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Wastewater surveillance reveals pathogens in Detroit’s population, helping monitor and predict disease outbreaks since 2017

  • Written by Irene Xagoraraki, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State University
imageIrene Xagoraraki leads an environmental virology lab at Michigan State University.Irene Xagoraraki, CC BY-ND

Wastewater surveillance hit the big time during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when officials started using this technique to monitor local virus levels. But my colleagues and I had been exploring wastewater’s promise as a public...

Read more: Wastewater surveillance reveals pathogens in Detroit’s population, helping monitor and predict...

Paris 2024 Olympics to debut high-level breakdancing – and physics in action

  • Written by Amy Pope, Principal Lecturer of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University
imageB-boys and B-girls wield physics to pull off gravity-defying dance moves. AP Photo/Andres Kudacki

Two athletes square off for an intense dance battle. The DJ starts spinning tunes, and the athletes begin twisting, spinning and seemingly defying gravity, respectfully watching each other and taking turns showing off their skill.

The athletes converse...

Read more: Paris 2024 Olympics to debut high-level breakdancing – and physics in action

Food has a climate problem: Nitrous oxide emissions are accelerating with growing demand for fertilizer and meat – but there are solutions

  • Written by Hanqin Tian, Director and Institute Professor, Center for Earth System Science and Global Sustainability, Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, Boston College
imageFertilizer is a leading source of emissions of nitrous oxide, a planet-warming greenhouse gas.pixdeluxe/E+ via Getty Images

Food’s role in climate change has emerged as one of the defining challenges of our time. The journey of a steak, fruit or salad from the vast expanses of agricultural lands to the plates on our tables leaves a...

Read more: Food has a climate problem: Nitrous oxide emissions are accelerating with growing demand for...

African elephants address one another with name-like calls − similar to humans

  • Written by Mickey Pardo, Postdoctoral Fellow in Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State University
imageElephants have close social bonds, which may have led to the evolution of name-like calls. Michael Pardo

What’s in a name? People use unique names to address each other, but we’re one of only a handful of animal species known to do that, including bottlenose dolphins. Finding more animals with names and investigating how they use them...

Read more: African elephants address one another with name-like calls − similar to humans

How reciting the Pledge of Allegiance became a sacred, patriotic ritual

  • Written by Thomas S. Bremer, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Rhodes College
imageThe anniversary of the adoption of the U.S. flag is celebrated each year on June 14.tiaramaio/RooM via Getty images

The Continental Congress, the legislative body for the newly declared United States, adopted an official flag on June 14, 1777. The delegates resolved that “the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and...

Read more: How reciting the Pledge of Allegiance became a sacred, patriotic ritual

PFAS are toxic ‘forever chemicals’ that linger in our air, water, soil and bodies – here’s how to keep them out of your drinking water

  • Written by Jessica Ray, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Washington
imageExposure to PFAS during pregnancy can lead to a child's low birth weight and accelerated puberty. RUNSMART/Digital Vision via Getty Images

Close to half of America’s tap water contains PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. These “forever chemicals” are in thousands of products, from clothing and cosmetics to...

Read more: PFAS are toxic ‘forever chemicals’ that linger in our air, water, soil and bodies – here’s how to...

Summertime can be germy: A microbiologist explains how to avoid getting sick at the barbecue, in the pool or on the trail

  • Written by Bill Sullivan, Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indiana University
imageTaking precautions against outdoor pathogens can keep you from getting sidelined over the summer.galitskaya/iStock via Getty Images Plus

As flowers bloom and temperatures climb, many are eager to get back outside. But while the Sun may be shining, there is a dark side that can make the great outdoors not so great.

Gangs of germs are lurking in the...

Read more: Summertime can be germy: A microbiologist explains how to avoid getting sick at the barbecue, in...

Independent voters are few in number, influential in close elections – and hard for campaigns to reach

  • Written by Julio Borquez, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan-Dearborn

As the 2024 campaign cycle unfolds, campaign strategists, pollsters and political scientists have been closely watching independent voters.

The year began with a January 2024 Gallup report that 43% of Americans identify as political independents – regardless of whether they are registered to vote as a member of one party or the other....

Read more: Independent voters are few in number, influential in close elections – and hard for campaigns to...

Losing winter ice is changing the Great Lakes food web – here’s how light is shaping life underwater

  • Written by Steven Wilhelm, Professor of Microbiology, University of Tennessee
imageIce on Lake Erie provides winter light for algae thriving below.Sue Thompson, CC BY-ND

Winters on the Great Lakes are harsh – so much so that the scientists who work there often focus on the summer months, when tiny microbes at the base of the food chain were thought to be most productive.

However, emerging research is changing our...

Read more: Losing winter ice is changing the Great Lakes food web – here’s how light is shaping life underwater

More Articles ...

  1. Are older adults more vulnerable to scams? What psychologists have learned about who’s most susceptible, and when
  2. Complaints are different when customers think a company cares
  3. Coral reef recovery could get a boost from an unlikely source: Sea cucumbers, the janitors of the seafloor
  4. Biden and Trump may forget names or personal details, but here is what really matters in assessing whether they’re cognitively up for the job
  5. The warming ocean is leaving coastal economies in hot water
  6. How DEI rollbacks at colleges and universities set back learning
  7. American slavery wasn’t just a white man’s business − new research shows how white women profited, too
  8. NASA’s asteroid sample mission gave scientists around the world the rare opportunity to study an artificial meteor
  9. How do you build tunnels and bridges underwater? A geotechnical engineer explains the construction tricks
  10. Indian election was awash in deepfakes – but AI was a net positive for democracy
  11. How much do you need to know about how your spouse spends money? Maybe less than you think
  12. 2020’s ‘fake elector’ schemes will be harder to try in 2024 – but not impossible
  13. Why is it so hard to know how many independent voters there are?
  14. Getting services to people in need often relies on partnerships between government and nonprofits, but reporting requirements can be too onerous
  15. AI search answers are the fast food of your information diet – convenient and tasty, but no substitute for good nutrition
  16. Scientists call the region of space influenced by the Sun the heliosphere – but without an interstellar probe, they don’t know much about its shape
  17. Scientists and Indigenous leaders team up to conserve seals and an ancestral way of life at Yakutat, Alaska
  18. Records of Pompeii’s survivors have been found – and archaeologists are starting to understand how they rebuilt their lives
  19. New database features 250 AI tools that can enhance social science research
  20. Beyond Seinfeld’s ‘Unfrosted’ – lessons from Michigan’s serial cereal entrepreneurs
  21. Menopause treatments can help with hot flashes and other symptoms – but many people aren’t aware of the latest advances
  22. 5 reasons Supreme Court ethics questions are more common now than in the past
  23. Laws meant to keep different races apart still influence dating patterns, decades after being invalidated
  24. Only 1.8% of US doctors were Black in 1906 – and the legacy of inequality in medical education has not yet been erased
  25. Only 1.6% of US doctors were Black in 1906 – and the legacy of inequality in medical education has not yet been erased
  26. AI plus gene editing promises to shift biotech into high gear
  27. All shook up? UK’s Nigel Farage is the latest to bear the brunt of pelting as popular politics
  28. Emigration: The hidden catalyst behind the rise of the radical right in Europe’s depopulating regions
  29. Job figures are coming out, and here’s my prediction: The markets will overreact to the headlines
  30. The disproportionate toll that COVID-19 took on people with diabetes continues today
  31. 90% of Michigan state troopers are white − why making the force more representative is a challenge
  32. Young adults who fare relatively well after spending time in the child welfare system say steady support from caring grown-ups made a big difference
  33. Cities contain pockets of nature – our study shows which species are most tolerant of urbanization
  34. Summer reading: 5 young-adult fiction novels that explore LGBTQ+ teen lives
  35. Inside the rise and fall of one of the world’s most powerful writing groups
  36. What the statue of a kneeling enslaved man in the Emancipation Memorial of 1876 tells us about its history − an art historian explains
  37. Biden’s immigration order won’t fix problems quickly – 4 things to know about what’s changing
  38. Colorado to tighten regulations on funeral homes after multiple scandals − here’s what this means for families
  39. Female giraffes drove the evolution of long giraffe necks in order to feed on the most nutritious leaves, new research suggests
  40. With a record-breaking 2024 Atlantic hurricane forecast, here’s how scientists are helping Caribbean communities adapt to a warming world
  41. Heat index warnings can save lives on dangerously hot days − if people understand what they mean
  42. Removing Cuba from list of countries ‘not fully cooperating’ over terrorism may presage wider rapprochement – if politics allows
  43. Why India and Pakistan’s T20 cricket showdown in New York is such a big deal
  44. Could Elvis’ Graceland hold a key to bridging America’s cultural divide?
  45. Your favorite drink can cause breast cancer – but most women in the US aren’t aware of alcohol’s health risks
  46. 500 years ago, Machiavelli warned the public not to get complacent in the face of self-interested charismatic figures
  47. Narendra Modi sworn in as India’s prime minister for a third term after a narrow win – suggesting Indian voters saw through religious rhetoric
  48. Modi’s narrow win suggests Indian voters saw through religious rhetoric, opting instead to curtail his political power
  49. Life on the US-Mexico border is chaotic. An immigration scholar explains why − and it’s not for the reasons that some GOP lawmakers claim
  50. Wisconsin is a key swing state this year – and has a history of being unpredictable