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‘Authentic’ ayahuasca rituals sought by tourists often ignore Indigenous practices and spiritual grounding

  • Written by Pardis Mahdavi, President, University of La Verne
imageA healer conducts an ayahuasca drinking ceremony in Avie village, in Ecuador, on Jan.14, 2023.Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty images

Ayahuasca, a sacred drink made from the stem and leaves of a tree vine, has many names: psychedelic brew, hallucinogenic tea, mood medicine and more. It is even known as a teacher or a healer for its reported ability to...

Read more: ‘Authentic’ ayahuasca rituals sought by tourists often ignore Indigenous practices and spiritual...

Biden crashes, Trump lies: A campaign-defining presidential debate

  • Written by Mary Kate Cary, Adjunct Professor of Politics and Director of Think Again, University of Virginia
imageU.S. President Joe Biden and Donald Trump participate in the CNN Presidential Debate on June 27, 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

With four months to go until Election Day, the earliest-ever general election debate featured two presidents – one current, one former – and a lot of bitter personal attacks. Joe Biden’s universally...

Read more: Biden crashes, Trump lies: A campaign-defining presidential debate

Supreme Court sidesteps case on whether federal law on medical emergencies overrides Idaho’s abortion ban

  • Written by Naomi Cahn, Professor of Law, University of Virginia
imageThe Supreme Court decision allows abortions under certain conditions to be carried out in Idaho, for now.AndreyPopov/iStock/Getty Images Plus

On June 27, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by the federal government regarding whether Idaho’s abortion ban conflicts with a federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and...

Read more: Supreme Court sidesteps case on whether federal law on medical emergencies overrides Idaho’s...

Supreme Court rejects settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma over legal protections for the Sackler family that owned the company

  • Written by Jonathan Lipson, Professor of Law, Temple University
imageGrace Bisch, whose stepson died as a result of an overdose, protests outside the Supreme Court in December 2023. Michael A. McCoy/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against an estimated US$6 billion Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan on June 27, 2024, that would have shielded the Sackler family – which owned and...

Read more: Supreme Court rejects settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma over legal protections for the...

Gazans’ extreme hunger could leave its mark on subsequent generations

  • Written by Hasan Khatib, Associate Chair and Professor of Genetics and Epigenetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
imageMore than 96% of the population of Gaza is experiencing hunger insecurity at various levels of severity. AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi

As Israel’s offensive in Gaza rages on, people across the entire Gaza Strip find themselves in increasingly dire circumstances, with nearly the entire population experiencing high levels of food insecurity,...

Read more: Gazans’ extreme hunger could leave its mark on subsequent generations

Fireworks sales have fallen back to Earth after years of explosive growth – here’s why

  • Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Associate Professor of Markets, Public Policy and Law, Boston University

It’s almost the Fourth of July – a day of parades, barbecue and, of course, fireworks. But while parades and barbecues are still very popular, shockingly, this year fireworks are less so.

Imports of fireworks reached a peak in 2022 of almost US$600 million, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. But today, just two years...

Read more: Fireworks sales have fallen back to Earth after years of explosive growth – here’s why

5 ways anti-diversity laws affect LGBTQ+ people and research in higher ed

  • Written by Abbie E. Goldberg, Professor of Psychology, Clark University

Over the past year, nine states have banned diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programs in higher education. More than 20 others have similar legislation in the works.

News accounts often focus on job cuts that follow the enactment of these measures in places such as Texas and Florida. But that doesn’t scratch the surface of the...

Read more: 5 ways anti-diversity laws affect LGBTQ+ people and research in higher ed

The science behind splashdown − an aerospace engineer explains how NASA and SpaceX get spacecraft safely back on Earth

  • Written by Marcos Fernandez Tous, Assistant Professor of Space Studies, University of North Dakota
imageThe Orion capsule from NASA's Artemis I mission splashes down. NASA via AP

For about 15 minutes on July 21, 1961, American astronaut Gus Grissom felt at the top of the world – and indeed he was.

Grissom crewed the Liberty Bell 7 mission, a ballistic test flight that launched him through the atmosphere from a rocket. During the test, he sat...

Read more: The science behind splashdown − an aerospace engineer explains how NASA and SpaceX get spacecraft...

Lucy, discovered 50 years ago in Ethiopia, stood just 3.5 feet tall − but she still towers over our understanding of human origins

  • Written by Denise Su, Associate Professor of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University
imageThe reconstructed skeleton of Lucy, found in Hadar, Ethiopia, in 1974, and Grace Latimer, then age 4, daughter of a research team member.James St. John/Flickr, CC BY

In 1974, on a survey in Hadar in the remote badlands of Ethiopia, U.S. paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson and graduate student Tom Gray found a piece of an elbow joint jutting from...

Read more: Lucy, discovered 50 years ago in Ethiopia, stood just 3.5 feet tall − but she still towers over...

AI companies train language models on YouTube’s archive − making family-and-friends videos a privacy risk

  • Written by Ryan McGrady, Senior Researcher, Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure, UMass Amherst
imageYour kid's silly video could be fodder for ChatGPT.Halfpoint/iStock via Getty Images

The promised artificial intelligence revolution requires data. Lots and lots of data. OpenAI and Google have begun using YouTube videos to train their text-based AI models. But what does the YouTube archive actually include?

Our team of digital mediaresearchers at...

Read more: AI companies train language models on YouTube’s archive − making family-and-friends videos a...

More Articles ...

  1. How the surrealists used randomness as a catalyst for creative expression
  2. Pope Francis may have surprised many by inviting comedians to the Vatican, but the value of humor has deep roots in Catholic tradition
  3. What people say today about the first televised presidential debate, between Nixon and JFK, doesn’t match first reactions in 1960
  4. How does hail grow to the size of golf balls and even grapefruit? The science behind this destructive weather phenomenon
  5. For many Olympic medalists, silver stings more than bronze
  6. Diplomacy, sanctions and soft power have failed to deter Iran’s anti-West agenda − could a new Iranian president change that?
  7. College may not be the ‘great equalizer’ − luck and hiring practices also play a role, a sociologist explains
  8. The world’s fourth mass coral bleaching is underway, but well-connected reefs may have a better chance to recover
  9. More women in venture capital doesn’t mean more funding for female-led businesses, new research suggests − here’s why
  10. Service dogs can reduce the severity of PTSD for veterans – new research
  11. As debate approaches, presidents are blamed for events over which they have little control
  12. Extreme heat waves aren’t ‘just summer’: How climate change is heating up the weather, and what we can do about it
  13. Journalism’s trust problem is about money, not politics
  14. Populism can degrade democracy but is on the rise − here’s what causes this political movement and how it can be weakened
  15. FDA authorized the sale of menthol-flavored e-cigarettes – a health policy expert explains how the benefits may outweigh the risks
  16. Journalism has become ground zero for the vocation crisis
  17. Lead water pipes created a health disaster in Flint, but replacing them with cheaper plastic − as some cities are doing − carries hidden costs
  18. When people are under economic stress, their pets suffer too – we found parts of Detroit that are animal welfare deserts
  19. Kidneys from Black donors are more likely to be thrown away − a bioethicist explains why
  20. Genetic testing cannot reveal the gender of your baby − two genetic counselors explain the complexities of sex and gender
  21. US charitable giving dipped to $557B in 2023, but outlook is getting brighter
  22. Escalating Israel-Hezbollah clashes threaten to spark regional war and force US into conflict with Iran
  23. ‘I love this work, but it’s killing me’: The unique toll of being a spiritual leader today
  24. Rocks on Rapa Nui tell the story of a small, resilient population − countering the notion of a doomed overpopulated island
  25. Making art is a uniquely human act, and one that provides a wellspring of health benefits
  26. Boost your immune system with this centuries-old health hack: Vaccines
  27. Paying reparations for slavery is possible – based on a study of federal compensation to farmers, fishermen, coal miners, radiation victims and 70 other groups
  28. Philly has highest STI rates in the country – improving sex ed in schools and access to at-home testing could lower rates
  29. Southern Baptists may have rejected a constitutional amendment opposing female pastors, but that does not mean they are changing their views on women’s leadership in church
  30. Elder fraud has reached epidemic proportions – a geriatrician explains what older Americans need to know
  31. Is Earth really getting too hot for people to survive? A scientist explains extreme heat and the role of climate change
  32. What Frederick Douglass learned from an Irish antislavery activist: ‘Agitate, agitate, agitate’
  33. Central banks face threats to their independence − and that isn’t good news for sound economic stewardship (or battling inflation)
  34. Calls to US poison centers spiked after ‘magic mushrooms’ were decriminalized
  35. From glowing corals to vomiting shrimp, animals have used bioluminescence to communicate for millions of years – here’s what scientists still don’t know about it
  36. Supreme Court unanimously concludes that anti-abortion groups have no standing to challenge access to mifepristone – but the drug likely faces more court challenges
  37. Supreme Court sides with Starbucks in labor case that could hinder government’s ability to intervene in some unionization disputes
  38. An homage to the dad joke, one of the great traditions of fatherhood
  39. The US is losing wetlands at an accelerating rate − here’s how the private sector can help protect these valuable resources
  40. Supreme Court justices secretly recorded – the legal issues and what they mean for the rest of us
  41. Space weather forecasting needs an upgrade to protect future Artemis astronauts
  42. Ukraine’s draft woes leave the West facing pressure to make up for the troop shortfall
  43. People ambivalent about political issues support violence more than those with clear opinions
  44. Civil rights leader James Lawson, who learned from Gandhi, used nonviolent resistance and the ‘power of love’ to challenge injustice
  45. Philadelphia’s 200-year-old disability records show welfare reform movement’s early shift toward rationing care and punishing poor people
  46. Cities with empty commercial space and housing shortages are converting office buildings into apartments – here’s what they’re learning
  47. Spikes, seat dividers, even ‘Baby Shark’ − camping bans like the one under review at SCOTUS are part of broader strategies that push out homeless people
  48. Inflation is cooling, but not fast enough for the Fed: Policymakers now expect only one rate cut in 2024
  49. Microrobots made of algae carry chemo directly to lung tumors, improving cancer treatment
  50. Columbia Law Review article critical of Israel sparks battle between student editors and their board − highlighting fragility of academic freedom