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A real-life deluminator for spotting exoplanets by reflected starlight

  • Written by Supriya Chakrabarti, Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts Lowell
An artist's conception of WASP-18b, a giant exoplanet that orbits very close to its star.X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/I.Pillitteri et al; Optical: DSS

Perhaps you remember the opening scene of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” that took place on Privet Drive. A bearded man pulled a mysterious device, called a deluminator, from his...

Read more: A real-life deluminator for spotting exoplanets by reflected starlight

The holidays remind us that grief cannot be wished away

  • Written by Heather Servaty-Seib, Professor and Associate Dean of Counseling Psychology, Purdue University
The holidays for many are not always about joy. Grief is a significant part of the holidays for those who have lost loved ones in the past year.Smileus/Shutterstock.com

The year-end holidays are a time of social gatherings, traditions and celebrations. They can also be a time of revisiting and reflection.

According to the Centers for Disease...

Read more: The holidays remind us that grief cannot be wished away

Democratic presidential hopefuls are promising to ramp up funding for public schools

  • Written by David Knight, Assistant Professor of Education Finance and Policy, University of Washington
Sen. Elizabeth Warren would make universal preschool a federal priority.AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

Democratic presidential candidates are proposing bold new approaches to the federal government’s role in public education. Former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Cory Booker want to triple the US$15 billion spent annually on T...

Read more: Democratic presidential hopefuls are promising to ramp up funding for public schools

5 ways chess can make you a better law student and lawyer

  • Written by Mark Kende, Professor of Law, Drake University
Legal battles require the same skills seen at the highest levels of chess.Elnur/Shutterstock.com

Paul Morphy was a 19th-century New Orleans chess prodigy who was the de facto world chess champion during much of his short life. He rarely lost when he played throughout Europe and the United States. He was also a lawyer who graduated from what is now...

Read more: 5 ways chess can make you a better law student and lawyer

Here's how you can be nudged to eat healthier, recycle and make better decisions every day

  • Written by José Antonio Rosa, Professor of Marketing and John and Deborah Ganoe Faculty Fellow, Iowa State University
Were you subtly encouraged to make that menu choice?Supavadee butradee/Shutterstock.com

Every day, you make important choices – about whether to feast on fries or take a brisk walk, whether to spend or save your paycheck, whether to buy the sustainable option or the disposable plastic one.

Life is made up of countless decisions. The idea of...

Read more: Here's how you can be nudged to eat healthier, recycle and make better decisions every day

How St. Francis created the Nativity scene, with a miraculous event in 1223

  • Written by Vanessa Corcoran, Adjunct Professor of History, Academic Counselor, Georgetown University
The earliest biblical descriptions do not mention the presence of any barnyard animals, that are part of Nativity displays today.Oscar Llerena/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Around the Christmas season, it is common to see a display of the Nativity scene: a small manger with the baby Jesus and his family, shepherds, the three wise men believed to have visited...

Read more: How St. Francis created the Nativity scene, with a miraculous event in 1223

Alcoholic? Me? How to tell if your holiday drinking is becoming a problem

  • Written by Sara Jo Nixon, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Florida
Holiday drinking can get out of hand before we know it. It's important to know the signs of overuse.Steve Cukrov/Shutterstock.com

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, when holiday parties collide with collegiate and professional athletics events. What do they all have in common? Booze, lots of it, and often free. It’s no wonder the...

Read more: Alcoholic? Me? How to tell if your holiday drinking is becoming a problem

Can Congress hold Trump accountable? 4 essential reads on a historic power struggle

  • Written by Naomi Schalit, Senior Editor, Politics + Society, The Conversation US
The U.S. Capitol, where the vote to impeach President Trump is expected to take place.AP/J. Scott Applewhite

The vote to impeach President Donald Trump will be held soon in the House of Representatives. It brings to a head the battle that has raged for months between the president and Democratic members of the House.

Democrats and Trump have fought...

Read more: Can Congress hold Trump accountable? 4 essential reads on a historic power struggle

The Madrid climate conference's real failure was not getting a broad deal on global carbon markets

  • Written by Robert Stavins, A.J. Meyer Professor of Energy and Economic Development, Harvard Kennedy School
Activists protest outside of COP25 climate talks in Madrid, Dec. 14, 2019.AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

Press accounts of the Madrid climate conference that adjourned on Dec. 15 are calling it a failure in the face of inspirational calls from youth activists and others for greater ambition. But based on my 25 years following and analyzing this process tog...

Read more: The Madrid climate conference's real failure was not getting a broad deal on global carbon markets

How Crisco toppled lard – and made Americans believers in industrial food

  • Written by Helen Zoe Veit, Associate Professor of History, Michigan State University
It's all about having faith in the purity of the process.melissamn/Shutterstock.com

Perhaps you’ll unearth a can of Crisco for the holiday baking season. If so, you’ll be one of millions of Americans who have, for generations, used it to make cookies, cakes, pie crusts and more.

But for all Crisco’s popularity, what exactly is...

Read more: How Crisco toppled lard – and made Americans believers in industrial food

More Articles ...

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  2. 150 cooks, servers and dishwashers almost shut down a Democratic debate, showing unions' growing clout in the party
  3. Think presidential debates are dull? Thank 1950s TV game shows
  4. Parents of medically fragile children and their kids could use help, understanding year-round
  5. 7 reasons to learn a foreign language
  6. 7 science-based strategies to boost your willpower and succeed with your New Year’s resolutions
  7. My team uses crossbows and drones to collect bacteria from whales – and the results are teaching us how to keep whales healthy
  8. Feeling sick is an emotion meant to help you get better faster
  9. When a chief justice reminded senators in an impeachment trial that they were not jurors
  10. The science of gift wrapping explains why sloppy is better
  11. Planetary confusion -- why astronomers keep changing what it means to be a planet
  12. How can we make sure that algorithms are fair?
  13. 3 lessons for today's teachers and students from coach Vince Lombardi
  14. 6 charts that illustrate the surprising financial strength of American houses of worship
  15. Catholic activism, not repentance for sexual abuse, is what forces clergy to resign
  16. Evangelical gangs in Rio de Janeiro wage 'holy war' on Afro-Brazilian faiths
  17. Transgender homeless Americans find few protections in the law
  18. Why Congress would keep working during a government shutdown
  19. US-China trade deal: 3 fundamental issues remain unresolved
  20. In impeachment spotlight, dueling views of professionalism appear
  21. Impeachment is better than exile
  22. Kids aren't getting enough exercise, even in sporty Seattle
  23. Memo from a historian: White ladies cooking in plantation museums are a denial of history
  24. When Trump calls someone a dog, he's tapping into ugly history
  25. Margaret Morse Nice thought like a song sparrow and changed how scientists understand animal behavior
  26. Butterfly lovers become citizen scientists by logging sightings on eButterfly
  27. Uber's data revealed nearly 6,000 sexual assaults. Does that mean it's not safe?
  28. Asking people with memory loss about past holidays can help them recall happy times
  29. As rural Americans struggle for health care access, insurers may be making things worse
  30. The Earth needs multiple methods for removing CO2 from the air to avert worst of climate change
  31. 'Organic' label doesn't guarantee that holiday ham was a happy pig
  32. The dangers of depicting Greta Thunberg as a prophet
  33. Why are whales big, but not bigger?
  34. How old should kids be to get phones?
  35. ‘Richard Jewell’ is only the latest film to depict a female journalist trading sex for scoops
  36. Supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy may have a friend
  37. Winter is coming: 5 essential reads about snow and ice
  38. Myths around mental illness cause high rates of unemployment
  39. Slave life's harsh realities are erased in Christmas tours of Southern plantations
  40. School resource officers aren't arrested often – but when they are, it's usually for sexual misconduct
  41. Myanmar charged with genocide of Rohingya Muslims: 5 essential reads
  42. Examining how primates make vowel sounds pushes timeline for speech evolution back by 27 million years
  43. USMCA: The 3 most important changes in the new NAFTA and why they matter
  44. Mexican Mennonites combat fears of violence with a new Christmas tradition
  45. Like 'Little Women,' books by Zitkála-Šá and Taha Hussein are classics
  46. We calculated emissions due to electricity loss on the power grid – globally, it's a lot
  47. Not every campus is a political battlefield
  48. 5 new ways for schools to work with families
  49. What happens when black Americans leave their segregated hometowns
  50. 'Robotic blacksmithing': A technology that could revive US manufacturing