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How to protect yourself from drop account fraud -- tips from our investigative unit

  • Written by Kurt Eichenwald, Senior Investigative Editor, The Conversation
imageLoot stolen from the U.S. Postal Service is displayed on the dark web.Via Evidence-Based Cybersecurity Research Group

The types of crimes that use drop accounts are multiplying rapidly, but there are ways to decrease your chances of becoming a victim.

  • Do not mail checks from anywhere but your local post office. Not even your own mailbox is safe. The...

Read more: How to protect yourself from drop account fraud -- tips from our investigative unit

US charitable donations fell to $499 billion in 2022 as stocks slumped and inflation surged

  • Written by Patrick Rooney, Glenn Family Chair Emeritus of Economics and Philanthropic Studies, Indiana University
imageGiving declines when the country tightens its belt.FreeTransform/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Charitable giving in the U.S. fell to US$499 billion in 2022, as donors dealt with their losses in the stock market and coped with 40-year high inflation rates.

For only the fourth time on record, Americans gave less than they did the previous year without...

Read more: US charitable donations fell to $499 billion in 2022 as stocks slumped and inflation surged

Saving lives from extreme heat: Lessons from the deadly 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave

  • Written by Jason Vogel, Interim Director, Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington
imageVolunteers pick up water to deliver to homeless people during a 2021 heat wave.AP Photo/Nathan Howard

The heat dome that descended upon the Pacific Northwest in late June 2021 met a population radically unprepared for it.

Almost two-thirds of households earning US$50,000 or less and 70% of rented houses in Washington’s King, Pierce and...

Read more: Saving lives from extreme heat: Lessons from the deadly 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave

Passengers whose flights are canceled or delayed may soon get better treatment in the US -- where airlines have long set their own rules

  • Written by Janet Bednarek, Professor of History, University of Dayton
imageIn Europe, customers are entitled to cash compensation for flight delays and cancellations.Murat Deniz/E+ Collection/Getty Images

U.S. airline passengers in early 2023 faced the highest rate of flight delays since 2014. That heightened level of delays came shortly after December 2022, when Southwest Airlines experienced an epic meltdown, canceling 7...

Read more: Passengers whose flights are canceled or delayed may soon get better treatment in the US -- where...

US national parks are crowded – and so are many national forests, wildlife refuges, battlefields and seashores

  • Written by Emily Wakild, Cecil D. Andrus Endowed Professor for the Environment and Public Lands, Boise State University
imageVisitors at Sliding Rock, a popular cascade in North Carolina's Pisgah National Forest. Cecilio Ricardo, USFS/Flickr

Outdoor recreation is on track for another record-setting year. In 2022, U.S. national parks logged more than 300 million visits – and that means a lot more people on roads and trails.

While research shows that spending time...

Read more: US national parks are crowded – and so are many national forests, wildlife refuges, battlefields...

As Ukraine takes the fight to Russians, signs of unease in Moscow over war's progress

  • Written by Peter Rutland, Professor of Government, Wesleyan University
imageFacing harder questions at home.Contributor/Getty Images

Whether or not the Ukraine counteroffensive that began in early June 2023 succeeds in dislodging Russian troops from occupied territory, there are growing signs that the push has prompted anxiety back in Moscow.

Such unease was, I believe, detectable in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s...

Read more: As Ukraine takes the fight to Russians, signs of unease in Moscow over war's progress

AI could shore up democracy – here's one way

  • Written by Bruce Schneier, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
imageAI could help elected representatives raise up constituent voices.AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

It’s become fashionable to think of artificial intelligence as an inherently dehumanizing technology, a ruthless force of automation that has unleashed legions of virtual skilled laborers in faceless form. But what if AI turns out to be the one tool...

Read more: AI could shore up democracy – here's one way

Graffiti has undergone a massive shift in a few quick decades as street art gains social acceptance

  • Written by Stefano Bloch, Associate Professor of Geography, Development & Environment, University of Arizona
imageTagging, once considered vandalism, has gained cachet and economic value in the art world. Ashim D’Silva for Unsplash.com, CC BY-SA

Graffiti has become so mainstream in recent years that auction houses, museums and entire art shows cater to street art connoisseurs and collectors around the world. Images in the news of young vandals...

Read more: Graffiti has undergone a massive shift in a few quick decades as street art gains social acceptance

On International Yoga Day, lessons from the first American yogi – Henry David Thoreau

  • Written by Jeremy David Engels, Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, Penn State
imageCelebrating International Yoga Day on the beach in Miami Beach, Fla., in 2022.Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

International Yoga Day, dedicated to celebrating yoga as part of the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity,” has proved controversial since its inception in 2015.

To celebrate the day on June 21, yoga gatherings are held...

Read more: On International Yoga Day, lessons from the first American yogi – Henry David Thoreau

The tree of life has been a powerful image in Jewish tradition for thousands of years – signifying much more than immortality

  • Written by Samuel L. Boyd, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Jewish Studies, University of Colorado Boulder
imageTree of life imagery appears in several sections of the Bible.Catherine MacBride/Moment via Getty Images

After weeks of wrenching testimony, jurors delivered a guilty verdict June 16, 2023, for the gunman who killed 11 worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 – the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. The next phase of the trial...

Read more: The tree of life has been a powerful image in Jewish tradition for thousands of years – signifying...

More Articles ...

  1. Mr. Modi comes to Washington – The Indian prime minister's visit could strengthen ties with the US, but also raises some delicate issues
  2. Fascism lurks behind the dangerous conflation of the terms 'partisan' and 'political'
  3. Southern Baptists expel churches with women pastors – but the debate’s not just about gender
  4. Big money bought the PGA Tour, but can it make golf a popular sport in Saudi Arabia?
  5. How do spices get their flavor?
  6. Watered-down LGBTQ 'understanding' bill shows how far Japan's parliament is out of step with its society – and history
  7. Juneteenth, Jim Crow and how the fight of one Black Texas family to make freedom real offers lessons for Texas lawmakers trying to erase history from the classroom
  8. Juneteenth offers new ways to teach about slavery, Black perseverance and American history
  9. Cormac McCarthy's fearless approach to writing
  10. Abortion restrictions put hospital ethics committees in the spotlight – but what do they do?
  11. Southern Baptist Convention votes to expel two churches with female pastors – a religion scholar explains how far back these battles go
  12. The US will send depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine – a health physicist explains their military, health and environmental effects
  13. Can we train our taste buds for health? A neuroscientist explains how genes and diet shape taste
  14. George Soros hands control over his family's philanthropy to son Alex, after giving away billions and enduring years of antisemitic attacks and conspiracy theories
  15. The Global South is forging a new foreign policy in the face of war in Ukraine, China-US tensions: Active nonalignment
  16. Supreme Court affirms Congress's power over Indian affairs, upholds law protecting Native American children
  17. Generative AI is a minefield for copyright law
  18. Jewish denominations: A brief guide for the perplexed
  19. Russians are using age-old military tactic of flooding to combat Ukraine’s counteroffensive
  20. Despite threats of violence, Trump's federal indictment happened with little fanfare -- but that doesn't mean the far-right movement is fading, an extremism scholar explains
  21. How the Unabomber's unique linguistic fingerprints led to his capture
  22. 96.4% of Americans had COVID-19 antibodies in their blood by fall 2022
  23. When homes flood, who retreats and to where? We mapped thousands of FEMA buyouts and found distance and race play a role
  24. EU files antitrust charges against Google – here's how the ad tech at the heart of the case works
  25. Why the Federal Reserve's epic fight against inflation might be over
  26. Seeing dead fruit flies is bad for the health of fruit flies – and neuroscientists have identified the exact brain cells responsible
  27. Silvio Berlusconi had a complex relationship with US presidents: Friend to one, shunned by another
  28. In the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ruled states should decide the legality of abortion, voters at the state level have been doing just that: 4 essential reads
  29. Linguists have identified a new English dialect that's emerging in South Florida
  30. If humans went extinct, what would the Earth look like one year later?
  31. Are you part robot? A linguistic anthropologist explains how humans are like ChatGPT – both recycle language
  32. 'If you want to die in jail, keep talking' – two national security law experts discuss the special treatment for Trump and offer him some advice
  33. Trump indictment unsealed – a criminal law scholar explains what the charges mean, and what prosecutors will now need to prove
  34. Trump charged under Espionage Act – which covers a lot more crimes than just spying
  35. 6 books that explain the history and meaning of Juneteenth
  36. Supreme Court rules in favor of Black voters in Alabama and protects landmark Voting Rights Act
  37. The US has a child labor problem – recalling an embarrassing past that Americans may think they've left behind
  38. 'From Magic Mushrooms to Big Pharma' – a college course explores nature's medicine cabinet and different ways of healing
  39. Never mind Cleopatra – what about the forgotten queens of ancient Nubia?
  40. Drawing, making music and writing poetry can support healing and bring more humanity to health care in US hospitals
  41. Millions of women are working during menopause, but US law isn't clear on employees' rights or employers' obligations
  42. El Niño is back – that's good news or bad news, depending on where you live
  43. Do federal or state prosecutors get to go first in trying Trump? A law professor untangles the conflict
  44. Pat Robertson's lasting influence on American politics: 3 essential reads
  45. Overcrowded trains serve as metaphor for India in Western eyes – but they are a relic of colonialism and capitalism
  46. Why a federal judge found Tennessee’s anti-drag law unconstitutional
  47. Four strategies to make your neighborhood safer
  48. Title 42 didn't result in a surge of migration, after all – but border communities are still facing record-breaking migration
  49. Republicans' anti-ESG attack may be silencing insurers, but it isn’t changing their pro-climate business decisions
  50. WHO's recommendation against the use of artificial sweeteners for weight loss leaves many questions unanswered