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Many electric utilities are struggling – will more go bankrupt?

  • Written by: Theodore J. Kury, Director of Energy Studies, University of Florida
On the hook: California utility PG&E declared bankruptcy due to liabilities linked to power lines and wildfires. AP Photo/Ben Margot

Over the past 12 months, consumers in the U.S. have experienced the disappearance of familiar retailers, such as Toys R Us and Sears, due in part to how online shopping has changed the way consumers shop for...

Read more: Many electric utilities are struggling – will more go bankrupt?

Dutch Memorial Day: Maintaining colonial innocence by excluding people of color

  • Written by: Annemarie Toebosch, Director of Dutch and Flemish Studies, University of Michigan

On Dutch Memorial Day – May 4 – the Netherlands remembers its war dead from World War II and after.

A close look at the holiday reveals a culture that maintains its innocence about a history of colonial oppression.

Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands on Aug. 17, 1945. This followed 350 years of Dutch East India Company...

Read more: Dutch Memorial Day: Maintaining colonial innocence by excluding people of color

Jimmy Carter's lasting Cold War legacy

  • Written by: Robert C. Donnelly, Associate Professor of History, Gonzaga University
Former President Jimmy Carter.AP

Jimmy Carter was a dark horse Democratic presidential candidate with little national recognition when he beat Republican incumbent Gerald Ford in 1976.

The introspective former peanut farmer pledged a new era of honesty and forthrightness at home and abroad, a promise that resonated with voters eager for change...

Read more: Jimmy Carter's lasting Cold War legacy

Trump's dirty tricks: Unethical, even illegal campaign tactics are an American tradition

  • Written by: Steffen W. Schmidt, Lucken Endowed Professor of Political Science, Iowa State University

Donald Trump pulled some pretty unseemly stunts to win the 2016 United States presidential election.

He threatened to put his opponent, Hillary Clinton, in jail and publicly asked Russia to hack her emails. After Russian operatives did something similar – stealing emails from Democratic National Committee servers – the Trump campaign...

Read more: Trump's dirty tricks: Unethical, even illegal campaign tactics are an American tradition

Modern shamans: Financial managers, political pundits and others who help tame life's uncertainty

  • Written by: Manvir Singh, PhD Candidate in Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
Examining chicken intestines, reading the tea leaves, watching the markets – people turn to experts for insight into the mysteries that surround them.Manvir Singh, CC BY-ND

Aka Manai explains that there are two kinds of people in the world: simata and sikerei.

I am a simata. He is a sikerei. Sikerei have undergone transformative experiences...

Read more: Modern shamans: Financial managers, political pundits and others who help tame life's uncertainty

University of North Carolina at Charlotte shooting has these things in common with other campus shootings

  • Written by: Jillian Peterson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University
Police secure the main entrance to UNC Charlotte after a shooting at the school that left at least two people dead, Tuesday, April 30.Jason E. Miczek/AP

The April 30 shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte follows a familiar pattern of mass shootings at college campuses in the United States.

If authorities better understood these...

Read more: University of North Carolina at Charlotte shooting has these things in common with other campus...

3 moral reasons why parents need to get their children vaccinated against measles and other diseases

  • Written by: Joel Michael Reynolds, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Several parents do not want their children vaccinated, for religious or other reasons.Tatevosian Yana/Shutterstock

The U.S. hit a terrible and entirely preventable milestone this week: Measles cases are at a 25-year high.

This alarming statistic is not due to changes in public health policy or medical practice, but the rise of the anti-vax...

Read more: 3 moral reasons why parents need to get their children vaccinated against measles and other diseases

As air pollution increases in some US cities, the Trump administration is weakening clean air regulations

  • Written by: Jason West, Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Oil refineries and other industrial sources in and around Houston create some of the highest ozone levels in the nation. AP Photo/Pat Sullivan

Air pollution kills. In the United States, 1 of every 25 deaths occurs prematurely because of exposure to outdoor air pollution.

It kills more Americans than all transportation accidents and gun shootings co...

Read more: As air pollution increases in some US cities, the Trump administration is weakening clean air...

3 ways $2 trillion for infrastructure can fight inequality too

  • Written by: Steven Pressman, Professor of Economics, Colorado State University

Imagine you have US$2 trillion to spend on patching up America’s crumbling roads, levees and other infrastructure. What would you fix first?

The nation’s needs are great. The American Society of Civilian Engineers’ latest report, from 2017, highlighted derailing trains, roads full of potholes, levees breaching, bridges...

Read more: 3 ways $2 trillion for infrastructure can fight inequality too

Asteroid dust brought back to Earth may explain where our water came from with hydrogen clues

  • Written by: Maitrayee Bose, Assistant Professor of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University
Planetary scientists believe that Earth was formed by the conglomeration of meteorites and comets -- which also brought water.Festa/SHutterstock.com

Oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, and scientists argue that the planet’s interior also contains a lot of water. But where did all this water come from?

I and my postdoc Zili...

Read more: Asteroid dust brought back to Earth may explain where our water came from with hydrogen clues

More Articles …

  1. Is the Assange indictment a threat to the First Amendment?
  2. Why abusive husbands kick dogs but angry neighbors poison them
  3. From Paris to Boston, the crucial role of fire chaplains
  4. A 'coup des gens' is underway – and we're increasingly living under the regime of the algorithm
  5. Prescription for journalists from journalists: Less time studying Twitter, more time studying math
  6. Why Florida's new voting rights amendment may not be as sweeping as it looks
  7. Why some doctors are prescribing a day in the park or a walk on the beach for good health
  8. Brain over body: Hacking the stress system to let your psychology influence your physiology
  9. US, Russia, China race to develop hypersonic weapons
  10. Who is Leopoldo López, the newly freed opposition leader behind Venezuela's uprising?
  11. Spanish voters rebuff radical right — for now
  12. Our smartphone addiction is killing us – can apps that limit screen time offer a lifeline?
  13. The US white majority will soon disappear forever
  14. Just 16 minutes of sleep loss can harm work concentration the next day
  15. Can James Holzhauer be stopped? A former 'Jeopardy!' champion weighs in
  16. Here's how to increase diversity in STEM at the college level and beyond
  17. How a music genre known as black metal came to be related to church burnings
  18. Collaborative problem solvers are made not born – here's what you need to know
  19. Financial woes are at the heart of the NRA's tumult
  20. Data insecurity leads to economic injustice – and hits the pocketbooks of the poor most
  21. How the world's largest democracy casts its ballots
  22. The benefits that places like Dayton, Ohio, reap by welcoming immigrants
  23. How air guitar became a serious sport
  24. Is there a 'feminine' response to terrorism?
  25. At work, women and people of color still have not broken the glass ceiling
  26. Uber drivers report 80-plus hour workweeks and a lot of waiting
  27. Shutting down social media does not reduce violence, but rather fuels it
  28. Is an 'insect apocalypse' happening? How would we know?
  29. Uber's $9 billion IPO rests on drivers' 80-plus hour workweeks and a lot of waiting
  30. Recalls of medical devices and drugs are up - can anyone predict when it will happen next?
  31. The value of trees: 4 essential reads
  32. What the Greek tragedy Antigone can teach us about the dangers of extremism
  33. A drug for autism? Potential treatment for Pitt-Hopkins syndrome offers clues
  34. Missing school is a given for children of migrant farmworkers
  35. Don't buy that Gucci knockoff: Your bargain benefits organized crime while endangering countless others
  36. How to avoid accidentally becoming a Russian agent
  37. Why Facebook belongs in the math classroom
  38. Notre Dame has shaped the intellectual life of Paris for eight centuries
  39. Planned burns can reduce wildfire risks, but expanding use of 'good fire' isn't easy
  40. DNA as you've never seen it before, thanks to a new nanotechnology imaging method
  41. How your employer uses perks like wellness programs, phones and free food to control your life
  42. Central American women fleeing violence experience more trauma after seeking asylum
  43. No cure for Alzheimer's disease in my lifetime
  44. 'I got there first!' How your subjective experience of time makes you think you did – even when you didn't
  45. Un año después del levantamiento popular en Nicaragua, Ortega retoma el control
  46. It's 2019 – where's my supersuit?
  47. Duke Ellington's melodies carried his message of social justice
  48. Let's get real with college athletes about their chances of going pro
  49. The case for African American reparations, explained
  50. Identicide: How demographic shifts can rip a country apart