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The Islamabad talks were doomed to failure – and Hormuz blockade has thrown another obstacle to any Iran-US deal

  • Written by Farah N. Jan, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Pennsylvania
imageU.S. Vice President JD Vance leaves Islamabad on April 12, 2026. Jacquelyn Martin - Pool/Getty ImagesJacquelyn Martin/Getty Images

Twenty-one hours of direct negotiations. The highest-level face-to-face engagement between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

And yet, U.S. Vice President JD Vance boarded Air Force Two in Islamabad...

Read more: The Islamabad talks were doomed to failure – and Hormuz blockade has thrown another obstacle to...

AI companions can give constant support – but distort ideas about what a relationship really is

  • Written by Oluwaseun Damilola Sanwoolu, Ph.D. Candidate in Philosophy, University of Kansas
imageHuman love is valuable precisely because it's limited – we can't be everything to everyone all the time.Maria Korneeva/Moment via Getty Images

When the movie “Her” debuted in 2013, its plot felt like science fiction. The protagonist, Theodore, is a jaded man with no vigor for life. He comes alive after talking daily with his...

Read more: AI companions can give constant support – but distort ideas about what a relationship really is

Antibiotics can trigger bacteria to release bubbles of inflammation tinder, making it harder to treat infection

  • Written by Panteha Torabian, Ph.D. Candidate in Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology
image_E. coli_ is mostly harmless and sometimes beneficial – but some strains can cause serious infection.Photo by Eric Erbe, Colorization by Christopher Pooley/USDA ARS

Antibiotics are designed to kill harmful bacteria and help the body recover from infection. But some antibiotics may also push bacteria to release tiny particles that can make...

Read more: Antibiotics can trigger bacteria to release bubbles of inflammation tinder, making it harder to...

How debate about gender identity could undermine global efforts to protect victims of violence

  • Written by Jenna Norosky, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University, State University of New York
imageA transgender woman takes part in an International Day For The Elimination Of Violence Against Women demonstration in El Salvador on Nov. 25, 2019.Camilo Freedman/APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images)

Aided by the Trump administration, debate over gender identity has gone from being a touchstone of domestic culture wars to infiltrating the work of...

Read more: How debate about gender identity could undermine global efforts to protect victims of violence

A justice department opinion arguing the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional could revert the nation to a time when presidents freely burned their papers

  • Written by Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College
imageAt least one past president burned his papers.Stephen Hyun/Getty Images

Prior to 1978, U.S. presidents could do what they pleased with the records from their time in office. They owned them.

But in 1978, the Presidential Records Act established new rules for the official records of a president. Passed in the wake of Watergate, when President Richard...

Read more: A justice department opinion arguing the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional could revert...

What if Texas’ destructive Tax Day flood had centered on inner Houston instead? It’s why cities should plan for the improbable

  • Written by James R. Elliott, Professor of Sociology, Rice University
imageA couple battle floodwaters as they evacuate their Houston apartment complex on April 18, 2016.AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Ten years ago, the infamous Tax Day storm swamped the Houston area with off-the-charts rainfall. Nearly 2 feet of rain fell in less than 15 hours in parts of the region, starting on April 17, 2016. The rain flooded thousands of...

Read more: What if Texas’ destructive Tax Day flood had centered on inner Houston instead? It’s why cities...

New federal figures reveal 1 in 3 US households struggle to pay energy bills, but the reality is likely even worse

  • Written by Diana Hernández, Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University
imageEnergy costs are hitting more American households harder than in past years.Olga Rolenko/Moment via Getty Images

Americans’ concerns about being able to afford electricity and home heating fuel are elevated since the beginning of the Iran war. But newly released nationwide data shows that even before the war began, these concerns were...

Read more: New federal figures reveal 1 in 3 US households struggle to pay energy bills, but the reality is...

Using atomic nuclei could allow scientists to read time more precisely than ever – what this research could mean for future clocks

  • Written by Eric R. Hudson, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles
imageAtomic clocks exploit the properties of atoms to create incredibly precise 'ticks.'Nate Phillips, NIST

Most clocks, from wristwatches to the systems that run GPS and the internet, work by tracking regular, repeating motions.

To build a clock, you need something that ticks in a perfectly repeatable way. In a pendulum clock, that tick is the regular...

Read more: Using atomic nuclei could allow scientists to read time more precisely than ever – what this...

Industries most exposed to AI are not only seeing productivity gains but jobs and wage growth too

  • Written by Christos Makridis, Associate Research Professor of Information Systems, Arizona State University; Institute for Humane Studies
imageFinancial analysis is an industry that is seeing job growth even as AI is increasingly used. Orientfootage/iStock via Getty Images

Forecasts of the impact of artificial intelligence range from the apocalyptic to the utopian. An October 2025 report from Senate Democrats, for example, predicted AI will destroy millions of U.S. jobs. A couple of years...

Read more: Industries most exposed to AI are not only seeing productivity gains but jobs and wage growth too

Why rural hospitals in Pennsylvania and across the country are closing in increasing numbers – 5 myths about rural health care

  • Written by Shayann Ramedani, Research Collaborator at the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Penn State
imageCuts to federal funding for Medicaid will disproportionately affect reimbursements to rural hospitals.Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Some Pennsylvania hospitals are being pushed beyond the brink of closure.

Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park closed in April 2025, Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland closed in May 2025, and...

Read more: Why rural hospitals in Pennsylvania and across the country are closing in increasing numbers – 5...

More Articles ...

  1. Trump’s exchange with Pope Leo reflects deep-rooted tensions between the Vatican and the United States: 4 essential reads
  2. How a new mapping tool helps Florida planners protect wildlife corridors as the state grows
  3. Cannabis legalization spurs innovation, but not always in ways that benefit patients or public health
  4. AIs have ‘personalities’ – here’s how they affect you more deeply than you may realize
  5. Artemis II crew brought a human eye and storytelling vision to the photos they took on their mission
  6. ‘Bouncing back’ is a myth – resilience means integrating hard experiences into your life story, not ignoring them
  7. 25 million people lost Medicaid after the COVID-19 pandemic — and state policies shaped who stayed covered
  8. Gray whales are dying in San Francisco Bay at an alarming rate – this isn’t normal
  9. The enduring legacy of medieval Christian depictions of Islam in today’s political discourse
  10. District school boards have become political hotbeds for book bans and more – here’s what they actually do
  11. 4 ways the war in Iran has weakened the United States in the great power game
  12. Artemis II crew used modern photography to tell the visual story of their lunar journey – and update some classic Apollo images
  13. Artemis II moonshot reflects a spacefaring vision present in Jules Verne’s 19th-century novel
  14. US ceasefire with Iran: What’s next? A former diplomat explains 3 possible scenarios
  15. In his efforts to remake federal architecture, Trump repudiates the ‘republican ideals’ that have long informed it
  16. I found a new meteor shower, and it comes from an asteroid getting broken down by the Sun
  17. As a philosopher, I’m convinced that Trump isn’t lying − he’s doing something worse
  18. Doctors can refuse to treat LGBTQ+ patients in several states – these religious exemption laws lead to drops in HIV testing
  19. Tobacco is still one of the world’s top killers – here are the key obstacles to enacting generational smoking bans
  20. What declining vaccination rates mean for families in Allegheny County – where 1 in 3 kindergarten classrooms lack herd immunity for measles
  21. Health care sticker shock has become the norm, but talking to your doctor about costs can help you rein it in
  22. After ceasefire, negotiating a lasting deal with Iran would require overcoming regional rivalries and strategic incoherence
  23. 80 years later, scholarship is breaking silence on women’s suffering and strength at Treblinka – including their role in its uprising
  24. It’s OK to love all the bees (the honey bees, too)
  25. We collected data on how 779 Michigan school districts are regulating student cellphones − here are the trends
  26. AI can design and run thousands of lab experiments without human hands. Humanity isn’t ready for the new risks this brings to biology
  27. Psilocybin mushrooms are going mainstream, but scientific research and regulation lag behind
  28. What a Chinese crackdown on corruption meant for Beijing’s high-end restaurant market
  29. Standards-based grading offers a different model of assessing student learning in the classroom
  30. Trump administration’s lawsuits against Harvard and UCLA have roots in a decades-old fight over civil rights law
  31. Pope Leo XIV’s Africa journey: How each stop reflects his message of peace
  32. The good life requires two things, self-knowledge and friends – you can’t have one without the other
  33. Israeli threats to occupy or annex south Lebanon dust off a decades-old playbook
  34. Presidential words can turn the unthinkable into the thinkable − for better or for worse
  35. Philadelphia’s 40-year history of protecting undocumented immigrants began with churches hiding refugees from El Salvador
  36. Mutual aid and self-sufficiency are key to life near USSR’s contaminated nuclear test zone in Kazakhstan
  37. City animals act in the same brazen ways around the world
  38. Water conservation works, but climate change is outpacing it: Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas offer a glimpse of the future
  39. From a vaccine mascot to business leadership, lessons for the US from Brazil’s public health system in building public trust and keeping it
  40. Why Americans are buying $22 smoothies despite feeling terrible about the economy
  41. When a president is unfit for office, here’s what the Constitution says can happen
  42. Why the Persian Gulf has more oil and gas than anywhere else on Earth
  43. ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! Speedy Gonzales set to make his triumphant return to the silver screen
  44. Hosting the NFL draft is less about weekend beer sales and more about long-term brand value
  45. Israel’s death penalty law has little to do with criminal justice and everything to do with ethno-nationalism
  46. 1776’s Declaration of Independence inspired Washington’s troops to fight against the odds – and also helped bring in powerful allies
  47. US refugee policy for white South Africans is part of a century-long effort to keep some English-speaking nations white
  48. AI is reengineering drug discovery by speeding up testing and scanning petabytes of data for connections between diseases
  49. Massive eye drop recall reflects ongoing issues with manufacturing and FDA inspection
  50. We teach at a Florida university that agreed to cooperate with ICE – and we worry that it is making our students feel less safe