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US universities lose millions of dollars chasing patents, research shows

  • Written by Joshua M. Pearce, John M. Thompson Chair in Information Technology and Innovation and Professor, Western University

Every year, American universities spend millions of dollars patenting inventions developed on their campuses. Big names such as Stanford and the University of California system lead the pack in patent activity, but hundreds of other universities are also trying to strike gold by monetizing intellectual property. The idea is simple: By investing in...

Read more: US universities lose millions of dollars chasing patents, research shows

From help to harm: How the government is quietly repurposing everyone’s data for surveillance

  • Written by Nicole M. Bennett, Ph.D. Candidate in Geography and Assistant Director at the Center for Refugee Studies, Indiana University
imageImmigration enforcement is a key justification for repurposing government data.Photo by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via Getty Images

A whistleblower at the National Labor Relations Board reported an unusual spike in potentially sensitive data flowing out of the agency’s network in early March 2025 when staffers from the...

Read more: From help to harm: How the government is quietly repurposing everyone’s data for surveillance

Trump administration pauses new mine safety regulation − here’s how those rules benefit companies as well as workers

  • Written by Jeremy M. Gernand, Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Safety Engineering, Penn State
imageFederal officials in white hard hats speak with miners in an Indiana coal mine in 2015. AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley

President Donald Trump’s administration has announced its intention to pause or reverse regulations on mine safety, saying it wants to loosen rules that constrain companies. But as a scholar of both engineering and public policy,...

Read more: Trump administration pauses new mine safety regulation − here’s how those rules benefit companies...

Controlled burns reduce wildfire risk, but they require trained staff and funding − this could be a rough year

  • Written by Laura Dee, Associate Professor of Ecology, University of Colorado Boulder
imagePrescribed burns like this one are intentional, controlled fires used to clear out dry grass and underbrush that could fuel more destructive wildfires.Ethan Swope/Getty Images

Red skies in August, longer fire seasons and checking air quality before taking my toddler to the park. This has become the new norm in the western United States as wildfires...

Read more: Controlled burns reduce wildfire risk, but they require trained staff and funding − this could be...

Stripping federal protection for clean water harms just about everyone, especially already vulnerable communities

  • Written by Jeremy Orr, Adjunct Professor of Law, Michigan State University
imageA Des Moines Water Works employee takes samples from a nearby river for analysis. The regional water utility delivers drinking water to more than 500,000 Iowans.AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Before Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, U.S. factories and cities could pipe their pollution directly into waterways. Rivers, including the Potomac...

Read more: Stripping federal protection for clean water harms just about everyone, especially already...

I study local government and Hurricane Helene forced me from my home − here’s how rural towns and counties in North Carolina and beyond cooperate to rebuild

  • Written by Jay Rickabaugh, Assistant Professor of Public Administration, North Carolina State University

Last year was a record year for disasters in the United States. A new report from the British charity International Institute for Environment and Development finds that 90 disasters were declared nationwide in 2024, from wildfires in California to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

The average number of annual disasters in the U.S. is about 55.

Th...

Read more: I study local government and Hurricane Helene forced me from my home − here’s how rural towns and...

A warning for Democrats from the Gilded Age and the 1896 election

  • Written by Adam M. Silver, Associate Professor of Political Science, Emmanuel College
imageChief Justice Melville Weston Fuller administers the oath of office to William McKinley during his presidential inauguration in 1897, as outgoing President Grover Cleveland looks on.AP Photo/Library of Congress

More than five months after President Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, Democrats are still trying to understand why they lost the...

Read more: A warning for Democrats from the Gilded Age and the 1896 election

Habeas corpus: A thousand-year-old legal principle for defending rights that’s getting a workout under the Trump administration

  • Written by Andrea Seielstad, Professor of Law, University of Dayton
imageTwo Latin words – 'habeas corpus' – protect any person, whether citizen or not, from being illegally confined.deepblue4you, iStock / Getty Images Plus

In some parts of the world, a person may be secreted away or imprisoned by the government without any advanced notification of wrongdoing or chance to make a defense. This has not been...

Read more: Habeas corpus: A thousand-year-old legal principle for defending rights that’s getting a workout...

Reducing diversity, equity and inclusion to a catchphrase undermines its true purpose

  • Written by Detris Honora Adelabu, Clinical Professor of Applied Human Development, Boston University
imageMore than 440 anti-DEI bills have been introduced in 42 states since the 2023 Supreme Court decision that ended race-conscious college admissions.J Studios/Getty Images

Diversity, equity and inclusion, which has become the catchphrase DEI, represents a commitment to fairness and to tackling racism and exclusionary policies that limit access to...

Read more: Reducing diversity, equity and inclusion to a catchphrase undermines its true purpose

Perfect brownies baked at high altitude are possible thanks to Colorado’s home economics pioneer Inga Allison

  • Written by Tobi Jacobi, Professor of English, Colorado State University
imageStudents work in the high-altitude baking laboratory.Archives and Special Collections, Colorado State University

Many bakers working at high altitudes have carefully followed a standard recipe only to reach into the oven to find a sunken cake, flat cookies or dry muffins.

Experienced mountain bakers know they need a few tricks to achieve the same...

Read more: Perfect brownies baked at high altitude are possible thanks to Colorado’s home economics pioneer...

More Articles ...

  1. Some politicians who share harmful information are rewarded with more clicks, study finds
  2. Make Russia Medieval Again! How Putin is seeking to remold society, with a little help from Ivan the Terrible
  3. Francis, a pope of many firsts: 5 essential reads
  4. Lawful permanent residents like Mahmoud Khalil have a right to freedom of speech – but does that protect them from deportation?
  5. Federal laws don’t ban rollbacks of environmental protection, but they don’t make it easy
  6. Why don’t humans have hair all over their bodies? A biologist explains our lack of fur
  7. Endowments aren’t blank checks – but universities can rely on them more heavily in turbulent times
  8. Exposure to perceptible temperature rise increases concern about climate change, higher education adds to understanding
  9. What will happen at the funeral of Pope Francis
  10. How the next pope will be elected – what goes on at the conclave
  11. Scientists found a potential sign of life on a distant planet – an astronomer explains why many are still skeptical
  12. ‘I never issued a criminal contempt citation in 19 ½ years on the bench’ – a former federal judge looks at the ‘relentless bad behavior’ of the Trump administration in court
  13. As views on spanking shift worldwide, most US adults support it, and 19 states allow physical punishment in schools
  14. Crime is nonpartisan and the blame game on crime in cities is wrong – on both sides
  15. With federal funding in question, artists can navigate a perilous future by looking to the past
  16. Lawsuits seeking to address climate change have promise but face uncertain future
  17. All models are wrong − a computational modeling expert explains how engineers make them useful
  18. Trump’s attacks on central bank threaten its independence − and that isn’t good news for sound economic stewardship (or battling inflation)
  19. Claims of ‘anti-Christian bias’ sound to some voters like a message about race, not just religion
  20. How does your brain create new memories? Neuroscientists discover ‘rules’ for how neurons encode new information
  21. Patriots’ Day: How far-right groups hijack history and patriotic symbols to advance their cause, according to an expert on extremism
  22. International students infuse tens of millions of dollars into local economies across the US. What happens if they stay home?
  23. Popular AIs head-to-head: OpenAI beats DeepSeek on sentence-level reasoning
  24. Why people with autism struggle to get hired − and how businesses can help by changing how they look at job interviews
  25. Appliance efficiency standards save consumers billions, reduce pollution and fight climate change
  26. Why deregulating online platforms is actually bad for free speech
  27. Ethical leadership can boost well-being and performance in remote work environments
  28. Is a ‘friend-apist’ what we really want from therapy?
  29. Federal judge finds ‘probable cause’ to hold Trump administration in contempt – a legal scholar explains what this means
  30. How single-stream recycling works − your choices can make it better
  31. The sudden dismissal of public records staff at health agencies threatens government accountability
  32. Wide variety of old-growth ecosystems across the US makes their conservation a complex challenge
  33. Railways were essential to carrying out the Holocaust – decades later, corporate reckoning continues
  34. 200 years ago, France extorted Haiti in one of history’s greatest heists – and Haitians want reparations
  35. Cory Booker’s long speech offers a strategy for Trump opponents in a fragmented media landscape
  36. Miami researchers are testing a textured seawall designed to hold back water and create a home for marine organisms
  37. Dark energy may have once been ‘springier’ than it is today − DESI cosmologists explain what their collaboration’s new measurement says about the universe’s history
  38. Giving cash to families in poor, rural communities can help bring down child marriage rates – new research
  39. Des Moines food pantries face spiking demand as the Iowa region’s SNAP enrollment declines
  40. Beggar thy neighbor, harm thyself: Tariffs like Trump’s come with pitfalls, history shows
  41. 25 years of Everglades restoration has improved drinking water for millions in Florida, but a new risk is rising
  42. A need for chaos powers some Americans’ support for Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the US government
  43. Preventive care may no longer be free in 2026 because of HIV stigma − unless the Trump administration successfully defends the ACA
  44. How bird flu differs from seasonal flu − an infectious disease researcher explains
  45. Educators find creative work-arounds to new laws that restrict what they can teach
  46. Volcanic ash is a silent killer, more so than lava: What Alaska needs to know with Mount Spurr likely to erupt
  47. The Thucydides Trap: Vital lessons from ancient Greece for China and the US … or a load of old claptrap?
  48. On stage but out of the spotlight − the quiet struggle of being an opening act
  49. Why the meteorites that hit Earth have less water than the asteroid bits brought back by space probes – a planetary scientist explains new research
  50. Cambodia’s haunted present: 50 years after Khmer Rouge’s rise, murderous legacy looms large