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Bennu asteroid reveals its contents to scientists − and clues to how the building blocks of life on Earth may have been seeded

  • Written by Timothy J McCoy, Supervisory Research Geologist, Smithsonian Institution
imageThis photo of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 Polycam images collected on Dec. 2, 2024, by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.NASA

A bright fireball streaked across the sky above mountains, glaciers and spruce forest near the town of Revelstoke in British Columbia, Canada, on the evening of March 31, 1965. Fragments of this meteorite, discovered by beaver...

Read more: Bennu asteroid reveals its contents to scientists − and clues to how the building blocks of life...

Problematic Paper Screener: Trawling for fraud in the scientific literature

  • Written by Guillaume Cabanac, Professor of Computer Science, Institut de Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse

Have you ever heard of the Joined Together States? Or bosom peril? Kidney disappointment? Fake neural organizations? Lactose bigotry? These nonsensical, and sometimes amusing, word sequences are among thousands of “tortured phrases” that sleuths have found littered throughout reputable scientific journals.

They typically result from...

Read more: Problematic Paper Screener: Trawling for fraud in the scientific literature

Why building big AIs costs billions – and how Chinese startup DeepSeek dramatically changed the calculus

  • Written by Ambuj Tewari, Professor of Statistics, University of Michigan
imageDeepSeek burst on the scene – and may be bursting some bubbles.AP Photo/Andy Wong

State-of-the-art artificial intelligence systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude have captured the public imagination by producing fluent text in multiple languages in response to user prompts. Those companies have...

Read more: Why building big AIs costs billions – and how Chinese startup DeepSeek dramatically changed the...

Fake papers are contaminating the world’s scientific literature, fueling a corrupt industry and slowing legitimate lifesaving medical research

  • Written by Frederik Joelving, Contributing editor, Retraction Watch
imageAssistant professor Frank Cackowski, left, and researcher Steven Zielske at Wayne State University in Detroit became suspicious of a paper on cancer research that was eventually retracted.Amy Sacka, CC BY-ND

Over the past decade, furtive commercial entities around the world have industrialized the production, sale and dissemination of bogus...

Read more: Fake papers are contaminating the world’s scientific literature, fueling a corrupt industry and...

Rest, reorientation and hope – the pillars of 2025’s Catholic Jubilee year

  • Written by Timothy Gabrielli, Gudorf Chair in Catholic Intellectual Traditions, University of Dayton
imageA cardinal opens the Holy Door of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica in Rome on Jan. 1, 2025, one of the events starting the Jubilee year.AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

Pope Francis has proclaimed a Jubilee year in the Catholic Church, which began on Dec. 24, 2024, and will continue through Jan. 6, 2026. But what is a Jubilee, and what is this...

Read more: Rest, reorientation and hope – the pillars of 2025’s Catholic Jubilee year

President Carter had to balance employers’ demands for foreign workers with pressure to restrict immigration – and so does Trump

  • Written by Gabrielle Clark, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Law, California State University, Los Angeles
imageJimmy Carter shakes riders' hands in a Mexican American parade while campaigning in Southern California in 1976.AP Photo

President Donald Trump promised during his three presidential campaigns to deport as many immigrants living in the U.S. without legal authorization as possible.

His second administration got underway less than one month after forme...

Read more: President Carter had to balance employers’ demands for foreign workers with pressure to restrict...

Skin phantoms help researchers improve wearable devices without people wearing them

  • Written by Krittika Goyal, Assistant Professor of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology, Rochester Institute of Technology
imageSkin 'phantoms' are an inexpensive alternative to testing on people. Diana Bachu/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Wearable devices have become a big part of modern health care, helping track a patient’s heart rate, stress levels and brain activity. These devices rely on electrodes, sensors that touch the skin to pick up electrical signals from...

Read more: Skin phantoms help researchers improve wearable devices without people wearing them

Almost half of evicted women and families in metro Detroit say they were illegally pushed out of their homes

  • Written by Shawnita Sealy-Jefferson, Associate Professor of Social Epidemiology, The Ohio State University

Every year, 2.7 million households nationwide face a court-ordered eviction filing.

Michigan has one of the highest eviction filing rates in the country, tied with Mississippi. Fourteen percent of all Michiganders who rent homes were threatened with eviction between 2006 and 2016.

Due to historical and contemporary structural racism in the U.S., Bla...

Read more: Almost half of evicted women and families in metro Detroit say they were illegally pushed out of...

‘Aliens’ and ‘animals’ – language of hate used by Trump and others can be part of a violent design

  • Written by Ronald Niezen, Professor of Practice in Sociology, University of San Diego
imageAsylum seekers wait at Catholic Charities in McAllen, Texas, for humanitarian aid on Jan. 18, 2025. Associated Press/Eric Gay

“Animals,” “aliens” and “people with bad genes” – President Donald Trump and his supporters often use this kind of dehumanizing language to describe immigrants.

In the 2024...

Read more: ‘Aliens’ and ‘animals’ – language of hate used by Trump and others can be part of a violent design

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination signals a new era of anti-intellectualism in American politics

  • Written by Dominik Stecuła, Assistant Professor of Communication and Political Science, The Ohio State University
imageDonald Trump's nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy Jr., on Capitol Hill on Jan. 9, 2025. Jon Cherry/Getty Images

The many controversial people appointed to the Trump administration, from Elon Muskto Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have at least one thing in common: They dislike and distrust experts.

While anti...

Read more: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination signals a new era of anti-intellectualism in American politics

More Articles ...

  1. What’s behind Trump’s flurry of executive action: 4 essential reads on autocrats and authoritarianism
  2. Commerce oversees everything from weather and salmon to trade and census − here are 3 challenges awaiting new secretary
  3. ¿Trump va en serio con cambiar el nombre del Golfo de México al ‘Golfo de América’? Esto explica una geógrafa
  4. Engineering the social: Students in this course use systems thinking to help solve human rights, disease and homelessness
  5. Medical research depends on government money – even a day’s delay in the intricate funding process throws science off-kilter
  6. In asking Trump to show mercy, Bishop Budde continues a long tradition of Christian leaders ‘speaking truth to power’
  7. St. Thomas Aquinas’ skull just went on tour − here’s what the medieval saint himself would have said about its veneration
  8. Disaster evacuations can take much longer than people expect − computer simulations could help save lives and avoid chaos
  9. Global wildlife trade is an enormous market – a look at the billions of animals the US imports from nearly 30,000 species
  10. Global wildlife trade is an enormous market – the US imports billions of animals from nearly 30,000 species
  11. Donors are down, but dollars are up – how US charitable giving is changing
  12. Canada and Greenland aren’t likely to join the US anytime soon – but ‘GrAmeriCa’ is a revealing thought experiment
  13. Getting mail to your door is just one part of what the postmaster general does
  14. Nutrition advice is rife with misinformation − a medical education specialist explains how to tell valid health information from pseudoscience
  15. Happiness in poorer countries does not follow the typical U-shaped curve − people are often happiest in middle age
  16. Federal threats against local officials who don’t cooperate with immigration orders could be unconstitutional − Justice Antonin Scalia ruled against similar plans
  17. I study democracy worldwide − here’s how Texas is eroding human rights, free expression and civil liberties
  18. Why does it hurt when you get a scrape? A neuroscientist explains the science of pain
  19. How does raw water compare to tap water? A microbiologist explains why the risks outweigh the benefits
  20. Why government can’t make America ‘healthier’ by micromanaging groceries purchased with SNAP benefits
  21. Why Trump’s tariffs can’t solve America’s fentanyl crisis
  22. Assad’s fall opens window for Syrian refugees to head home − but for many, it won’t be an easy decision
  23. ‘Sorry, I didn’t get that’: AI misunderstands some people’s words more than others
  24. Norovirus, aka the winter vomiting bug, is on the rise – an infectious disease expert explains the best ways to stay safe
  25. Understanding paranormal beliefs and conspiracy theories isn’t just about misinformation – this course unpacks the history
  26. College course teaches Philly students to appreciate beer − whether they’re tailgating or fine dining
  27. Can Trump just order new names for Denali and the Gulf of Mexico? A geographer explains who decides what goes on the map
  28. Trump inherits the Guantánamo prison, complete with 4 ‘forever prisoners’
  29. Red light therapy shows promise for pain relief, inflammation and skin conditions – but other claims might be hyped
  30. Newly discovered photos of Nazi deportations show Jewish victims as they were last seen alive
  31. Reproductive health care faces legal and surveillance challenges post-Roe – new research offers guidance
  32. One large Milky Way galaxy or many galaxies? 100 years ago, a young Edwin Hubble settled astronomy’s ‘Great Debate’
  33. US Supreme Court is unabashedly liberal − in its writing style
  34. Seizure of Sally Mann’s photographs in Texas revives old debates about obscenity and freedom of expression
  35. Microgravity in space may cause cancer − but on Earth, mimicking weightlessness could help researchers develop treatments
  36. The technology that runs Congress lags so far behind the modern world that its flag-tracking system just caught up to 2017-era Pizza Hut
  37. President Trump promises to make government efficient − and he’ll run into the same roadblocks as Presidents Taft, Roosevelt, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Carter, Reagan, Clinton and Bush, among others
  38. Navigating deepfakes and synthetic media: This course helps students demystify artificial intelligence technologies
  39. As Syria ponders a democratic future: 5 lessons from the Arab Spring
  40. Harvard expands its definition of antisemitism – when does criticism of Israel cross a line?
  41. Health and Human Services secretary influences every aspect of America’s health
  42. Mark Zuckerberg thinks workplaces need to ‘man up’ − here’s why that’s bad for all employees, no matter their gender
  43. 10 years after the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, conversations about free speech are still too black and white
  44. After the fire: Rain on wildfire burn scars can trigger deadly debris flows – a geologist explains how
  45. LA gets rain, but also risk of flooding and debris flows from wildfire burn scars – a geologist explains the threat
  46. FDA bans Red 3 dye from food and drugs – a scientist explains the artificial color’s health risks and long history
  47. Kremlin promotes ‘traditional values’ – but leaves some battles to the governors
  48. What another Lukashenko ‘victory’ will mean for Europe’s security – and that of Belarus’ citizenry
  49. Meet phosphine, a gas commonly used for industrial fumigation that can damage your lungs, heart and liver
  50. Many more older people are leaving prison and face unmet needs for housing and health care − as well as a tangle of groups trying to help