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Children can be systematic problem-solvers at younger ages than psychologists had thought – new research

  • Written by Celeste Kidd, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
imageHow do kids figure out how to sort things by order?Celeste Kidd

I’m in a coffee shop when a young child dumps out his mother’s bag in search of fruit snacks. The contents spill onto the table, bench and floor. It’s a chaotic – but functional – solution to the problem.

Children have a penchant for unconventional thinking...

Read more: Children can be systematic problem-solvers at younger ages than psychologists had thought – new...

Virtual particles: How physicists’ clever bookkeeping trick could underlie reality

  • Written by Dipangkar Dutta, Professor of Nuclear Physics, Mississippi State University
imageScientists imagine virtual particles popping in and out of existence to explain how forces transfer between particles. koto_feja/iStock via Getty Images

A clever mathematical tool known as virtual particles unlocks the strange and mysterious inner workings of subatomic particles. What happens to these particles within atoms would stay unexplained...

Read more: Virtual particles: How physicists’ clever bookkeeping trick could underlie reality

Science costs money – research is guided by who funds it and why

  • Written by Ryan Summers, Associate Professor of Science Education, University of North Dakota
imageNSF is one federal agency that funds a wide range of basic science research.Nicole Fuller/National Science Foundation, CC BY

Scientists have always needed someone to help foot the bill for their work.

In the 19th century, for example, Charles Darwin made an expensive voyage to the southernmost tip of the Americas, visiting many other places en...

Read more: Science costs money – research is guided by who funds it and why

History is repeating itself at the FBI as agents resist a director’s political agenda

  • Written by Douglas M. Charles, Professor of History, Penn State
imageFBI Director Kash Patel is sworn in to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 16, 2025, in Washington, D.C.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Three converging events in the 1970s – the Watergate scandal, the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the Vietnam War and revelations that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had abused his power to...

Read more: History is repeating itself at the FBI as agents resist a director’s political agenda

Florida’s 1,100 natural springs are under threat – a geographer explains how to restore them

  • Written by Christopher F. Meindl, Associate Professor of Geography, University of South Florida
imageGilchrist Blue Springs, located about 20 miles northwest of Gainesville, Fla., is a popular recreation site known for the clarity of its water.Christopher Meindl, CC BY

“Behold … a vast circular expanse before you, the waters of which are so extremely clear as to be absolutely diaphanous or transparent as the ether.”

Naturalist Wi...

Read more: Florida’s 1,100 natural springs are under threat – a geographer explains how to restore them

Cuba’s leaders see their options dim amid blackouts and a shrinking economy

  • Written by Joseph J. Gonzalez, Associate Professor of Global Studies, Appalachian State University
imageCubans gather amid a blackout in Havana on Sept. 10, 2025.Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images

The lights went out in Cuba again.

For the fifth time in a year, all of Cuba plunged into darkness on Sept. 10, 2025. Even critical emergency services like hospitals suffered during the nearly 24-hour power outage.

That’s because Cuba’s power grid is...

Read more: Cuba’s leaders see their options dim amid blackouts and a shrinking economy

US economy is already on the edge – a prolonged government shutdown could send it tumbling over

  • Written by John W. Diamond, Director of the Center for Public Finance at the Baker Institute, Rice University
imageIt's a long way down.IAISI/Moment via Getty Images

The economic consequences of the current federal government shutdown hinge critically on how long it lasts. If it is resolved quickly, the costs will be small, but if it drags on, it could send the U.S. economy into a tailspin.

That’s because the economy is already in a precarious state, with...

Read more: US economy is already on the edge – a prolonged government shutdown could send it tumbling over

Supreme Court to decide if Colorado’s law banning conversion therapy violates free speech

  • Written by Timothy R. Holbrook, Professor of Law, University of Denver
imageThe US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for yet another case involving the LGBTQ+ community. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The constitutionality of a Colorado law that bans so-called “conversion therapy” is scheduled to go before the Supreme Court on Oct. 7, 2025. The question at the center of the case, Chiles v. Salazar, is...

Read more: Supreme Court to decide if Colorado’s law banning conversion therapy violates free speech

Supreme Court opens with cases on voting rights, tariffs, gender identity and campaign finance to test the limits of a constitutional revolution

  • Written by Morgan Marietta, Professor of American Civics, University of Tennessee
imageThe U.S. Supreme Court building at dawn in Washington, D.C.Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The most influential cases before the U.S. Supreme Court this term, which begins on Oct. 6, 2025, reflect the cultural and partisan clashes of American politics.

The major cases in October and November address the role of race in elections, conversion...

Read more: Supreme Court opens with cases on voting rights, tariffs, gender identity and campaign finance to...

Moral panics intensify social divisions and can lead to political violence

  • Written by Ron Barrett, Professor of Anthropology, Macalester College

The day before Charlie Kirk was assassinated, I was teaching a college class on science, religion and magic. Our class was comparing the Salem witch trials of the 1690s with the McCarthy hearings of the early 1950s, when U.S. democratic processes were eclipsed by the Red Scare of purported communist infiltration.

The aim of the class was to...

Read more: Moral panics intensify social divisions and can lead to political violence

More Articles ...

  1. Shutdowns are as American as apple pie − in the UK and elsewhere, they just aren’t baked into the process
  2. Where George Washington would disagree with Pete Hegseth about fitness for command and what makes a warrior
  3. Breastfeeding is ideal for child and parent health but challenging for most families – a pediatrician explains how to find support
  4. Meet Irene Curie, the Nobel-winning atomic physicist who changed the course of modern cancer treatment
  5. How VR and AI could help the next generation grow kinder and more connected
  6. Venezuela and US edge toward war footing − but domestic concerns, international risks may hold Washington back
  7. Trump scraps the nation’s most comprehensive food insecurity report − making it harder to know how many Americans struggle to get enough food
  8. Why Major League Baseball keeps coming back to Japan
  9. Why a quick compromise to the first government shutdown in nearly 7 years seems unlikely
  10. Jane Goodall, the gentle disrupter whose research on chimpanzees redefined what it meant to be human
  11. Many book bans could be judging titles mainly by their covers
  12. Violent acts in houses of worship are rare but deadly – here’s what the data shows
  13. Flood-prone Houston faces hard choices for handling too much water
  14. Conventional anti-corruption tools often fail to address root causes – but loss of US leadership could still spell trouble for efforts abroad
  15. Many US states are rethinking how students use cellphones − but digital tech still has a place in the classroom
  16. From ‘Frankenstein’ to ‘Dracula,’ exploring the dark world of death and the undead offers a reminder of our mortality
  17. Cellphones in schools – more states are taking action to reduce student distraction without eliminating tech access
  18. Censorship campaigns can have a way of backfiring – look no further than the fate of America’s most prolific censor
  19. McCarthyism’s shadow looms over controversial firing of Texas professor who taught about gender identity
  20. ‘Whisper networks’ don’t work as well online as off − here’s why women are better able to look out for each other in person
  21. ‘Warrior ethos’ mistakes military might for true security − and ignores the wisdom of Eisenhower
  22. Arab American students and parents see US schools very differently − political tensions are widening the gap
  23. Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pushed it away from ‘Mormon’ – a word that has courted controversy for 200 years
  24. Why chromium is considered an essential nutrient, despite having no proven health benefits
  25. Trump’s Gaza peace plan: A bit of the old, a bit of the new – and the same stumbling blocks
  26. Trump administration is on track to cut 1 in 3 EPA staffers by the end of 2025, slashing agency’s ability to keep pollution out of air and water
  27. How Dorothea Tanning’s ‘Birthday’ painting challenged male-dominated surrealism
  28. Ending taxes on home sales would benefit the wealthiest households most – part of a larger pattern in Trump tax plans
  29. Who invented the light bulb?
  30. A billion-dollar drug was found in Easter Island soil – what scientists and companies owe the Indigenous people they studied
  31. How to identify animal tracks, burrows and other signs of wildlife in your neighborhood
  32. A staircase in a small, decorative arts museum tells a harrowing story of terror, abuse and enslavement
  33. Serbia’s Aleksandar Vučić clings to power – but protests highlight the danger of stubborn leadership
  34. Why a study claiming vaccines cause chronic illness is severely flawed – a biostatistician explains the biases and unsupported conclusions
  35. Tibetan Buddhist nuns are getting advanced degrees − and the Dalai Lama played a major role in that shift
  36. Charlie Kirk and the making of an AI-generated martyr
  37. How sea star wasting disease transformed the West Coast’s ecology and economy
  38. Why aren’t companies speeding up investment? A new theory offers an answer to an economic paradox
  39. Calling in the animal drug detectives − helping veterinarians help beluga whales, goats and all creatures big and small
  40. Bacteria attached to charcoal could help keep an infamous ‘forever chemical’ out of waterways
  41. A Bari Weiss-led CBS News would likely look different, but how the public feels about it might not change
  42. Trump’s dip into the Nile waters dispute didn’t settle the conflict – in fact, it may have caused more ripples
  43. Civil society helps uphold democracy and provides built-in resistance to authoritarianism
  44. What parents need to know about Tylenol, autism and the difference between finding a link and finding a cause in scientific research
  45. Even a brief government shutdown might hamper morale, raise costs and reduce long-term efficiency in the federal workforce
  46. Even a government shutdown that ends quickly would hamper morale, raise costs and reduce long-term efficiency in the federal workforce
  47. Religion often shapes someone’s view of abortion – but what about a woman’s actual decision?
  48. 4 films that show how humans can fortify – or botch – their relationship with AI
  49. The science of defiance: A psychology researcher explains why people comply – and how to resist
  50. Personal scandals sink CEOs faster than financial fraud, research shows