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The world regulated sulfur in ship fuels − and the lightning stopped

  • Written by Chris Wright, Fellow in Atmospheric Science, Program on Climate Change, University of Washington
imageLightning strikes the Mediterranean Sea.Matko Begovic/PIXSELL via Xinhua, via Getty Images

If you look at a map of lightning near the Port of Singapore, you’ll notice an odd streak of intense lightning activity right over the busiest shipping lane in the world. As it turns out, the lightning really is responding to the ships, or rather the...

Read more: The world regulated sulfur in ship fuels − and the lightning stopped

5 years of COVID-19 underscore value of coordinated efforts to manage disease – while CDC, NIH and WHO face threats to their ability to respond to a crisis

  • Written by Katherine A. Foss, Professor of Media Studies, Middle Tennessee State University
imageAs the pandemic accelerated in 2020, U.S. hospitals -- including this one in New York City -- set up tents to diagnose patients with COVID-19.Misha Friedman via Getty Images

Five years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus, dubbed SARS-CoV-2, began as a...

Read more: 5 years of COVID-19 underscore value of coordinated efforts to manage disease – while CDC, NIH and...

What is a SLAPP suit? Legal experts explain how these lawsuits suppress free speech

  • Written by Jennifer Safstrom, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Vanderbilt University
imageGreenpeace activists at a pipeline resistance training camp in Washington state, Aug. 26, 2017.Tim Exton/AFP via Getty Images

Strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP suits, are civil claims brought against people or organizations who voice opinions publicly. These lawsuits are intended to intimidate opponents and suppress advocacy...

Read more: What is a SLAPP suit? Legal experts explain how these lawsuits suppress free speech

How Trump’s foreign aid and diplomatic cuts will make it harder for the US to wield soft power to maintain its friendships and win new ones

  • Written by Matthew Clary, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, Auburn University
imageSoft power is lower-risk and lower-cost than hard power strategies.A Mokhtari/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

The Trump administration has proposed shuttering USAID and cutting some of the State Department’s critical diplomatic programs; it has also announced tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China. As scholar Borja Santos...

Read more: How Trump’s foreign aid and diplomatic cuts will make it harder for the US to wield soft power to...

Mission possible − parastronaut programs can make space travel more inclusive and attainable for all

  • Written by Jesse Rhoades, Professor of Education, Heath & Behavior, University of North Dakota
imageThe European Space Agency's astronaut cohort includes a parastronaut, as part of a feasability project. AP Photo/Francois Mori

Humans will likely set foot on the Moon again in the coming decade. While many stories in this new chapter of lunar exploration will be reminiscent of the Apollo missions 50 years ago, others may look quite different.

For...

Read more: Mission possible − parastronaut programs can make space travel more inclusive and attainable for all

From TB to HIV/AIDS to cancer, disease tracking has always had a political dimension, but it’s the foundation of public health

  • Written by Amy Lauren Fairchild, University Professor of Sociology, Syracuse University
imageTuberculosis was the leading cause of death in New York City and the U.S. overall in the late 19th century.Lewis Wickes Hine/Picryl, CC BY

Federal datasets began disappearing from public view on Jan. 31, 2025, in response to executive orders from President Donald Trump. Among those were the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth...

Read more: From TB to HIV/AIDS to cancer, disease tracking has always had a political dimension, but it’s the...

End-of-life planning can be hampered by misconceptions − but the process is easier than you might think

  • Written by Anisah Bagasra, Associate Professor of Psychology, Kennesaw State University
imageChoosing a health care agent requires having some sensitive and potentially uncomfortable conversations about your end-of-life wishes.PictureLake via Getty Images

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people unexpectedly needed critical care such as ventilators but were unable to communicate their end-of-life wishes to their loved ones.

Researchers...

Read more: End-of-life planning can be hampered by misconceptions − but the process is easier than you might...

Trump’s DOGE campaign accelerates 50-year trend of government privatization

  • Written by Nathan Meyers, PhD Candidate in Sociology, UMass Amherst

Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has aggressively moved to shrink the federal government. His administration has frozen federal grants, issued executive orders aligned with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, and, most prominently, created what he calls the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

DOGE has been...

Read more: Trump’s DOGE campaign accelerates 50-year trend of government privatization

What happens when leaders have loyalists in charge of men with guns: Lessons for the US from Nicaragua, Syria and other authoritarian countries

  • Written by Joe Wright, Professor of Political Science, Penn State
imageSyrian army special forces in 2005, wearing pictures of their president, Bashar Assad, his father, Hafez, and brother, Basil, on their uniform, stand guard at a Lebanese military air base.Patrick Baz/AFP via Getty Images

In what’s been called a “Friday night massacre” at the Pentagon, President Donald Trump removed six top...

Read more: What happens when leaders have loyalists in charge of men with guns: Lessons for the US from...

The sun is setting on government transparency in Florida – and secrecy creep is affecting the rest of the US, too

  • Written by David Cuillier, Director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida
imageExemptions to Florida's open records law now exceed high rises in Miami.DEA / V. GIANNELLA /via Getty Images

Florida, the “Sunshine State,” once known as a beacon of government transparency, is growing ever darker, and the clouds are spreading throughout the United States.

From March 16-22, 2025, the nation celebrates the 20th...

Read more: The sun is setting on government transparency in Florida – and secrecy creep is affecting the rest...

More Articles ...

  1. How the color of St. Patrick’s Day went from blue to green
  2. George Washington, a real estate investor and successful entrepreneur, knew the difference between running a business and running the government
  3. Taking a leap of faith into imaginary numbers opens new doors in the real world through complex analysis
  4. DEI initiatives removed from federal agencies that fund science, but scientific research continues
  5. The dark parallels between 1920s America and today’s political climate
  6. The fear of deportation hangs over unauthorized workers trying to fight exploitation, but all workers in the US have rights
  7. The FACE Act was enacted to protect reproductive health clinics − here’s why its history matters today
  8. Ann Arbor’s sustainable energy utility aims to build the electric power grid of the future − alongside the old one
  9. 5 ways schools have shifted in 5 years since COVID-19
  10. Is ranch dressing a liquid or a solid? A physicist explains
  11. America is becoming a nation of homebodies
  12. 5 reasons veterans are especially hard-hit by federal cuts
  13. Daylight saving time and early school start times cost billions in lost productivity and health care expenses
  14. How Trump’s $2B court battle over foreign aid could reshape executive authority
  15. Pause in aid has introduced uncertainty into Ukraine’s military planning − forever changing its war calculus
  16. NIH funding cuts will hit red states, rural areas and underserved communities the hardest
  17. ‘Pac-Man with a ponytail’ proteins regulate everything from night vision to heartbeats – studying what GRKs look like could improve an array of drugs
  18. What Amazon MGM’s creative control over the James Bond film franchise means for the future of 007
  19. Exhausted by the news? Here are 6 strategies to stay informed without getting overwhelmed − or misled by misinformation
  20. The US has pardoned insurrectionists twice before – and both times, years of violent racism followed
  21. Beyond AI regulation: How government and industry can team up to make the technology safer without hindering innovation
  22. Knocking down abandoned buildings has a lot of benefits for Detroit − but it’s costly for cities
  23. Why getting the numbers right isn’t enough for pollsters to be credible in today’s polarized climate
  24. Butterflies declined by 22% in just 2 decades across the US – there are ways you can help save them
  25. How 18F transformed government technology − and why its elimination matters
  26. Anger is a flow of emotion like water through a hose − at work, it helps to know when to turn it up or down and how to direct it
  27. DOGE threat: How government data would give an AI company extraordinary power
  28. As tuberculosis cases rise in the US and worldwide, health officials puzzle over the resurgence of a disease once in decline
  29. What’s that microplastic? Advances in machine learning are making identifying plastics in the environment more reliable
  30. Why Muslim American nonprofits are taking steps to build trust with donors during Ramadan
  31. Death by firing squad set to resume in the US – but no matter the method, all means of execution come with a troubling history
  32. Philly’s street fentanyl contains an industrial chemical called BTMPS that’s an ingredient in plastic
  33. The US energy market has its troubles, though it may not be a ‘national emergency’
  34. Carolina wildfires followed months of weather whiplash, from drought to hurricane-fueled floods and back to drought
  35. The child boss in ‘Severance’ reveals a devastating truth about work and child-rearing in the 21st century
  36. Supreme Court sides with San Francisco, requiring EPA to set specific targets in water pollution permits
  37. COVID-19 is the latest epidemic to show biomedical breakthroughs aren’t enough to eliminate a disease
  38. Learning ethics − one Marvel movie at a time
  39. USAID’s history shows decades of good work on behalf of America’s global interests, although not all its projects succeeded
  40. Influencers have trouble figuring out their tax obligations − and with good reason
  41. Trump is the kinglike president many feared when arguing over the US Constitution in 1789 – and his address to Congress showed it
  42. A potential $110B economic hit: How Trump’s tariffs could mean rising costs for families, strain for states
  43. Extreme heat silently accelerates aging on a molecular level − new research
  44. Gifts from top 50 US philanthropists rebounded to $16B in 2024 − Mike Bloomberg; Reed Hastings and Patty Quillin; and Michael and Susan Dell lead the list of biggest givers
  45. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs advises the president on use of America’s military power
  46. How the hidden epidemic of violence against nurses affects health care
  47. How Trump’s second term might affect the market and your finances
  48. Many more Denver teens have experienced homelessness than official counts show
  49. Out-of-balance bacteria is linked to multiple sclerosis − the ratio can predict severity of disease
  50. How are clouds’ shapes made? A scientist explains the different cloud types and how they help forecast weather