The Conversation

• Alaska’s glacial lakes are expanding, increasing the risk of destructive outburst floods
  Scientists mapped the evolution of 140 glacial lakes in Alaska and found a way to tell how much larger and destructive they can get as their glaciers melt.
• US is less prone to oil price shocks than in past decades
  Oil prices affect the US economy differently than in past decades. Nowadays, the US is less reliant on oil imports and uses less oil to produce more economic output.
• Mobile clinics offer a practical way to improve health care access in maternity care deserts
  Mobile health clinics are a practical but underused solution to the growing number of maternity care deserts in the US.
• What James Madison can teach Americans about religious freedom today
  For Madison, religious freedom was not a tool for political domination. Rather, he saw it as a constitutional safeguard for liberty and democracy.
• Social media can draw attention to atrocities – a key factor in reducing risk of recurrence
  Scholars studied hashtag campaigns in Canada and Syria.
• Why do mountaintops stay snowy, even though they’re closer to the Sun?
  The answer has to do with the air we breathe and that bright white snowpack, as an atmospheric scientist in Colorado explains.
• Abandoned Pennsylvania mines and waste-heat recycling could make the state’s massive new data centers far more sustainable
  In Pennsylvania, new data centers could require enough electricity to power 11 million homes.
• What does the appendix do? Biologists explain the complicated evolution of this inconvenient organ
  The appendix has independently evolved at least 32 times across 361 mammalian species. What makes it an evolutionary darling when it’s more of a medical liability today?
• Silicone wristbands can help scientists track people’s exposure to pollutants like ‘forever chemicals’
  From wearable samplers to passive environmental monitoring, new research is changing how scientists observe chemical exposure – without invasive sampling.
• I’ve studied MAGA rhetoric for a decade, and this is what I see in Hegseth’s boasts, action-movie one-liners and gloating over dominance
  Why does Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth brag and gloat in his statements about the Iran war? In the MAGA media world, war is a game, a test of masculine fortitude.
• Big beautiful refund? 5 tax code changes that may put more money in your pocket
  Those who stand to benefit from the changes in tax code include workers who earn tips, those receiving overtime pay, purchasers of US-made autos, and seniors.
• Arming a Kurdish insurgency would be a risky endeavor – for both the US and Iran’s minority Kurds
  Washington has long worked with Kurdish groups in the Middle East. But without sufficient support, encouraging Iranian Kurds into an uprising now could be dangerous.
• War in Middle East brings uncertainty and higher energy costs to already weakening US economy
  Risks for the US economy grow as the war in the Middle East continues to escalate.
• China’s muted response over war in Iran reflects Beijing’s delicate calculus as a concerned onlooker
  Beijing has denounced US-Israeli action in Iran, but has not rushed to come to the aid of its regional ally.
• Venezuela’s fragile environment faces rising risks as US pushes for oil and critical minerals and illegal gold mining spreads
  The Orinoco Basin is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. It’s also rich in oil, gold and critical minerals crucial to modern technology.
• Today’s obsession with authenticity isn’t new – being true to yourself has troubled philosophers for centuries
  Contemporary culture seems obsessed with authenticity – but the question of how to be ‘sincere’ in modern society has troubled philosophers for centuries.
• How Instagram addictiveness lawsuit could reshape social media – platform design meets product liability
  A lawsuit against Meta and Google avoids the issue of liability for content and focuses on allegations that social media platforms themselves are harmful by design.
• Measuring poverty on a spectrum instead of an arbitrary line conveys a more accurate picture of inequality
  An economist proposes a new method of estimating the scope of poverty in different countries.
• Family-friendly workplaces are great − but ‘families of 1’ get ignored
  In an era of family-friendly workplaces, how can employers treat single people without kids fairly?
• Public health needs steady budgets – and federal funding uncertainty causes real harms, even if the money is later restored
  Public health depends on long-term planning, and when that planning is interrupted, some programs never recover.
• Telehealth is widely used by older adults insured by Medicare, new research shows
  Policymakers are still deciding whether to make some types of Medicare coverage for telehealth permanent. Studies show it helps older adults get more consistent health care.
• When Washington and the states are in conflict, the ultimate winner is not always certain
  Conflict between Washington and the states is perennial and by design. Lack of clarity about who’s in charge on what issue keeps power from becoming concentrated.
• Trump offered a restrictive deal to universities that almost all rejected – but the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education may not be entirely dead
  The Trump administration is reportedly working on a revised version of the higher education proposal.
• How does Iran go about selecting a new supreme leader? And who is in the running?
  Media reports have cast the son of slain Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a top candidate for supreme leader. A scholar of Iranian politics explains how the succession process has never been free or fair.
• Persian Gulf desalination plants could become military targets in regional war
  Key sources of drinking water have been targets in past conflicts. And Iranian strikes have already hit close to some.
• Billions of dollars, decades of progress spent eliminating devastating diseases may be lost with undoing of USAID
  Public health campaigns had made significant strides toward eradicating diseases like elephantitis and river blindness. But this progress has since unraveled with the second Trump administration.
• Operational secrecy kept the US from making evacuation plans – and that means Americans in the Mideast could wait days
  A longtime diplomat explains how the State Department normally encourages and helps Americans to leave countries amid political instability and war – which didn’t happen over the last week.
• How Denver’s Northeast Park Hill community reduced youth violence by 75%
  A neighborhood coalition identified risk factors for youth violence and prevention strategies.
• Why are some stars always visible while others come and go with the seasons?
  From Earth spinning on its axis and orbiting the Sun to it precessing like a top, lots of factors affect which stars you can see in the sky.
• Researchers are combining drones and AI to make removing land mines faster and safer
  Using drones makes detecting land mines safer. Using AI to fuse data from multiple types of sensors on the drones makes it more efficient.
• 2025 was hotter than it should have been – 5 influences and a dirty surprise offer clues to what’s ahead
  Solar cycles, sea ice and rising electricity use all play a role. So does an unhealthy surprise that has been quietly hiding a large amount of global warming – until now.
• Nearly a third of Pennsylvania gamblers are at risk of problem gambling − but few seek treatment
  Online gambling has become easier, faster and more prevalent on social media feeds and streaming platforms – which appeals to younger adults in particular.
• We designed an AI tutor that helps college students reason rather than give them answers
  A 2025 study shows that an AI-based tutor improves learning when it prompts reasoning and is paired with peer discussion.
• GLP-1 drugs may fight addiction across every major substance, according to a study of 600,000 people
  GLP-1 drugs are the first medication to show promise for treating addiction to a wide range of substances.
• Hezbollah − degraded, weakened but not yet disarmed − destabilizes Lebanon once again
  Hezbollah’s entry into the current war followed the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The group has long been aligned with the Islamic Republic.
• Congress once fought to limit a president’s war powers − more than 50 years later, its successors are less willing to assert their authority
  At the tail end of the Vietnam War, Congress engaged in a breathtaking act of legislative assertion, affirming that lawmakers held the power to declare war – not the president.
• Housing First helps people find permanent homes in Detroit − but HUD plans to divert funds to short-term solutions
  Detroit’s homelessness response system could lose millions of dollars in federal funding for permanent supportive housing as the city’s homelessness rates increase.
• Trauma patients recover faster when medical teams know each other well, new study finds
  A new study from a Pittsburgh hospital finds that trauma patients recover faster when emergency medical teams have shared experience working together.
• When unpaid cooking, cleaning and child care get a dollar value, income inequality in the US shrinks – but the gap has grown since 1965
  Women’s unpaid work at home has declined much more than men’s contributions have increased.
• I study why zebrafish larva prefer to circle left or right, to understand how and why human brains encode right- and left-handedness
  Being left- or right-handed – and the paw, eye, fin and wing equivalents – is a product of genes, development and the environment.
• With Artemis II facing delays, NASA announces big structural changes to the lunar program
  Artemis II has been plagued by similar issues to those faced by its predecessor, leading NASA to shake up its plan to return humans to the Moon.
• AI and 3D printing help researchers create heat- and pressure-resistant materials for aerospace and defense applications
  AI models are designing new metal alloys that have been 3D-printed and tested in the lab. The results are then fed back into the AI to accelerate alloy discovery.
• Far from random, China’s global port network is clustering near the world’s riskiest trade routes
  A review of 133 countries’ ports found a correlation between investment from China and proximity to chokepoints.
• Front lines of humor: Dark humor voices Ukrainians’ hopes for victory
  Humor has served many functions since Russia’s full-scale invasion, from providing Ukrainians with a sense of escape and hope to spreading news.
• Brazilian jiu-jitsu is having its #MeToo moment
  With legend Andre Galvao accused of sexual misconduct, gyms and athletes have been forced to confront a culture of silence, hierarchy and gender blindness in the sport.
• CIA agents successfully executed a plan for regime change in Iran in 1953 – but Trump hasn’t revealed any signs of a plan
  A covert US campaign in the mid-20th century helped steer Iran toward the intense anti-American sentiment that has distinguished its government policy for decades.
• Public defender shortage is leading to hundreds of criminal cases being dismissed
  There are never enough lawyers to provide indigent defense, but the situation has gotten worse since the pandemic.
• Welcome to the ‘gray zone’ − home to nefarious international acts that fall short of outright conflict
  Nations are becoming adept at provocations that fall in the area between routine peacetime actions and open warfare.
• The inspiring and tragic story of Mabel Stark, America’s most famous female tiger trainer
  Long before Joe Exotic became Tiger King, Mabel Stark reigned as Tiger Queen.
• A Plan B for space? On the risks of concentrating national space power in private hands
  What does it mean for national security if access to Earth’s orbit depends largely on one company?