","UN","Insects"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3698868/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-february-6/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: February 6"}}]}] ```