The Conversation

Oversalting your sidewalk or driveway harms local streams and potentially even your drinking water – 3 tips to deice responsibly

Written by Steven Goldsmith, Associate Professor of Environmental Science, Villanova University

Conservation organizations recommend using one 12-ounce coffee mug of deicer for every 10 sidewalk squares.Joe Lamberti/Getty Images News via Getty Images

Snow has returned to the Philadelphia region, and along with it the white residues on streets and sidewalks that result from the over-application of deicers such as sodium chloride, or rock salt,...

Can shoes alter your mind? What neuroscience says about foot sensation and focus

Written by Atom Sarkar, Professor of Neurosurgery, Drexel University

Your shoes might not necessarily free your mind.ksana-gribakina/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Athletic footwear has entered a new era of ambition. No longer content to promise just comfort or performance, Nike claims its shoes can activate the brain, heighten sensory awareness and even improve concentration by stimulating the bottom of your feet.

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All foods can fit in a balanced diet – a dietitian explains how flexibility can be healthier than dieting

Written by Charlotte Carlson, Director of the Kendall Reagan Nutrition Center, Colorado State University

There are no 'good' or 'bad' foods when thinking holistically about health.Halfpoint Images/Moment via Getty Images

Eat this, not that. This one food will cure everything. That food is poison. Cut this food out. Try this diet. Don’t eat at these times. Eat this food and you’ll lose weight. With society’s obsession with food,...

NASA’s Artemis II crewed mission to the Moon shows how US space strategy has changed since Apollo – and contrasts with China’s closed program

Written by Michelle L.D. Hanlon, Professor of Air and Space Law, University of Mississippi

As part of the Artemis II mission, humans will fly around the Moon for the first time in decades. Roberto Moiola/Sysaworld via Getty Images

When Apollo 13 looped around the Moon in April 1970, more than 40 million people around the world watched the United States recover from a potential catastrophe. An oxygen tank explosion turned a planned...

Repeated government lying, warned Hannah Arendt, makes it impossible for citizens to think and to judge

Written by Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin, Frank and Bethine Church Endowed Chair of Public Affairs, Boise State University

Despite evidence to the contrary, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at a Jan. 24, 2026, news conference that Alex Pretti 'came with a weapon ... and attacked' officers, who took action to 'defend their lives.'AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

In Minneapolis, two recent fatal encounters with federal immigration agents have produced not...

Minnesota raises unprecedented constitutional issues in its lawsuit against Trump administration anti-immigrant deployment

Written by Andrea Katz, Associate Professor of Law, Washington University in St. Louis

Federal immigration officers are seen outside the Bishop Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis on Jan. 12, 2026.AP Photo/Jen Golbeck

A federal judge heard arguments on Jan. 26, 2026, as the state of Minnesota sought a temporary restraining order to stop the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation in the state. The...

Groundhogs are lousy forecasters but valuable animal engineers – and an important food source

Written by Steven Sullivan, Director of the Hefner Museum of Natural History, Miami University

Marmot chomping and digging can keep trees at bay and fields flower-filled.DieterMeyrl/E+ via Getty Images

Whether you call him groundhog, woodchuck, whistle-pig or use the full genus and species name, Marmota monax, the nation’s premiere animal weather forecaster has been making headlines as Punxsutawney Phil for decades.

The largest ground...

A more complete Latin American history, including centuries of US influence, helps students understand the complexities surrounding Nicolás Maduro’s arrest

Written by Lightning Jay, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership, Binghamton University, State University of New York

A woman shows a portrait of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a demonstration in Caracas on Jan. 21, 2026. Pedro Mattey/AFP via Getty Images

Many of our college freshman students will have seen and read about the Jan. 3, 2026, U.S. military operation in Venezuela that culminated in the arrest of its leader, Nicolás...

Ending tax refunds by check will speed payments, but risks sidelining people who don’t have bank accounts

Written by Beverly Moran, Professor Emerita of Law, Vanderbilt University

More than 6 million Americans receive paper tax refund checks annually. Often, those refunds go to purchase groceries or pay the bills. But this year, those taxpayers may be surprised to learn that the paper check they’re waiting for no longer exists.

That’s because of executive order 14247, which President Donald Trump signed in 2025....

US hospitality and tourism professors don’t mirror the demographics of the industry they serve

Written by Michael D. Caligiuri, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Tourists are diverse. Are tourism professors?Grant Baldwin/Getty Images

White and male professors continue to dominate U.S. hospitality and tourism education programs, our new research has found, even as the industry is growing increasingly diverse. This imbalance raises questions about who shapes the future of hospitality and whose voices are left...