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Venezuela’s fragile environment faces rising risks as US pushes for oil and critical minerals and illegal gold mining spreads

  • Written by Antonio Machado Allison, Professor of Environment and Latin American Studies, Wesleyan University
imageOpen pit gold mines have spread across large areas of the Orinoco Mining Belt in recent years.Magda Gibelli / AFP via Getty Images

Venezuela’s Orinoco River Basin is a wild land of lush forests, grasslands and a vast delta of jungle wetlands teeming with wildlife. River dolphins and endangered Orinoco crocodiles ply its waterways, and over...

Read more: Venezuela’s fragile environment faces rising risks as US pushes for oil and critical minerals and...

When Washington and the states are in conflict, the ultimate winner is not always certain

  • Written by Kenneth Michael White, Associate Professor of Political Science & Criminal Justice, Kennesaw State University
imageTrump administration immigration policies have received pushback from leaders of sanctuary jurisdictions, as well as protesters.AP Photo/Ryan Murphy

The Trump administration’s aggressive policies on immigration are receiving pushback not just on Capitol Hill but across the country. Democratic leaders in multiple states are refusing to...

Read more: When Washington and the states are in conflict, the ultimate winner is not always certain

Telehealth is widely used by older adults insured by Medicare, new research shows

  • Written by Terrence Liu, Assistant Professor, University of Utah
imageDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government expanded access to telehealth for older adults insured by Medicare. FatCamera/E+ via Getty Images

Americans age 65 and older who are insured by Medicare logged about 60 million telehealth visits annually between 2021 and 2023 – about 31 million for mental health and 29 million for other...

Read more: Telehealth is widely used by older adults insured by Medicare, new research shows

Public health needs steady budgets – and federal funding uncertainty causes real harms, even if the money is later restored

  • Written by Max Crowley, Professor of Human Development, Family Studies and Public Policy, Penn State
imageCommunities rely on vaccination clinics, restaurant inspections and disease surveillance systems run by local and state public health departments. Sean Rayford/Stringer via Getty Images

Since early 2025, several large federal health grants to states have been suspended and then restored after legal challenges. On Feb. 13, 2026, for example, the...

Read more: Public health needs steady budgets – and federal funding uncertainty causes real harms, even if...

Family-friendly workplaces are great − but ‘families of 1’ get ignored

  • Written by Peter McGraw, Professor of Marketing and Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder
imageSingle people without kids are a growing share of the workforce.Luis Alvarez/DigitalVision via Getty Images

In 1960, 72% of adults were married, and over 90% would go on to marry. HR policies and management practices back then catered to nuclear families with a lone, male breadwinner.

Today, dual-career couples and working mothers are common,...

Read more: Family-friendly workplaces are great − but ‘families of 1’ get ignored

Measuring poverty on a spectrum instead of an arbitrary line conveys a more accurate picture of inequality

  • Written by Olivier Sterck, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Oxford
imageDoes drawing a line make sense at any step of the way to wealth?fatido/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Michael W. Green, a Wall Street investor, created a buzz in late 2025 by arguing that the U.S. poverty line should be jacked up to US$140,000 for a family of four. Currently, a family of that size has to be eking by on $33,000 a year to qualify as...

Read more: Measuring poverty on a spectrum instead of an arbitrary line conveys a more accurate picture of...

Trump offered a restrictive deal to universities that almost all rejected – but the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education may not be entirely dead

  • Written by Fred L. Pincus, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
imageOnly three universities agreed to the higher education compact, which offered benefits in federal funding in exchange for major policy and administrative changes at schools. Alina Naumova/iStock/Getty Images Plus

In October 2025, the Trump administration made a controversial proposal to nine major colleges and universities, including Dartmouth...

Read more: Trump offered a restrictive deal to universities that almost all rejected – but the Compact for...

How does Iran go about selecting a new supreme leader? And who is in the running?

  • Written by Eric Lob, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University

The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28, 2026, set off the process of selecting a new supreme leader. It is only the second such transition in the Islamic Republic’s 47-year history and the first since the ailing Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini transferred power to Khamenei in June 1989.

As stipulated in Article 111 of the Iranian...

Read more: How does Iran go about selecting a new supreme leader? And who is in the running?

Persian Gulf desalination plants could become military targets in regional war

  • Written by Michael Christopher Low, Associate Professor of History; Director, Middle East Center, University of Utah
imageThe Ras al-Khair water desalination plant in eastern Saudi Arabia is just one of many along the Persian Gulf coast.Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf region use the fossil fuels under their desert lands not only to make money, but also to make drinking water. The...

Read more: Persian Gulf desalination plants could become military targets in regional war

Researchers are combining drones and AI to make removing land mines faster and safer

  • Written by Sagar Lekhak, Ph.D. Student in Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology
imageUkraine is just one of many conflict zones contaminated by land mines.Maksym Kishka/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

At least 57 nations have live antipersonnel land mines in their territories. In 2024 alone, 1,945 people were killed by mines and 4,325 were injured, 90% of whom were civilians. Nearly half of those were children. Demining...

Read more: Researchers are combining drones and AI to make removing land mines faster and safer

More Articles ...

  1. Why are some stars always visible while others come and go with the seasons?
  2. How Denver’s Northeast Park Hill community reduced youth violence by 75%
  3. Operational secrecy kept the US from making evacuation plans – and that means Americans in the Mideast could wait days
  4. Billions of dollars, decades of progress spent eliminating devastating diseases may be lost with undoing of USAID
  5. We designed an AI tutor that helps college students reason rather than give them answers
  6. Nearly a third of Pennsylvania gamblers are at risk of problem gambling − but few seek treatment
  7. 2025 was hotter than it should have been – 5 influences and a dirty surprise offer clues to what’s ahead
  8. GLP-1 drugs may fight addiction across every major substance, according to a study of 600,000 people
  9. Hezbollah − degraded, weakened but not yet disarmed − destabilizes Lebanon once again
  10. When unpaid cooking, cleaning and child care get a dollar value, income inequality in the US shrinks – but the gap has grown since 1965
  11. Trauma patients recover faster when medical teams know each other well, new study finds
  12. Housing First helps people find permanent homes in Detroit − but HUD plans to divert funds to short-term solutions
  13. Congress once fought to limit a president’s war powers − more than 50 years later, its successors are less willing to assert their authority
  14. AI and 3D printing help researchers create heat- and pressure-resistant materials for aerospace and defense applications
  15. With Artemis II facing delays, NASA announces big structural changes to the lunar program
  16. I study why zebrafish larva prefer to circle left or right, to understand how and why human brains encode right- and left-handedness
  17. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is having its #MeToo moment
  18. Front lines of humor: Dark humor voices Ukrainians’ hopes for victory
  19. Far from random, China’s global port network is clustering near the world’s riskiest trade routes
  20. CIA agents successfully executed a plan for regime change in Iran in 1953 – but Trump hasn’t revealed any signs of a plan
  21. Public defender shortage is leading to hundreds of criminal cases being dismissed
  22. Welcome to the ‘gray zone’ − home to nefarious international acts that fall short of outright conflict
  23. Stressed out by politics? You’re not imagining it, and research shows that social media is largely to blame
  24. Formerly incarcerated Black men say they’re ‘doing OK’ while trying to cope with depression and PTSD
  25. Are heroes born or made? Role models and training can prepare ordinary people to take heroic action
  26. A Plan B for space? On the risks of concentrating national space power in private hands
  27. The inspiring and tragic story of Mabel Stark, America’s most famous female tiger trainer
  28. Iran’s targeting of airport, ports and hotels in reaction to US strikes has forced Gulf nations onto front lines of a war they want no part in
  29. ‘Destruction is not the same as political success’: US bombing of Iran shows little evidence of endgame strategy
  30. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s killing plays into Shiite Islam’s reverence for martyrs, but not for all Iranians
  31. Why are so many statues naked? An art historian explains this tradition’s ancient roots
  32. What decades of research reveal about involuntary substance use treatment – and why evidence points elsewhere
  33. Free 10-minute online programs aimed at overcoming depression led to real improvements – new research
  34. The nation is missing millions of voters due to lack of rights for former felons
  35. Failure of US-Iran talks was all too predictable — but turning to military strikes creates dangerous unknowns
  36. Kansas revoked transgender people’s IDs overnight – researchers anticipate cascading health and social consequences
  37. Despite massive US attack and death of ayatollah, regime change in Iran is unlikely
  38. Iran will respond to US-Israeli strikes as existential threats to the regime – because they are
  39. Cuba’s speedboat shootout recalls long history of exile groups engaged in covert ops aimed at regime change
  40. Drug company ads are easy to blame for misleading patients and raising costs, but research shows they do help patients get needed treatment
  41. Tiny recording backpacks reveal bats’ surprising hunting strategy
  42. Nanoparticles and artificial intelligence can help researchers detect pollutants in water, soil and blood
  43. Bad Bunny says reggaeton is Puerto Rican, but it was born in Panama
  44. How the Seattle Seahawks’ sale will score a touchdown for charity 8 years after Paul Allen’s death
  45. There aren’t enough geriatricians – here’s how older adults can still get the right care
  46. Former Harvard president Summers’ soft landing after Epstein revelations is case study of economics’ trouble with misbehaving men
  47. Will AI accelerate or undermine the way humans have always innovated?
  48. Fewer new moms are dying in Colorado – naloxone might be one reason why
  49. The apocrypha, Christianity’s ‘hidden’ texts, may not be in the Bible – but they have shaped tradition for centuries
  50. How natural hydrogen, hiding deep in the Earth, could serve as a new energy source