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Health

One of the most common brain disorders is one of the most misunderstood – how functional neurological disorder is both ‘all in your head’ and beyond it

Mackenzi Moore, University of Colorado Anschutz

A cartoon image shows young children running over and flying off of a pile of open books.

Staying hopeful and true to oneself is a lesson these 5 kids books offer to kindergartners and other children

Liz Rosenberg, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Small businesses at the gateways to America’s national parks face 4 big risks – including changing boundaries and extreme weather

Nancy Forster-Holt, University of Rhode Island

Two groups of rafters paddle, surrounded by stunning scenery.

Congress just passed a housing law that rewards states for reform — here’s why Colorado has a head start

Solomon Greene, University of Denver

The wooden frame of a housing unit with cutouts for windows stands behind purple and yellow flowers. A man with an orange shirt and a hard hat climbs up one of the wooden beams inside the frame.

Ancient forests took 100,000 years to recover from past global warming – Wyoming fossils reveal what happened

Regan E. Dunn, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Radio telescopes help scientists map molecules in space and uncover where and how stars form

Olivia Harper Wilkins, Dickinson College

Three radio antennas in front of a mountain range.

How Imperial Japan turned to the sardine to help build a war machine

Pei-Hsu Lin, Washington University in St. Louis

Quitting alcohol changes the brain and can increase the risk of compulsive drinking – new research in mice

Danny G. Winder, UMass Chan Medical School and Marie Doyle, UMass Chan Medical School

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Controlling wild pigs can work if it’s a group effort

Chris Boyer, University of Tennessee; Aaron Smith, University of Tennessee, and Eunchun Park, University of Arkansas

Several pigs have their snouts toward the ground in a wooded area.

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Several photographs of a bearded man and documents are spread on a table.

How American society shields perpetrators of child sexual abuse

Sarah K Lischer, Wake Forest University

Multi-hued shipping containers are stacked at the Port of Long Beach, Calif.

Trump’s ‘forever’ tariffs are kicking in for the long haul – and US consumers are footing the bill

Kent Jones, Babson College

illustration of two silhouetted businessmen walking away from each other down separate paths of a fork in the road against a yellow background

The false and the furious: We aren’t just bothered by different beliefs – we’re bothered when we think others are wrong

Andras Molnar, University of Michigan and George Loewenstein, Carnegie Mellon University

‘Hello, just circling back!’ Not responding to emails is common across higher education but bad for morale

Austin Sarat, Amherst College

A cartoon image shows a screen that says inbox, with many white envelopes around it.

Exploring the Moon will require rovers that can think for themselves – an upcoming NASA mission will test whether they can

Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, University of Florida

An illustration of three small robotic rovers, which have a flat body, solar panel wings and four wheels.

As oil profits skyrocket, calls for windfall taxes rise

Tibor Besedeš, Georgia Institute of Technology

An illustration of a person in a business suit celebrating amid a shower of money.

Executive order on vaccines bypasses an evidence-based process that has kept kids safe

Jake Scott, Stanford University

Donald Trump sitting at a desk with the American flag behind him, Robert F Kennedy Jr standing next to him, the two men rare clasping hands

‘Starwashing’: How space companies use the greenwashing playbook while engaging in environmentally damaging practices

Marissa E. Yingling, University of Louisville

A rocket lifting off a launchpad, with a streak of flame and a plume of smoke billowing below it

Michigan progressive Abdul El-Sayed won a combative Democratic nomination for US Senate – he’ll face new attacks this fall

Michael Traugott, University of Michigan

Don’t trust the name on the PAC

Brian Sheppard, Seton Hall University and Andrew Moshirnia, Monash University

A photo of a federal building with dollar bills superimposed over it.

For refugees to the US, discrimination can make healthcare harder to get

Hyojin Im, Virginia Commonwealth University

A woman wearing a headscarf looks nervous while sitting on an exam table in a medical setting.

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U.S.-Iran war

Men in army fatigues stand with large guns.

A new Houthi front and expanded Iranian attacks risk sinking Gulf nations’ choke-point workaround and widening shipping risks

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University

Amid grinding war, protesting Ukrainians still want their voices and values heard at home

Sarah Wilson Sokhey, University of Colorado Boulder; Gerard Toal, Virginia Tech, and John O’Loughlin, University of Colorado Boulder

A protester holds up a sign saying 'We support Fedorov.'

The danger of US-Iran ceasefire agreement is what it leaves out

Monica Duffy Toft, Tufts University

Several ships appear with a motorboat on a stretch of ocean.

Trump’s US-Iran ceasefire deal is a costly return to prewar conditions – and resolving nuclear questions will run into the ‘indivisibility problem’

Farah N. Jan, University of Pennsylvania

How are Saudis viewing the US-Iran war? Our polling suggests Gulf kingdom is split on key issues

Robert Kubinec, University of South Carolina and Alexis Montambault-Trudelle, Université Laval

A group of people in traditional Saudi dress walk up stairs.

250th anniversary of American independence

An American flag, with only 13 stars, arrayed in a circle.

After 1776, the founders designed a government that accounts for ‘a degree of depravity in mankind’

Donovan Fifield, University of South Carolina

How did it feel to be an American colonist in 1776? Probably itchy, achy and slightly nauseated

Katherine Ott, Smithsonian Institution

illustration of people in colonial garb with muskets

As the US turns 250, a forgotten founding influence helps explain its current unease

Robert A. Ballingall, University of Maine

Delegates at the signing of the U.S. Constitution

How a tiny Caribbean island made American independence possible

R. Grant Gilmore III, College of Charleston

painting of a ship approaching St. Eustatius

Muslims were part of America’s story long before the republic began

Iqbal Akhtar, Florida International University

Men and women stand in separate rows, bowing their heads in prayer.

Extreme weather and natural disasters

A stone chapel on a hillside with wildfire smoke around it.

Wildfire-damaged historic buildings may not be as ruined as they appear, but saving them means acting fast

Rebecca Napolitano, Penn State; Giorgia Giardina, Delft University of Technology, and Tiago Miguel Ferreira, Universidade de Lisboa

Green roofs can help cool cities in the summer heat, but building them is only the first step – many don’t survive

Taylor Wishart, University of Tennessee

Vegetables and plants grow on a rooftop under a blue sky with tall buildings in the background.

Wildfires can contaminate nearby homes and water systems – here’s what Spokane’s returning residents need to know

Andrew J. Whelton, Purdue University

A row of homes stands behind the debris remaining of blocks of houses that burned.

Just weeks before devastating wildfires hit, Spokane practiced a mass evacuation – the drill paid off

Ashley Bosa, Boise State University

A police car with a long line of vehicles.

Glacial lake flood hits Juneau, Alaska, again, reflecting a growing global risk as mountain glaciers melt

Alton C. Byers, University of Colorado Boulder and Suzanne OConnell, Wesleyan University

A person rappels down into a basin filled with icy water,

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International

Two women wearing headscarves smile as they look at something together.

Emerging anti-immigration sentiment in Japan obscures a surprising history of strategic engagement with Islam

Mimi Hanaoka, University of Richmond

Criminal gangs have diversified across Latin America, making them more resilient – but not untouchable

Robert Muggah, Instituto Igarapé; Princeton University

Two people on a motorbike ride past a man in army uniform carrying a large gun.

Lightning strikes kill thousands globally each year, but for those who survive, the storm is far from over

Daile Zhang, University of North Dakota

Person with an umbrella walking as lightning strikes in the background.

Russia is trying to force Ukrainian children to become Russian, with reeducation, forcible transfers and camps

Thom Reilly, Arizona State University

A fence featuring 20000 stuffed teddy bears that spell out 'Putin abducted 20,000 Ukrainian children.'

Gaza’s ‘road map’ is driven by Trump, but reluctant passengers and serious potholes could derail pathway to peace

Mkhaimar Abusada, Northwestern University

New research in health and science

White House lit up with golden light with dark purple sky around

White House plan for a ‘golden age’ of science ignores the structures that made the US a scientific superpower

H. Christopher Frey, North Carolina State University

A lot of casual friends, or only a few you’re really close with? New research questions that trade-off

Jessica D. Ayers, Boise State University and Diego Guevara Beltran, University of Arizona

When expressive humanoid robots are awkward, people become wary – new brain study

Hasan Ayaz, Drexel University; Ewart J. de Visser, United States Air Force Academy; Frank Krueger, George Mason University, and Yigit Topoglu, United States Air Force Academy

a humanoid robot's face with its hands held up by its eyes

Philadelphia’s failing air quality hits hardest in neighborhoods near industry and highways, where asthma rates soar

Qian He, Rowan University; Mahbubur Meenar, Rowan University, and Sean Olcese, Rowan University

Flawed studies linking hormone therapy to breast cancer made doctors reluctant to prescribe it for menopause relief – especially for breast cancer survivors

Versha Pleasant, University of Michigan

Artificial intelligence

Teen holding smartphone with chat conversation late at night at home.

Teens are turning to AI chatbots for emotional support – here’s how to keep kids safe

Phoebe S. Moore, UMass Chan Medical School; Megan Kelly, UMass Chan Medical School, and Yael Dvir, UMass Chan Medical School

An AI agent spent your money – can anyone prove you authorized it?

Aashis Luitel, University of the Cumberlands

Layoffs tied to AI hurt worker productivity – and the reason may surprise managers

Mark Ma, University of Pittsburgh

An advertisement in San Francisco, Calif., for the AI company Artisan depicts a smiling woman against a purple background and reads: "Artisans won't complain about work-life balance."

China is shaping the future of open-source technology – including AI

Christopher K. Tong, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

people behind and in front of a booth at a trade show

Employers everywhere are using AI – but business schools aren’t preparing students for the shift

Murugan Anandarajan, Drexel University and Stacy Kline, Drexel University

Peach-colored letters spelling AI rest next to a backpack and a pile of books with a graduation hat on top, against a light pink background.

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