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Hope and hardship have driven Syrian refugee returns – but many head back to destroyed homes, land disputes

  • Written by Sandra Joireman, Weinstein Chair of International Studies, Professor of Political Science, University of Richmond
imageDisplaced Syrian families form a return convoy to their destroyed village.Moawia Atrash/picture alliance via Getty Images

Close to 1.5 million Syrian refugees have voluntarily returned to their home country over the past year.

That extraordinary figure represents nearly one-quarter of all Syrians who fled fighting during the 13-year civil war to...

Read more: Hope and hardship have driven Syrian refugee returns – but many head back to destroyed homes, land...

Pete Hegseth could be investigated for illegal orders by 5 different bodies – but none are likely to lead to charges

  • Written by Joshua Kastenberg, Professor of Law, University of New Mexico
imageDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC on December 2, 2025. Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images

News reports about a U.S. military attack on a boat in the Caribbean allegedly carrying drugs have raised critical questions about the military...

Read more: Pete Hegseth could be investigated for illegal orders by 5 different bodies – but none are likely...

Measuring Colorado’s mountains one hike at a time

  • Written by Eric Gilbertson, Associate Teaching Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Seattle University
imageUsing lightweight tools, Eric Gilbertson hikes the world's tallest mountains to measure their heights. Elijah Gendron

In the middle of a chilly October night in 2025, my two friends and I suited up at the Cottonwood Creek trailhead and started a trek into the Sangre de Cristo mountains of Colorado. It was a little below freezing as we got moving at...

Read more: Measuring Colorado’s mountains one hike at a time

Tired of the same old Christmas songs? So were these countercultural carolers

  • Written by Florian Walch, Assistant Professor of Music Theory, West Virginia University
imageWhat happens when the grinding sounds of metal music collide with the innocence of Christmas?Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

With Mariah Careyand Wham! saturating airwaves with their holiday tunes, it’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas.

But if all you want for Christmas is a reprieve from stereotypical Christmas music, you’re not...

Read more: Tired of the same old Christmas songs? So were these countercultural carolers

Meditating on the connectedness of life could help reunite a divided country – here’s how ‘interbeing’ works

  • Written by Jeremy David Engels, Liberal Arts Endowed Professor of Communication, Penn State
imageMeditation can make us more aware of the miracle of existence of everything in this world.Anna Sunderland Engels

The late Vietnamese Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh often emphasized the interconnectedness of everything in this world. He explained how meditation can change our perceptions about the things we encounter in our daily lives by revealing this...

Read more: Meditating on the connectedness of life could help reunite a divided country – here’s how...

Down-ranking polarizing content lowers emotional temperature on social media – new research

  • Written by Tiziano Piccardi, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University
imageSocial media posts that stoke division don't have to top your feed.Gama5/iStock via Getty Images

Reducing the visibility of polarizing content in social media feeds can measurably lower partisan animosity. To come up with this finding, my colleagues and I developed a method that let us alter the ranking of people’s feeds, previously something...

Read more: Down-ranking polarizing content lowers emotional temperature on social media – new research

Most normal matter in the universe isn’t found in planets, stars or galaxies – an astronomer explains where it’s distributed

  • Written by Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona
imageMysterious blasts of radio waves from across the universe called fast radio bursts help astronomers catalog matter.ESO/M. Kornmesser, CC BY-SA

If you look across space with a telescope, you’ll see countless galaxies, most of which host large central black holes, billions of stars and their attendant planets. The universe teems with huge,...

Read more: Most normal matter in the universe isn’t found in planets, stars or galaxies – an astronomer...

Facing myriad global pressures, Iran intensifies outreach to African partners for critical needs

  • Written by Eric Lob, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University
imagePrime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during the 17th annual BRICS summit on July 6, 2025. AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo

Burkina Faso’s security minister headed to Tehran on Nov. 12, 2025, for high-level talks with Iranian officials. The visit was a fruitful one: The West African nation...

Read more: Facing myriad global pressures, Iran intensifies outreach to African partners for critical needs

People who talk with their hands seem more clear and persuasive – new research

  • Written by Giovanni Luca Cascio Rizzo, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Southern California
imageAn appropriate hand gesture can help drive your point home.Fajrul Islam/Moment via Getty Images

When people use hand gestures that visually represent what they’re saying, listeners see them as more clear, competent and persuasive. That’s the key finding from my new research published in the Journal of Marketing Research, where I...

Read more: People who talk with their hands seem more clear and persuasive – new research

Declaration of Independence’s promises ring out today as loudly as they did for Lincoln, FDR and through 249 years of US history

  • Written by Graeme Mack, Visiting Assistant Professor of History, University of Richmond
imageThe Declaration of Independence declares the nation’s credo, that 'all men are created equal.'Tetra Images/Getty Images

The Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary in 2026 is certain to be a time of national reflection.

Americans tend to look to the Constitution to assess whether the nation is living up to its founding principles...

Read more: Declaration of Independence’s promises ring out today as loudly as they did for Lincoln, FDR and...

More Articles ...

  1. Everything everywhere all at once: How Zohran Mamdani campaigned both online and with a ground game
  2. The housing crisis is forcing Americans to choose between affordability and safety
  3. FDA claims on COVID-19 vaccine safety are unsupported by reliable data – and could severely hinder vaccine access
  4. The marketing genius of Spotify Wrapped
  5. Lasting peace in Ukraine may hinge on independent monitors – yet Trump’s 28-point plan barely mentions them
  6. A hard year for federal workers offers a real-time lesson in resilience
  7. Why one 16th-century theologian’s advice for a bitterly divided nation holds true today
  8. What are small modular reactors, a new type of nuclear power plant sought to feed AI’s energy demand?
  9. Google’s proposed data center in orbit will face issues with space debris in an already crowded orbit
  10. Yes, the government can track your location – but usually not by spying on you directly
  11. Federal funding cuts are only one problem facing America’s colleges and universities
  12. Labeling dissent as terrorism: New US domestic terrorism priorities raise constitutional alarms
  13. Empathy and reasoning aren’t rivals – new research shows they work together to drive people to help more
  14. Flat Earth, spirits and conspiracy theories – experience can shape even extraordinary beliefs
  15. Planning life after high school isn’t easy – 4 tips to help students and families navigate the process
  16. Why do family companies even exist? They know how to ‘win without fighting’
  17. Larry Summers’ sexism is jeopardizing his power and privilege, but the entire economics profession hinders progress for women
  18. Sugar starts corroding your teeth within seconds – here’s how to protect your pearly whites from decay
  19. Google plans to power a new data center with fossil fuels, yet release almost no emissions – here’s how its carbon capture tech works
  20. High-speed rail moves millions throughout the world every day – but in the US, high cost and low use make its future bumpy
  21. Ranked choice voting outperforms the winner-take-all system used to elect nearly every US politician
  22. Why protecting Colorado children from dying of domestic violence is such a hard problem
  23. We are hardwired to sing − and it’s good for us, too
  24. Winter storms blanket the East, while the U.S. West is wondering: Where’s the snow?
  25. Winter storms blanket the East, while the US West is wondering: Where’s the snow?
  26. Stalin’s postwar terror targeted Soviet Jews – in the name of ‘anti-cosmopolitanism’
  27. Rural high school students are more likely than city kids to get their diplomas, but they remain less likely to go to college
  28. Texas cities have some of the highest preterm birth rates in the US, highlighting maternal health crisis nationwide
  29. New York’s wealthy warn of a tax exodus after Mamdani’s win – but the data says otherwise
  30. Why do people get headaches and migraines? A child neurologist explains the science of head pain and how to treat it
  31. When the world’s largest battery power plant caught fire, toxic metals rained down – wetlands captured the fallout
  32. Speaker Johnson’s choice to lead by following the president goes against 200 years of House speakers building up the office’s power
  33. Iran’s president calls for moving its drought-stricken capital amid a worsening water crisis – how Tehran got into water bankruptcy
  34. Guinea-Bissau’s military takeover highlights the nation’s sorry history of coups and a deepening crisis across the region
  35. Drones, physics and rats: Studies show how the people of Rapa Nui made and moved the giant statues – and what caused the island’s deforestation
  36. As US hunger rises, Trump administration’s ‘efficiency’ goals cause massive food waste
  37. A year on, the Israeli-Lebanese ceasefire looks increasingly fragile − could a return to cyclical violence come next?
  38. How does Narcan work? Mapping how it reverses opioid overdose can provide a molecular blueprint for more effective drugs
  39. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence – and that affects what scientific journals choose to publish
  40. George Plimpton’s 1966 nonfiction classic ‘Paper Lion’ revealed the bruising truths of Detroit Lions training camp
  41. Pentagon investigation of Sen. Mark Kelly revives Cold War persecution of Americans with supposedly disloyal views
  42. A database could help revive the Arapaho language before its last speakers are gone
  43. How food assistance programs can feed families and nourish their dignity
  44. What makes a true Santa is inside – and comes with the red suit
  45. ‘Without prejudice’: What this 2-word legalese means for the dismissed charges against James Comey and Letitia James
  46. From concrete to community: How synthetic data can make urban digital twins more humane
  47. The ChatGPT effect: In 3 years the AI chatbot has changed the way people look things up
  48. When darkness shines: How dark stars could illuminate the early universe
  49. Fern stems reveal secrets of evolution – how constraints in development can lead to new forms
  50. A quarter of early child care educators in Colorado reported mistreatment from co-workers