The Conversation

• What a US attorney general actually does – a law professor spells it out
  The combined political and legal roles and responsibilities of the US attorney general can create conflicts. Some attorneys general yielded to political pressure from the president – many did not.
• Toxic dust from California’s shrinking Salton Sea is harming children’s lung growth – our study tracked the impact in 700 kids
  A new study reveals how the lake bed’s toxic dust impairs lung development in children living nearby.
• Supreme Court ruling on Colorado conversion therapy case is not a clear win for conservatives
  The court decided Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy violated the free speech of a talk therapist.
• The two lives of Chuck Norris
  The action star’s death forced fans to reckon with his strange legacy: a real person with a complicated past, and a meme that made him into an immortal symbol of exaggerated masculinity.
• The costume maker who convinced Hersheypark to embrace candy mascots and ‘chocolatize’ their old-timey theme park
  Hersheypark underwent a total transformation in the 1970s, when candy mascots and thrill rides replaced barn animals and old-timey recreations of Tudor England.
• Why Americans give: New research finds 5 distinct profiles for generosity
  Different kinds of Americans are generous in different ways.
• Why the manosphere has an antisemitism problem
  Denying Jewish men’s masculinity, or blaming them for weakening ‘traditional’ masculinity, has long been part of antisemitism.
• Pam Bondi’s extreme political loyalty to Trump wasn’t enough to save her job
  It’s not unusual for presidents to select attorneys general who share their views and policy preferences. But Trump has gone far beyond what is usually done.
• Iran’s president appeals to Americans − but does his office still hold any real power?
  Once a strong force after the Iranian Revolution, the office of the president slowly diminished over time as power centralized under the supreme leader.
• The nonprofit status of NCAA athletic departments is starting to raise questions
  In an era of billion-dollar TV deals and million-dollar payments to players, the tax code continues to treat university athletic departments as organizations that promote education and amateur sports.
• Kratom poisonings surged 1,200% over the past decade, and regulators are struggling to keep up with the dangers
  Conflicting claims about kratom are widespread, but scientific evidence makes the risks clear.
• SpaceX and OpenAI IPOs are unlikely to bring skyrocketing returns that Amazon and Apple did, as companies go public later in life and early investors cash out
  In the old days, companies like Apple and Amazon went public early to access cash to grow. These days, soon-to-be-public companies are already flush with cash from private finance.
• Getting $750 a month didn’t end homelessness – but our study shows it still improved the lives of homeless people
  The study found that regularly getting cash made it easier for many homeless people to meet their immediate and personal needs.
• How Iranian hackers pose a threat to US critical infrastructure
  A cyberattack on a US corporation illustrates how state-aligned hackers operate, and how damage in war today isn’t always visible or geographically confined.
• MLB doubles down on gambling with new Polymarket deal
  For over a century, baseball rejected gambling to preserve the game’s integrity. Now, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says embracing gambling will do the same.
• For adults with ADHD – or even those with just some symptoms – using smart strategies to start and complete tasks can make all the difference
  Learning to recognize thought patterns that lead to avoidance, and breaking tasks down into small parts, can help people overcome the mental barriers that often accompany ADHD.
• AI’s fluency in other languages hides a Western worldview that can mislead users − a scholar of Indonesian society explains
  Research shows that a hidden American worldview can shape AI advice in ways that are culturally misleading.
• Bypass the Strait of Hormuz with nuclear explosives? The US studied that in Panama and Colombia in the 1960s
  For decades, the US seriously pursued the idea of ‘peaceful nuclear explosions.’
• Better urban design could help save Florida’s threatened Big Cypress fox squirrel
  The Big Cypress fox squirrel is losing its habitat to urban and suburban development. But a few design changes could help to save this and other species.
• Irresponsible parental gun ownership could become a factor in custody disputes
  Evolving views about parental gun ownership and liability will likely have ramifications in custody battles.
• 75 years after she led a student strike that helped end school segregation, Barbara Rose Johns now stands in the US Capitol where Robert E. Lee once did
  In December 2025, the statue of Barbara Rose Johns replaced that of Robert E. Lee as one of the two Virginians displayed in the U.S. Capitol. Here’s why.
• Trump risks falling in to the ‘asymmetric resolve’ trap in Iran − just as presidents before him did elsewhere
  Throughout history, powerful militaries have been thwarted by smaller adversaries with more determination.
• Why Iran targeted Amazon data centers and what that does – and doesn’t – change about warfare
  Commercial data centers have become critical infrastructure, supporting everything from financial transactions to government services. And critical infrastructure is often targeted in war.
• The Department of Justice is suing states for sensitive voter data − an election law scholar explains why federal efforts are facing resistance
  The DOJ wants states to send it copies of voters’ names and addresses as well as sensitive information such as driver’s license and Social Security numbers. Here’s why many states have refused.
• Winter’s alarmingly low snowpack offers a glimpse of the changing rhythm of water in the western US
  Streamflows the West relies on for drinking water and farms used to follow a fairly predictable arc as winter snow melted. Rising temperatures are changing that.
• You’re not going to be alone in national parks this summer – enjoy the company
  Being in public parks and natural environments with other visitors is a powerful opportunity to enhance enjoyment rather than detract from it.
• Why Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris, won’t stop ‘til she gets enough from his estate
  Even after death, managing wealth can be complicated, slow and deeply contested.
• The NFL draft brings economic gains – and hidden public safety costs
  Significant public resources are spent on staffing, overtime, EMS staging, traffic control and interagency coordination that are integral to a successful event.
• Federal election observers once played a key role in securing voting rights for all − but times have changed
  After the Voting Rights Act, federal election observers helped ensure fair voting, but that oversight has increasingly shifted focus − to monitor what Washington says is voter fraud and accusations of cheating.
• What Detroit can learn from participatory budgeting processes in NYC, Boston and Brazil
  Participatory budgeting makes the people involved more likely to vote – an important consideration in a city like Detroit where many don’t.
• Astronaut Victor Glover is the latest in a long line of Black American explorers − including York, the enslaved man who played a key role in the Lewis and Clark expedition
  Victor Glover will become the first Black astronaut to orbit the Moon – but he is part of a long line of Black explorers, many forgotten through history. New research is giving York his due.
• How long young cancer patients survive often depends on the insurance they have
  Whether a young person has public or private insurance – or is uninsured or underinsured – significantly influences their risk of death across many cancer types.
• Students were skipping my astrophysics class to play video games – so I turned the class itself into a video game
  With college students less likely to read through a full textbook than they once were, video games can help keep them engaged.
• How polling failures, gambling legalization and political gridlock paved the way for the explosive rise of prediction markets
  While media outlets are signing deals with Polymarket and Kalshi for their insights into the wisdom of crowds, gamblers are pouncing on opportunities to wager on geopolitics and celebrity weddings.
• How California’s war on smog and its ambitious car pollution rules made everyone’s air cleaner
  The Clean Air Act gave California the authority to issue tough pollution standards for vehicles, with EPA approval. The Trump administration is now trying to stop it.
• Holocaust survivors in France came home to stolen apartments, looted furniture and bureaucratic hurdles
  Laws put in place after the war aimed to return stolen belongings and offer war damages to victims. In reality, many Jewish families faced lengthy waits and legal hurdles.
• ‘Project Hail Mary’ demonstrates how intellectual humility can be a guiding force for scientists and astronauts
  Curiosity and an openness to new ideas help Ryland Grace, the movie’s protagonist, navigate new discoveries about life in the universe.
• Artemis II’s long countdown – a space historian explains why it has taken over 50 years to return to the Moon
  NASA’s Artemis II mission took decades of policymaking, engineering and financial support.
• Benefits of mindfulness meditation go far beyond relaxation – here’s what it is and how to practice it
  Facing your own thoughts and sensations, without trying to suppress them, is harder than it may seem. But learning to do it can boost your mental health.
• Ticks are the backyard threat southwestern Pennsylvania homeowners keep ignoring
  A University of Pittsburgh researcher is studying why Pennsylvania residents who regularly encounter ticks still underestimate their risk of Lyme disease.
• Trump Fed pick Kevin Warsh could shake up the central bank with his ‘family fight’ model
  The US Federal Reserve has never before been this transparent about its policymaking process − but that might not be a good thing.
• From youth bulges to graying societies: The demographic dynamics that are upending the world
  Population ebbs and flows are having geopolitical consequences.
• How sea mines threaten global trade, and how navies detect them
  The Iranian government uses the threat of sea mines to control access to the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow sea lane that is vital to the global economy.
• Decades of hostility between Iran and the US were preceded by a little-remembered century-long friendship
  Many Americans only know the history of anger and tension with Iran. But an archaeologist who has spent 45 years focusing on Iran says it is worth recalling the time when the countries were friends.
• NASA wants to build a base on the Moon by the 2030s – how and why it plans to build up to a long-term lunar presence
  It’s about more than just beating China. As a space lawyer puts it, a Moon base would come with strategic, economic and scientific advantages.
• Basic income’s appeal today is similar to its roots in 18th-century England – it’s a way to compensate people for a common good taken for private gain
  Today’s basic income proponents say cash payments would be good for everyone. In the 1790s, the idea’s inventor argued something else: It was owed to everyone.
• Shiite grief over attacks on Iran’s sacred cities has deep historical roots
  In Shiite Islam, grief is not only personal but collective − expressed through rituals, pilgrimage and devotion to saints.
• Sex test used in IOC’s new transgender ban more likely to exclude from Olympics intersex women who were assigned female at birth
  Genetic testing is now required to participate in women’s events in the Olympics. But the new policy oversimplifies biological sex and risks discrimination against some female athletes.
• Panicking scientists, canceled experiments – federal funding cuts turned my work as a research dean into crisis management
  When the Trump administration took aim at higher education and the scientific research enterprise, a university dean had to figure out on the fly how to support scientists and their work at his school.
• Are multiverses real? An astrophysicist explains why it depends on how you define ‘real’
  While direct evidence of multiple universes is hard to come by, indirect evidence raises intriguing possibilities.