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Fearless leader or lame duck? Putin's certain triumph heralds fresh uncertainty

  • Written by Cynthia Hooper, Associate Professor of History, College of the Holy Cross
Russian President Vladimir Putin at a massive rally in his support n Moscow, March 3, 2018 AP/Pavel Golovkin

Long before it happened, Russia’s ruling party had already called it “the ultimate victory.”

On March 18, Russians go to the polls where they will – without doubt – re-elect President Vladimir Putin to a fourth...

Read more: Fearless leader or lame duck? Putin's certain triumph heralds fresh uncertainty

Pompeo's rise will make Mideast war more likely

  • Written by Gregory Aftandilian, Lecturer, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University
The newly nominated secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, is a foreign policy hawk who opposes the Iran nuclear deal. Scrapping it could unleash a chain reaction of violence across the Middle East.AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

After U.S. president Donald Trump fired his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, many analysts have focused on how this high-level...

Read more: Pompeo's rise will make Mideast war more likely

Can Haspel bring the CIA in from the cold?

  • Written by Brent Durbin, Associate Professor of Government, Smith College
Trump speaks at the CIA on Jan. 21, 2017AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

The CIA had a tough first year under President Donald Trump.

It started with the president making a brashly political speech in front of the agency’s Memorial Wall, which is hallowed ground to CIA officers. This was soon after Trump seemed to compare U.S. intelligence agencies to...

Read more: Can Haspel bring the CIA in from the cold?

Haspel is Trump's chance to reset his bad start with the CIA

  • Written by Brent Durbin, Associate Professor of Government, Smith College
Gina Haspel addresses The Office of Strategic Services Society in 2017.OSS Society, CC BY

The CIA had a tough first year under President Donald Trump.

It started with the president making a brashly political speech in front of the agency’s Memorial Wall, which is hallowed ground to CIA officers. This was soon after Trump seemed to compare...

Read more: Haspel is Trump's chance to reset his bad start with the CIA

Stephen Hawking as accidental ambassador for assistive technologies

  • Written by Martin E. Blair, Executive Director of the Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities, and Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning, The University of Montana
A computer-generated voice was essential to Hawking's participation in the world around him.AP Photo/John Raoux

Imagine you’ve contemplated the great scientific theories of the past and arrived at new insights based on your own observations. Imagine you’ve organized these thoughts into compelling arguments. Imagine that what you have to...

Read more: Stephen Hawking as accidental ambassador for assistive technologies

In Pennsylvania's 18th, a very important, unimportant election

  • Written by Christopher Beem, Managing Director of the McCourtney Institute of Democracy, Pennsylvania State University
Democrat Conor Lamb celebrates in Pennsylvania's 18th, long considered a GOP stronghold. AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

By just about any objective standard, the special election in the Pennsylvania 18th Congressional District was about as inconsequential as they come. At the same time, the race, and Conor Lamb’s apparent and very narrow victory,...

Read more: In Pennsylvania's 18th, a very important, unimportant election

Colombian guerrilla leader ends controversial presidential bid, giving peace a chance

  • Written by Fabio Andres Diaz, Researcher on Conflict, Peace and Development, International Institute of Social Studies

In a decision with far-reaching consequences for Colombia’s fragile peace process, the FARC – a political party formed by former Marxist guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – has withdrawn from the country’s presidential race after candidate Rodrigo Londoño underwent open-heart surgery in Bogota...

Read more: Colombian guerrilla leader ends controversial presidential bid, giving peace a chance

Controversial brain study has scientists rethinking neuron research

  • Written by Janice R. Naegele, Alan M Dachs Professor of Science, Professor of Biology, Neuroscience and Behavior, Wesleyan University
Could it be that a baby has all the brain cells she ever will?Jv Garcia on Unsplash, CC BY

Scientists have known for about two decades that some neurons – the fundamental cells in the brain that transmit signals – are generated throughout life. But now a controversial new study from the University of California, San Francisco, casts...

Read more: Controversial brain study has scientists rethinking neuron research

The man responsible for making March Madness the moneymaking bonanza it is today

  • Written by Rick Eckstein, Professor of Sociology, Villanova University
Walter Byers served as executive director of the NCAA between 1951 and 1988.Jim Bourdier/AP Photo

In a legendary “South Park” episode lampooning the NCAA, the character Eric Cartman asks a university president if he can purchase some of his “slaves” – er, “student-athletes” – who play men’s...

Read more: The man responsible for making March Madness the moneymaking bonanza it is today

What to expect when a college assigns students to random roommates

  • Written by Bruce Sacerdote, Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College
College move-in day at New York University in August 2017. EQRoy/Shutterstock.com

Duke University recently announced that first-year students will now be randomly assigned to their dormmates. The goal is to give students a chance to meet and learn from peers from a completely different background. Is this silly social engineering or smart policy?

Soc...

Read more: What to expect when a college assigns students to random roommates

More Articles ...

  1. Does cloud seeding work? Scientists watch ice crystals grow inside clouds to find out
  2. Where does the controversial finding that adult human brains don't grow new neurons leave ongoing research?
  3. What the National School Walkout says about schools and free speech
  4. Why do gun-makers get special economic protection?
  5. Could the open government movement shut the door on Freedom of Information?
  6. How Trump can avoid the setbacks that doomed North Korean nuclear talks in the past
  7. Booze and basketball: Why binge drinking increases during March Madness
  8. Why bland American beer is here to stay
  9. People are stranded in 'transit deserts' in dozens of US cities
  10. This March Madness, we're using machine learning to predict upsets
  11. DeVos and the limits of the education reform movement
  12. Potent Mexico City earthquake was a rare 'bending' quake, study finds – and it could happen again
  13. El sismo que azotó a la Ciudad de México fue 'peculiar' y podría pasar de nuevo, según estudio
  14. 10 things to know about the real St. Patrick
  15. Why mental health treatment is not an easy solution to violence
  16. Teaching students how to dissent is part of democracy
  17. Trump-Hitler comparisons too easy and ignore the murderous history
  18. Celebrating Marion Walter – and other unsung female mathematicians
  19. What is March Madness – and the nonprofit that manages the mayhem?
  20. Embroidering electronics into the next generation of 'smart' fabrics
  21. Adult human brains don't grow new neurons in hippocampus, contrary to prevailing view
  22. Is the NRA an educational organization? A lobby group? A nonprofit? A media outlet? Yes
  23. Trump meets Kim Jong Un: 5 essential reads
  24. Why child care costs more than college tuition - and how to make it more affordable
  25. There are dozens of sea snake species in the Indian and Pacific oceans, but none in the Atlantic or Caribbean. Why?
  26. Arbitration as a way out of the North Korean crisis
  27. Why child care costs more than college tuition – and how to make it more affordable
  28. Influenza's wild origins in the animals around us
  29. How to get more Americans to volunteer
  30. 100 years later, the madness of daylight saving time endures
  31. George W. Bush tried steel tariffs. It didn't work
  32. Want better sex? Try getting better sleep
  33. School shooters: What can law enforcement do to stop them?
  34. Why is sarcasm so difficult to detect in texts and emails?
  35. Why big bets on educational reform haven't fixed the US school system
  36. Let them eat carp: Fish farms are helping to fight hunger
  37. Perish not publish? New study quantifies the lack of female authors in scientific journals
  38. Very few women oversee US companies. Here's how to change that
  39. Female presidents don't always help women while in office, study in Latin America finds
  40. Why it's so important for kids to see diverse TV and movie characters
  41. Purdue-Kaplan deal blurs lines between for-profit and public colleges
  42. If polls say people want gun control, why doesn't Congress just pass it?
  43. West Virginia teachers win raise – but nation's rural teachers are still underpaid
  44. Why are we so sleep deprived, and why does it matter?
  45. Using blockchain to secure the 'internet of things'
  46. The dark side of daylight saving time
  47. Uneasy US-Mexico relationship will survive ambassador's resignation — but just barely
  48. While Mexico plays politics with its water, some cities flood and others go dry
  49. DACA deadline passes, Congress fails to act and fate of 'Dreamers' remains uncertain: 6 essential reads
  50. GOP tax law snubs US expats and 'accidental Americans'