NewsPronto

 
Times Advertising


.

The Conversation

It’s a sing-off! Myth-busting about birds and sex when it comes to defending the nest

  • Written by Benjamin Freeman, Assistant Professor, School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
imageDon't mess with my territory. Male northern parulas sing and get physically aggressive when intruders invade their space.Pranav Gokhale

Each spring, birds across America are in full voice. Cardinals chatter, sparrows sing and warblers warble. Birdsong lifts the human spirit – “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” after...

Read more: It’s a sing-off! Myth-busting about birds and sex when it comes to defending the nest

Why the US military is stuck using $1 million missiles against Iran’s $20,000 drones

  • Written by Aaron Brynildson, Law Instructor, University of Mississippi
imageA drone is seen during a suspected drone strike targeting an oil warehouse near Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan Region, on April 1, 2026. Gailan Haji/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

It may sound hard to believe, but the almost trillion-dollar U.S. military is struggling to fight cheap drones in its war with Iran.

Iran has built a...

Read more: Why the US military is stuck using $1 million missiles against Iran’s $20,000 drones

Research at Chernobyl and Fukushima shows how radioactive materials move in the environment

  • Written by Eduardo B. Farfán, Professor of Nuclear Engineering, Director of the Center for Nuclear Studies, Kennesaw State University
imageEven decades after the Chernobyl disaster, damage to the containment structures risks radioactivity escaping into the environment.AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

When nuclear accidents happen, many people imagine radiation spreading everywhere and lasting forever. The reality is more complex. Radioactive materials move, change and sometimes disappear...

Read more: Research at Chernobyl and Fukushima shows how radioactive materials move in the environment

Hurricanes devastated Florida’s East Coast – then seagrass made an unexpected comeback

  • Written by Stephanie Insalaco-Wyner, Assistant Professor of Geographic Information Sciences, Southwestern University
imageSeagrass has made an unexpected return to Mosquito Lagoon.Captain William B. Wolfson, Grassroots Guide Service, New Smyrna Beach, FL

Florida’s Indian River Lagoon has been an ecosystem in decline going back to 2011, when harmful algal blooms led to a severe decline in seagrass, the foundational component of shallow coastal ecosystems.

Seagrass...

Read more: Hurricanes devastated Florida’s East Coast – then seagrass made an unexpected comeback

Attending multiple places of worship is the norm for many Americans

  • Written by Katie E. Corcoran, Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University
imageMany of the Americans who go to more than one congregation do so to experience a different worship style or because friends attend.Rawpixel/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Most U.S. adults who attend religious services attend multiple congregations, at least occasionally, according to our new research.

As sociologistswho research congregational life...

Read more: Attending multiple places of worship is the norm for many Americans

Agricultural work is dangerous – but good communication can save lives in Colorado

  • Written by Morgan Valley, Assistant Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health, Colorado State University
imageIn Colorado, six people died on a dairy farm, prompting other agricultural leaders to improve their safety training.Brent Lewis/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Six people, including one teenager, died at a dairy farm in Keenesburg, Colorado, 35 miles northeast of Denver, on Aug. 20, 2025.

Four of the deceased were from the same extended family. The...

Read more: Agricultural work is dangerous – but good communication can save lives in Colorado

Signs of economic instability emerge in Oakland County, one of Michigan’s wealthiest

  • Written by Grigoris Argeros, Professor of Sociology, Eastern Michigan University
imageOakland County is known for its affluence, but some of its communities are experiencing changes in socioeconomic status.Notorious4life (talk) (Uploads), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Oakland County, home to nearly 1.3 million residents, ranks among Michigan’s wealthiest counties.

But that description does not tell the whole story.

Since 2020, Oak...

Read more: Signs of economic instability emerge in Oakland County, one of Michigan’s wealthiest

US government ramps up mass surveillance with help of AI tech, data brokers – and your apps and devices

  • Written by Anne Toomey McKenna, Affiliated Faculty Member, Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, Penn State
imageThe U.S. government is using AI to speed analysis of government and commercial data about you.Anton Petrus/Moment via Getty Images

On a Saturday morning, you head to the hardware store. Your neighbors’ Ring cameras film your walk to the car. Your car’s sensors, cameras and microphones record your speed, how you drive, where you’re...

Read more: US government ramps up mass surveillance with help of AI tech, data brokers – and your apps and...

Umbilical cord blood may hold clues for a child’s risk of developing Type 1 diabetes

  • Written by Angelica P. Ahrens, Assistant Research Scientist in Data Science and Microbiology, University of Florida
imageSome people with Type 1 diabetes wear continuous glucose monitors to manage their condition.Svetlana Repnitskaya/Moment via Getty Images

Your early life may quietly set the stage for developing Type 1 diabetes, an increasingly common, lifelong condition that can significantly affect daily life.

Our team’s research, published in the journal...

Read more: Umbilical cord blood may hold clues for a child’s risk of developing Type 1 diabetes

Despite all the likes, literallys and dropped g’s, English isn’t decaying before our eyes

  • Written by Valerie M. Fridland, Professor of Linguistics, University of Nevada, Reno
imageFear not: There isn't anything that needs saving.LisaStrachan/iStock via Getty Images

As a linguistics professor, I’m often asked why English is decaying before our eyes, whether it’s “like” being used promiscuously, t’s being dropped deleteriously or “literally” being deployed nonliterally.

While these...

Read more: Despite all the likes, literallys and dropped g’s, English isn’t decaying before our eyes

More Articles ...

  1. Data centers don’t have to be a burden on local communities – and can even support them by generating power and repurposing waste heat
  2. NATO’s internal cohesion is being threatened (again) – but in pushing for support on Iran, Trump may risk eroding US influence on the alliance
  3. Placebo effect can work as well as real medicine – but your body may need permission to use it
  4. Don’t just plant trees, plant forests to restore biodiversity for the future
  5. We designed the turf for soccer’s biggest World Cup ever – here’s how we created the same playing experience across 3 countries
  6. Intimate partner homicide has clear warning signs – and is often preventable, research shows
  7. Is the science that we do today truth, likely to be a lie, or is it undetermined?
  8. It’s a myth that baby boys are less social than girls – a new look at decades of research shows all babies are born to connect
  9. Most people do not realize when a personal message they receive was written by AI, study finds
  10. Schools are supposed to limit using restraint and seclusion to discipline kids – but parents I spoke with say the practice is wildly misused
  11. ICE’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement was tried once before – by Arizona’s notorious sheriff Joe Arpaio in the early 2000s
  12. 1914 Ludlow Massacre took lives of 25 miners and family members during bitter strike for fair wages and conditions
  13. When oil prices spike, where does the money go?
  14. Hampshire College’s demise is yet another blow to creative, outside-the-box options in higher education
  15. Why the future of marijuana legalization remains hazy despite high public support
  16. Trump sidelined Congress’ authority over war on Iran – and lawmakers allowed it, extending a 75-year trend
  17. Trump’s coercive tactics in Latin America evoke era of gunboat diplomacy – and the rise of anti-imperialism it helped spur
  18. I’ve fired one of America’s most powerful lasers – here’s what a shot day looks like
  19. About half of young Americans can’t name a single Holocaust site, repeating a pattern of ignorance seen in postwar Germany
  20. Ancient teeth reveal clues to the environment humans’ early ancestors evolved in millions of years ago
  21. How Islamophobic rhetoric leaves an impact on the mental health of Muslim Americans
  22. ‘Right to race’ laws and the battle over America’s local racetracks
  23. Cannabis sales and use are high in Michigan – but federal law means research lags behind
  24. Christian satellite TV has broadcast evangelical faith – and end-times prophecies – into Iran for decades
  25. Seeing women govern encourages support for women in politics – with no apparent backlash among men
  26. Students expect their university will mishandle sexual misconduct, if they ever report it
  27. One-way attack drones: Low-cost, high-tech weapons ‘democratize’ precision warfare
  28. Health information delivered as a video game can bridge the communication gap between patients and providers
  29. Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas not only recorded an anthem for the civil rights era – they fought for fair pay and proudly called themselves divas
  30. As renaissance fairs become big business, can they retain their counterculture roots?
  31. Washington DC’s 240 million-gallon sewage spill is a symptom of nationwide trouble
  32. How Trump’s repeated efforts to fire Federal Reserve Chair Powell harm the economy – and make battling inflation harder
  33. Iran’s military forces combine state-of-the-art drones and hackers with out-of-date conventional weapons
  34. Trump’s clash with the pope reenacts a 1,000-year-old question: What happens when sacred and secular power collide?
  35. Salty drinking water could be increasing your blood pressure – people living in coastal areas are most at risk
  36. Why women in groups face a ‘collaboration penalty’ that solo female stars like Taylor Swift and Coco Gauff escape
  37. Ads for GLP-1 drugs are flooding the internet – here’s how to know if it’s safe to buy them online
  38. Your local fishing hole is getting browner, changing which fish species thrive and which ones struggle
  39. Why Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon prayer services challenge traditional notions of separation of church and state – but might be blessed by the Roberts Supreme Court
  40. Thousands of AI-written, edited or ‘polished’ books are being sold – an eerie echo of Orwell’s ‘novel-writing machines’
  41. Strait of Hormuz: Why the US and Iran are sailing in very different legal waters
  42. The Islamabad talks were doomed to failure – and Hormuz blockade has thrown another obstacle to any Iran-US deal
  43. AI companions can give constant support – but distort ideas about what a relationship really is
  44. Antibiotics can trigger bacteria to release bubbles of inflammation tinder, making it harder to treat infection
  45. How debate about gender identity could undermine global efforts to protect victims of violence
  46. A justice department opinion arguing the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional could revert the nation to a time when presidents freely burned their papers
  47. What if Texas’ destructive Tax Day flood had centered on inner Houston instead? It’s why cities should plan for the improbable
  48. New federal figures reveal 1 in 3 US households struggle to pay energy bills, but the reality is likely even worse
  49. Using atomic nuclei could allow scientists to read time more precisely than ever – what this research could mean for future clocks
  50. What if Texas’ destructive Tax Day storm had centered on inner Houston instead? It’s why cities should plan for the improbable