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Lower-cost space missions like NASA’s ESCAPADE are starting to deliver exciting science – but at a price in risk and trade‑offs

  • Written by Ari Koeppel, Earth Sciences Postdoctoral Scientist and Adjunct Associate, Dartmouth College
imageThis artist's rendering shows the ESCAPADE probes near Mars.NASA

After a yearslong series of setbacks, NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or ESCAPADE, mission has finally begun its roundabout journey to Mars.

Launched on Nov. 13, 2025, aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, ESCAPADE’s twin probes will...

Read more: Lower-cost space missions like NASA’s ESCAPADE are starting to deliver exciting science – but at a...

PFAS in pregnant women’s drinking water puts their babies at higher risk, study finds

  • Written by Derek Lemoine, Professor of Economics, University of Arizona
imageStudies show PFAS can be harmful to human health, including pregnant women and their fetuses.Olga Rolenko/Moment via Getty Images

When pregnant women drink water that comes from wells downstream of sites contaminated with PFAS, known as “forever chemicals,” the risks to their babies’ health substantially increase, a new study...

Read more: PFAS in pregnant women’s drinking water puts their babies at higher risk, study finds

Health insurance premiums rose nearly 3x the rate of worker earnings over the past 25 years

  • Written by Vivian Ho, Professor and Chair of Health Economics, Rice University
imagePatients and employers are feeling the pain of increased health premiums.wildpixel/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Health insurance premiums in the U.S. significantly increased between 1999 and 2024, outpacing the rate of worker earnings by three times, according to our newly published research in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Premiums can rise if the...

Read more: Health insurance premiums rose nearly 3x the rate of worker earnings over the past 25 years

Merry Jewish Christmas: How Chinese food and the movies became a time-honored tradition for American Jews

  • Written by Samira Mehta, Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies & Jewish Studies, University of Colorado Boulder
imageChinese food has become a staple of many Jewish Americans' traditions each Dec. 25.Christina Horsten/picture alliance via Getty Images

There is a meme that circulates every holiday season, an image of a sign in a restaurant window. “The Chinese Restaurant Association of the United States would like to extend our thanks to the Jewish...

Read more: Merry Jewish Christmas: How Chinese food and the movies became a time-honored tradition for...

Are sanctuary policing policies no more than a public relations facade?

  • Written by Nick Lehr, Senior Arts + Culture Editor, The Conversation
imageFederal agents in military fatigues chat with Chicago police officers in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood on Oct. 4, 2025, after federal agents shot a woman during a confrontation.Joshua Lott/The Washington Post via Getty Images

In early 2025, in an effort to facilitate its deportation goals, the Trump administration entered into hundreds of...

Read more: Are sanctuary policing policies no more than a public relations facade?

How keeping down borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans is built into the Fed’s ‘dual mandate’

  • Written by Arabinda Basistha, Associate Professor of Economics, West Virginia University
imageHome borrowing costs, like other long-term rates, are not directly controlled by the Fed – but they still feel its influence.athima tongloom/Moment via Getty Images

What’s the point of monetary policy?

For most of us, the main impact tends to be how much we have to pay to borrow to buy a house or car. But for the Federal Reserve, the...

Read more: How keeping down borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans is built into the Fed’s ‘dual...

Netflix-Warner deal would drive streaming market further down the road of ‘Big 3’ domination

  • Written by David R. King, Higdon Professor of Management, Florida State University
imageNetflix's Hollywood studio offices at Sunset Bronson Studios in Los Angeles.Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images

When it comes to major U.S. industries, three tends to be the magic number.

Historically, auto manufacturing was long dominated by Chrysler, Ford and General Motors – the so-called “Big Three,” which at one point...

Read more: Netflix-Warner deal would drive streaming market further down the road of ‘Big 3’ domination

What 38 million obituaries reveal about how Americans define a ‘life well lived’

  • Written by Stylianos Syropoulos, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University
imageObituaries provide a window into the prevailing traditions and moral values of their time.alexmillos/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Obituaries preserve what families most want remembered about the people they cherish most. Across time, they also reveal the values each era chose to honor.

In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National...

Read more: What 38 million obituaries reveal about how Americans define a ‘life well lived’

Florida’s new reporting system is shining a light on human trafficking in the Sunshine State

  • Written by Shelly M. Wagers, Associate Professor of Criminology, University of South Florida
imageHuman trafficking can be hard to track because it is a crime that hides in plain sight.Mireya Acierto/Photodisc via Getty Images

Most Americans imagine human trafficking as a violent kidnapping or a “stranger danger” crime – someone abducted from a parking lot or trapped in a shipping container brought in from another country.

In...

Read more: Florida’s new reporting system is shining a light on human trafficking in the Sunshine State

What does it mean to be a new national park? Ocmulgee Mounds in Georgia may soon find out

  • Written by Seth T. Kannarr, Ph.D. Candidate in Geography, University of Tennessee
imageEarth Lodge at Ocmulgee Mounds shows an example of earthworks that are over 1,000 years old.Skhamse1 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Ocmulgee Mounds, a site in central Georgia with 12,000 years of Indigenous history, may be on the verge of becoming the newest U.S. national park. This is the flagship designation of the National Park Service system,...

Read more: What does it mean to be a new national park? Ocmulgee Mounds in Georgia may soon find out

More Articles ...

  1. The law meets its limits – what ‘Nuremberg’ reveals about guilt, evil and the quest for global justice
  2. Why can’t I wiggle my toes one at a time, like my fingers?
  3. Putting pig organs in people is OK in the US, but growing human organs in pigs is not – why is that?
  4. From evil to upheaval and beyond: How the ‘axis’ metaphor shaped modern geopolitics
  5. Supreme Court’s decision on birthright citizenship will depend on its interpretation of one key phrase
  6. Vaccine committee votes to scrap universal hepatitis B shots for newborns despite outcry from children’s health experts
  7. 3 states are challenging precedent against posting the Ten Commandments in public schools – cases that could land back at the Supreme Court
  8. A culinary educator and local dining expert breaks down Michelin’s debut Philly list − and gives zero stars to the inspectors
  9. Girls and boys solve math problems differently – with similar short-term results but different long-term outcomes
  10. 2025’s words of the year reflect a year of digital disillusionment
  11. Buying a gift for a loved one with cancer? Here’s why you should skip the fuzzy socks and give them meals or help with laundry instead
  12. Far-right extremists have been organizing online since before the internet – and AI is their next frontier
  13. ‘Yes’ to God, but ‘no’ to church – what religious change looks like for many Latin Americans
  14. Hope and hardship have driven Syrian refugee returns – but many head back to destroyed homes, land disputes
  15. Pete Hegseth could be investigated for illegal orders by 5 different bodies – but none are likely to lead to charges
  16. Measuring Colorado’s mountains one hike at a time
  17. Tired of the same old Christmas songs? So were these countercultural carolers
  18. Meditating on the connectedness of life could help reunite a divided country – here’s how ‘interbeing’ works
  19. Down-ranking polarizing content lowers emotional temperature on social media – new research
  20. Most normal matter in the universe isn’t found in planets, stars or galaxies – an astronomer explains where it’s distributed
  21. Facing myriad global pressures, Iran intensifies outreach to African partners for critical needs
  22. People who talk with their hands seem more clear and persuasive – new research
  23. Declaration of Independence’s promises ring out today as loudly as they did for Lincoln, FDR and through 249 years of US history
  24. Everything everywhere all at once: How Zohran Mamdani campaigned both online and with a ground game
  25. The housing crisis is forcing Americans to choose between affordability and safety
  26. FDA claims on COVID-19 vaccine safety are unsupported by reliable data – and could severely hinder vaccine access
  27. The marketing genius of Spotify Wrapped
  28. Lasting peace in Ukraine may hinge on independent monitors – yet Trump’s 28-point plan barely mentions them
  29. A hard year for federal workers offers a real-time lesson in resilience
  30. Why one 16th-century theologian’s advice for a bitterly divided nation holds true today
  31. What are small modular reactors, a new type of nuclear power plant sought to feed AI’s energy demand?
  32. Google’s proposed data center in orbit will face issues with space debris in an already crowded orbit
  33. Yes, the government can track your location – but usually not by spying on you directly
  34. Federal funding cuts are only one problem facing America’s colleges and universities
  35. Labeling dissent as terrorism: New US domestic terrorism priorities raise constitutional alarms
  36. Empathy and reasoning aren’t rivals – new research shows they work together to drive people to help more
  37. Flat Earth, spirits and conspiracy theories – experience can shape even extraordinary beliefs
  38. Planning life after high school isn’t easy – 4 tips to help students and families navigate the process
  39. Why do family companies even exist? They know how to ‘win without fighting’
  40. Larry Summers’ sexism is jeopardizing his power and privilege, but the entire economics profession hinders progress for women
  41. Sugar starts corroding your teeth within seconds – here’s how to protect your pearly whites from decay
  42. Google plans to power a new data center with fossil fuels, yet release almost no emissions – here’s how its carbon capture tech works
  43. High-speed rail moves millions throughout the world every day – but in the US, high cost and low use make its future bumpy
  44. Ranked choice voting outperforms the winner-take-all system used to elect nearly every US politician
  45. Why protecting Colorado children from dying of domestic violence is such a hard problem
  46. We are hardwired to sing − and it’s good for us, too
  47. Winter storms blanket the East, while the U.S. West is wondering: Where’s the snow?
  48. Winter storms blanket the East, while the US West is wondering: Where’s the snow?
  49. Stalin’s postwar terror targeted Soviet Jews – in the name of ‘anti-cosmopolitanism’
  50. Rural high school students are more likely than city kids to get their diplomas, but they remain less likely to go to college