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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

  • Written by Fred L. Pincus, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
imageOnly three universities agreed to the higher education compact, which offered benefits in federal funding in exchange for major policy and administrative changes at schools. Alina Naumova/iStock/Getty Images Plus

In October 2025, the Trump administration made a controversial proposal to nine major colleges and universities, including Dartmouth...

Read more: Trump offered a restrictive deal to universities that almost all rejected – but the Compact for...

How does Iran go about selecting a new supreme leader? And who is in the running?

  • Written by Eric Lob, Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University

The killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28, 2026, set off the process of selecting a new supreme leader. It is only the second such transition in the Islamic Republic’s 47-year history and the first since the ailing Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini transferred power to Khamenei in June 1989.

As stipulated in Article 111 of the Iranian...

Read more: How does Iran go about selecting a new supreme leader? And who is in the running?

Persian Gulf desalination plants could become military targets in regional war

  • Written by Michael Christopher Low, Associate Professor of History; Director, Middle East Center, University of Utah
imageThe Ras al-Khair water desalination plant in eastern Saudi Arabia is just one of many along the Persian Gulf coast.Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf region use the fossil fuels under their desert lands not only to make money, but also to make drinking water. The...

Read more: Persian Gulf desalination plants could become military targets in regional war

Researchers are combining drones and AI to make removing land mines faster and safer

  • Written by Sagar Lekhak, Ph.D. Student in Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology
imageUkraine is just one of many conflict zones contaminated by land mines.Maksym Kishka/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

At least 57 nations have live antipersonnel land mines in their territories. In 2024 alone, 1,945 people were killed by mines and 4,325 were injured, 90% of whom were civilians. Nearly half of those were children. Demining...

Read more: Researchers are combining drones and AI to make removing land mines faster and safer

Why are some stars always visible while others come and go with the seasons?

  • Written by Vahe Peroomian, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
imageStars near the north celestial pole circle the North Star, Polaris. Photographed in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, Calif. Vahé Peroomian

As a space scientist, every time I go outside with my family, I tell my children to look up at the sky. The front door of our home looks southeast, and on winter nights the constellation Orion hangs...

Read more: Why are some stars always visible while others come and go with the seasons?

How Denver’s Northeast Park Hill community reduced youth violence by 75%

  • Written by Beverly Kingston, Director and Senior Research Associate, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, University of Colorado Boulder
imageThe neighborhood had nearly double the youth arrest rate of the other 76 Denver neighborhoods combined.Royalty-free/Getty Images

Northeast Park Hill, a Denver neighborhood, has a long history of violence. During Denver’s summer of violence in the early 1990s, it was considered ground zero for gang conflict.

From the late 1990s through 2014,...

Read more: How Denver’s Northeast Park Hill community reduced youth violence by 75%

Operational secrecy kept the US from making evacuation plans – and that means Americans in the Mideast could wait days

  • Written by Donald Heflin, Executive Director of the Edward R. Murrow Center and Senior Fellow of Diplomatic Practice, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
imageCanceled flights due to the Iran war have made it difficult for Americans to leave countries in the Middle East.Marcin Golba/NurPhoto via Getty Images

As the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, American citizens living in or visiting the Middle East found themselves stranded in countries facing bombing attacks by Iran. The State Department on...

Read more: Operational secrecy kept the US from making evacuation plans – and that means Americans in the...

Billions of dollars, decades of progress spent eliminating devastating diseases may be lost with undoing of USAID

  • Written by Sarah Greene, Instructor in Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases, Washington University in St. Louis
imageThe parasites that cause river blindness and elephantitis have been afflicting people for centuries. Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images

In Greek mythology, King Sisyphus was condemned by the god Zeus to spend eternity rolling a boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down, having to start anew every day.

His story captured our attentionas...

Read more: Billions of dollars, decades of progress spent eliminating devastating diseases may be lost with...

We designed an AI tutor that helps college students reason rather than give them answers

  • Written by Saharnaz Babaei-Balderlou, Teaching Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
imageIf prompted, an AI tool can be tailored to help students think through their own reasoning rather than just feed them answers. Issarawat Tattong/iStock/Getty Images

Students using AI to cheat on homework or tests is a source of much discussion. But some scholars argue the greater risk of students using AI is that they will simply not learn.

Approxi...

Read more: We designed an AI tutor that helps college students reason rather than give them answers

Nearly a third of Pennsylvania gamblers are at risk of problem gambling − but few seek treatment

  • Written by Gillian Russell, Assistant Research Professor, Penn State
imagePennsylvania legalized online gambling in 2017.Tatiana Maksimova/Moment Collection via Getty Images

Nearly three times as many Pennsylvania adults gamble online today than just a few years ago.

And as online platforms make gambling easier and more convenient, some Pennsylvanians are gambling more often and may be more prone to developing problems.

We...

Read more: Nearly a third of Pennsylvania gamblers are at risk of problem gambling − but few seek treatment

More Articles ...

  1. 2025 was hotter than it should have been – 5 influences and a dirty surprise offer clues to what’s ahead
  2. GLP-1 drugs may fight addiction across every major substance, according to a study of 600,000 people
  3. Hezbollah − degraded, weakened but not yet disarmed − destabilizes Lebanon once again
  4. When unpaid cooking, cleaning and child care get a dollar value, income inequality in the US shrinks – but the gap has grown since 1965
  5. Trauma patients recover faster when medical teams know each other well, new study finds
  6. Housing First helps people find permanent homes in Detroit − but HUD plans to divert funds to short-term solutions
  7. Congress once fought to limit a president’s war powers − more than 50 years later, its successors are less willing to assert their authority
  8. AI and 3D printing help researchers create heat- and pressure-resistant materials for aerospace and defense applications
  9. With Artemis II facing delays, NASA announces big structural changes to the lunar program
  10. I study why zebrafish larva prefer to circle left or right, to understand how and why human brains encode right- and left-handedness
  11. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is having its #MeToo moment
  12. Front lines of humor: Dark humor voices Ukrainians’ hopes for victory
  13. Far from random, China’s global port network is clustering near the world’s riskiest trade routes
  14. CIA agents successfully executed a plan for regime change in Iran in 1953 – but Trump hasn’t revealed any signs of a plan
  15. Public defender shortage is leading to hundreds of criminal cases being dismissed
  16. Welcome to the ‘gray zone’ − home to nefarious international acts that fall short of outright conflict
  17. Stressed out by politics? You’re not imagining it, and research shows that social media is largely to blame
  18. Formerly incarcerated Black men say they’re ‘doing OK’ while trying to cope with depression and PTSD
  19. Are heroes born or made? Role models and training can prepare ordinary people to take heroic action
  20. A Plan B for space? On the risks of concentrating national space power in private hands
  21. The inspiring and tragic story of Mabel Stark, America’s most famous female tiger trainer
  22. Iran’s targeting of airport, ports and hotels in reaction to US strikes has forced Gulf nations onto front lines of a war they want no part in
  23. ‘Destruction is not the same as political success’: US bombing of Iran shows little evidence of endgame strategy
  24. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s killing plays into Shiite Islam’s reverence for martyrs, but not for all Iranians
  25. Why are so many statues naked? An art historian explains this tradition’s ancient roots
  26. What decades of research reveal about involuntary substance use treatment – and why evidence points elsewhere
  27. Free 10-minute online programs aimed at overcoming depression led to real improvements – new research
  28. The nation is missing millions of voters due to lack of rights for former felons
  29. Failure of US-Iran talks was all too predictable — but turning to military strikes creates dangerous unknowns
  30. Kansas revoked transgender people’s IDs overnight – researchers anticipate cascading health and social consequences
  31. Despite massive US attack and death of ayatollah, regime change in Iran is unlikely
  32. Iran will respond to US-Israeli strikes as existential threats to the regime – because they are
  33. Cuba’s speedboat shootout recalls long history of exile groups engaged in covert ops aimed at regime change
  34. Drug company ads are easy to blame for misleading patients and raising costs, but research shows they do help patients get needed treatment
  35. Tiny recording backpacks reveal bats’ surprising hunting strategy
  36. Nanoparticles and artificial intelligence can help researchers detect pollutants in water, soil and blood
  37. Bad Bunny says reggaeton is Puerto Rican, but it was born in Panama
  38. How the Seattle Seahawks’ sale will score a touchdown for charity 8 years after Paul Allen’s death
  39. There aren’t enough geriatricians – here’s how older adults can still get the right care
  40. Former Harvard president Summers’ soft landing after Epstein revelations is case study of economics’ trouble with misbehaving men
  41. Will AI accelerate or undermine the way humans have always innovated?
  42. Fewer new moms are dying in Colorado – naloxone might be one reason why
  43. The apocrypha, Christianity’s ‘hidden’ texts, may not be in the Bible – but they have shaped tradition for centuries
  44. How natural hydrogen, hiding deep in the Earth, could serve as a new energy source
  45. How to prevent elections from being stolen − lessons from around the world for the US
  46. Minneapolis united when federal immigration operations surged – reflecting a long tradition of mutual aid
  47. It’s never too late to learn a language – adults and kids bring different strengths to the task
  48. AI’s growing appetite for power is putting Pennsylvania’s aging electricity grid to the test
  49. Abortion laws show that public policy doesn’t always line up with public opinion
  50. Why US third parties perform best in the Northeast