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To some ancient Romans, gladiators were the embodiment of tyranny

  • Written by John M. Oksanish, Associate Professor of Classics, Wake Forest University
imagePaul Mescal as Lucius in 'Gladiator II.'Paramount

Neither “Gladiator” nor its cinematic sequel is particularly concerned with historical fact. For one thing, the emperor Marcus Aurelius had no intention of restoring the republic. Gladiatorial contests were abhorrent displays of cruelty, but they didn’t always end in death. And the...

Read more: To some ancient Romans, gladiators were the embodiment of tyranny

Activism on foot: When Indigenous activists walk the land to honor their past and reshape their future

  • Written by Meaghan Weatherdon, Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Diego
imageNative Americans taking part in the Longest Walk, heading from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., march past the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., in 1978. AP Photo/Prouser

More than a decade ago, I spent a week working in Gatineau, a city on the southern edge of Québec, with the Cree Board of Health and Social Services. I was helping train...

Read more: Activism on foot: When Indigenous activists walk the land to honor their past and reshape their...

New maps show high-risk zones for whale-ship collisions − vessel speed limits and rerouting can reduce the toll

  • Written by Anna Nisi, Postdoctoral Researcher in Biology, University of Washington
image A blue whale swims close to a large vessel near the Port of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Asha de Vos, CC BY-ND

Imagine you are a blue whale swimming up the California coast, as you do every spring. You are searching for krill in the Santa Barbara Channel, a zone that teems with fish, kelp forests, seagrass beds and other undersea life, but also vibrates...

Read more: New maps show high-risk zones for whale-ship collisions − vessel speed limits and rerouting can...

ICC arrest warrants for Israel’s Netanyahu and Hamas leader doesn’t mean those accused will face trial anytime soon

  • Written by Victor Peskin, Associate Professor of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University
imageThe International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.Selman Aksunger/Anadolu via Getty Images

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Nov. 21, 2024, for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and one leading Hamas official. Those named in the action are accused of war crimes and crimes...

Read more: ICC arrest warrants for Israel’s Netanyahu and Hamas leader doesn’t mean those accused will face...

Why you should get to know Thomas Aquinas, even 800 years after he lived

  • Written by Therese Cory, Associate Professor of Thomistic Studies, University of Notre Dame
imageSt. Thomas Aquinas and St. Peter confute heretics in a 1369 fresco by Andrea Bonaiuto in Florence's Spanish Chapel. Leemage/Corbis via Getty Imagesimage‘The Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas,’ by Benozzo Gozzoli.Louvre Museum via Wikimedia Commons

Some years ago, I was rushing past the treasures of the Louvre in Paris, on the way to the...

Read more: Why you should get to know Thomas Aquinas, even 800 years after he lived

Crypto is soaring after Trump’s election − but is it a good ethical investment?

  • Written by Erran Carmel, Professor of Business, American University Kogod School of Business
imageA woman reviews Bitcoin prices outside a Bitcoin ATM on Aug. 4, 2024, in Rzeszow, Poland.Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

An estimated 18 million Americans are invested in cryptocurrency, according to the Federal Reserve. And the United States just elected a pro-crypto president.

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have become a trendy digital...

Read more: Crypto is soaring after Trump’s election − but is it a good ethical investment?

Red flag laws are still used in Colorado’s Second Amendment sanctuaries, just less frequently

  • Written by Christopher Knoepke, Assistant Professor of Cardiology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Over a three-year period beginning in 2021, 353 petitions were filed under Colorado’s red flag law, and 39% of those petitions led to firearms being relinquished, according to research our group published in Preventive Medicine Reports.

Red flag laws are also known as extreme risk protection orders. These orders temporarily bar individuals...

Read more: Red flag laws are still used in Colorado’s Second Amendment sanctuaries, just less frequently

Americans agree more than they might think − not knowing this jeopardizes the nation’s shared values

  • Written by Lawrence Torcello, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology
imageAmericans could work together to achieve shared values.Fotografía de eLuVe/Moment via Getty Images

The United States presents a paradox: Though the media and public opinion suggest it is a nation deeply divided along partisan lines, surveys reveal that Americans share significant common ground on many core values and political issues.

As a pol...

Read more: Americans agree more than they might think − not knowing this jeopardizes the nation’s shared values

Doctor’s bills often come with sticker shock for patients − but health insurance could be reinvented to provide costs upfront

  • Written by Michal Horný, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, UMass Amherst
imageThe price of the doctor's visit you calculated online might not reflect what you'll actually be billed.CSA Images/Getty Images

You have scheduled an appointment with a health care provider, but no matter how hard you try, no one seems to be able to reliably tell you how much that visit will cost you. Will you have to pay US$20, $1,000 – or...

Read more: Doctor’s bills often come with sticker shock for patients − but health insurance could be...

Grantland Rice, the Four Horsemen and the blowout that never was

  • Written by Stephen Brauer, Visiting Associate Professor of English, University of Richmond

The Nov. 23, 2024, college football contest between Army and Notre Dame will fittingly take place exactly 100 years after the two storied programs met at New York City’s Polo Grounds – a clash many sports fans recall because of the dramatic column that sportswriter Grantland Rice published the next day.

In his opening paragraph, Rice...

Read more: Grantland Rice, the Four Horsemen and the blowout that never was

More Articles ...

  1. Public health surveillance, from social media to sewage, spots disease outbreaks early to stop them fast
  2. Fast fashion may seem cheap, but it’s taking a costly toll on the planet − and on millions of young customers
  3. What would it mean if President-elect Trump dismantled the US Department of Education?
  4. Atmospheric river meets bomb cyclone: The result is like a fire hose flailing out of control
  5. When an atmospheric river meets a bomb cyclone, it’s like a fire hose flailing out of control along the West Coast
  6. ‘For the very first time I really enjoyed sex!’ − how lesbian escort agencies became a form of self-care in Japan
  7. Transplanting insulin-making cells to treat Type 1 diabetes is challenging − but stem cells offer a potential improvement
  8. Should I worry about mold growing in my home?
  9. Young families are leaving many large US cities − here’s why that matters
  10. 3 strategies to help Americans bridge the deepening partisan divide
  11. 75 years ago, Maria Tallchief made the ballet world reimagine itself and find a place for a Native American prima ballerina
  12. Blurry, morphing and surreal – a new AI aesthetic is emerging in film
  13. Companies are still committing to net-zero emissions, even if it’s a bumpy road – here’s what the data show
  14. Legal complications await if OpenAI tries to shake off control by the nonprofit that owns the rapidly growing tech company
  15. Trump’s agenda will face hurdles in Congress, despite the Republican ‘trifecta’ of winning the House, Senate and White House
  16. Why does the Senate confirm Trump’s picks for key posts — and how? A legal scholar explains the confirmation process and the ‘constitutional loophole’ of recess appointments
  17. An 83-year-old short story by Borges portends a bleak future for the internet
  18. Carbon offsets can help bring energy efficiency to low-income Americans − our Nashville data shows it could be a win for everyone
  19. Workplace diversity training programs are everywhere, but their effectiveness varies widely
  20. Black entrepreneurs are often shut out from capital, but here’s how some are removing barriers
  21. Climate change is encouraging unsanitary toilet practices among vulnerable communities
  22. Rethinking screen time: A better understanding of what people do on their devices is key to digital well-being
  23. The ‘Death Mother’: Horror’s most unnerving villain
  24. What Ukraine can now do with longer-range US missiles − and how that could affect the course of the war
  25. Trump’s criminal conviction won’t stop him from getting security clearance as president
  26. Americans face an insurability crisis as climate change worsens disasters – a look at how insurance companies set rates and coverage
  27. Robo price-fixing: Why the Justice Department is suing a software company to stop landlords colluding on rents
  28. From using plant rinds to high-tech materials, bike helmets have improved significantly over the past 2 centuries
  29. Why school police officers may not be the most effective way to prevent violence
  30. Philadelphia students have a new reading and writing curriculum − a literacy expert explains what’s changing
  31. Donor-advised funds are drawing a lot of assets besides cash – taking a bigger bite out of tax revenue than other kinds of charitable giving
  32. Why do I feel better when I wake myself up instead of relying on an alarm? A neurologist explains the science of a restful night’s sleep
  33. Dorothy Allison was an authentic voice for the poor, capturing the beauty, humor and pain of working-class life in America
  34. Populist podcasters love RFK, Jr., and he took the same left-right turn toward Trump as they did
  35. Better but not stellar: Pollsters faced familiar complaints, difficulties in assessing Trump-Harris race
  36. Campus diversity is becoming difficult to measure as students keep their race and ethnicity hidden on college applications
  37. Saltwater flooding is a serious fire threat for EVs and other devices with lithium-ion batteries
  38. Knee problems tend to flare up as you age – an orthopedic specialist explains available treatment options
  39. As the Taurid meteor shower passes by Earth, pseudoscience rains down – and obscures a potential real threat from space
  40. Get chronic UTIs? Future treatments may add more bacteria to your bladder to beat back harmful microbes
  41. Indonesia president’s diplomatic dash takes in China and US − but a Trump presidency may see the aspiring regional powerhouse tilt more toward Beijing
  42. Untreated sewage and fertilizer runoff threaten the Florida manatee’s main food source, contributing to malnutrition
  43. Campuses are ground zero in debates about antisemitism − but that’s been true for 100 years
  44. Republican lawmakers will reshape tax policy in 2025 — a tax expert explains what to expect
  45. 3 innovative ways to help countries hit by climate disasters, beyond a loss and damage fund
  46. Hundreds of 19th-century skulls collected in the name of medical science tell a story of who mattered and who didn’t
  47. Federal judge rules that Louisiana shalt not require public schools to post the Ten Commandments
  48. Poor teacher training partly to blame for stalled engineering diversity goals
  49. Asking ChatGPT vs Googling: Can AI chatbots boost human creativity?
  50. Brain-training games remain unproven, but research shows what sorts of activities do benefit cognitive functioning