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The costume maker who convinced Hersheypark to embrace candy mascots and ‘chocolatize’ their old-timey theme park

  • Written by John Haddad, Professor of American Studies, Penn State
imageThe park, with its name originally two words, Hershey Park, opened in the early 1900s when Milton Hershey built it for his chocolate factory workers and their families.Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

A theme park has to have an identity. If you want to know the two things that Hersheypark does especially well, just approach the entrance.

There you will...

Read more: The costume maker who convinced Hersheypark to embrace candy mascots and ‘chocolatize’ their...

Pam Bondi’s extreme political loyalty to Trump wasn’t enough to save her job

  • Written by Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College
imagePresident Donald Trump participates in a roundtable discussion in Memphis, Tenn., with Attorney General Pam Bondi on March 23, 2026.AP Photo/Bruce Newman

After President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 2, 2026, news reports suggested that she fell from grace, not for being too independent, but for not being effective enough...

Read more: Pam Bondi’s extreme political loyalty to Trump wasn’t enough to save her job

Iran’s president appeals to Americans − but does his office still hold any real power?

  • Written by Roxane Razavi, Visiting scholar in contemporary Middle Eastern history, Princeton University
imageIranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Quds Day march in Tehran on March 13, 2026. Hassan Ghaedi/Anadolu via Getty Images

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian penned an open letter to “the people of the United States” on April 1, 2026, in which he implored Americans to “look beyond” misinformation that portrayed Iran...

Read more: Iran’s president appeals to Americans − but does his office still hold any real power?

The nonprofit status of NCAA athletic departments is starting to raise questions

  • Written by Andrew Urbaczewski, Professor of Business Information and Analytics, University of Denver
imageUniversity of Michigan star forward Yaxel Lendeborg revealed that he'd been offered millions of dollars to transfer to another school.Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

With all the talk of busted brackets, game-winning shots, point spreads and Cinderellas, it was easy to miss the eye-popping offer University of Michigan star forward Yaxel Lendeborg...

Read more: The nonprofit status of NCAA athletic departments is starting to raise questions

Kratom poisonings surged 1,200% over the past decade, and regulators are struggling to keep up with the dangers

  • Written by Andrew Kolodny, Medical Director of Opioid Policy Research, Brandeis University
imageKratom powder is produced by the plant Mitragyna speciosa.iStock via Getty Images Plus

Proposals to ban or regulate kratom, a plant-based substance sold in gas stations, convenience stores and vape shops, are making headlines in local newspapers across the United States. But as lawmakers debate whether to regulate or ban kratom, public health...

Read more: Kratom poisonings surged 1,200% over the past decade, and regulators are struggling to keep up...

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

  • Written by Brad Badertscher, Professor of Accountancy, University of Notre Dame
imageSpaceX is among the many companies that hope their initial public offerings take off. AP Photo/John Raoux

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is expected to soon become a public company in what may be the biggest initial public offering in history. But my new research suggests that investors who buy shares of the company are unlikely to see the explosive...

Read more: SpaceX and OpenAI IPOs are unlikely to bring skyrocketing returns that Amazon and Apple did, as...

For adults with ADHD – or even those with just some symptoms – using smart strategies to start and complete tasks can make all the difference

  • Written by Laura E. Knouse, Professor of Psychology, University of Richmond
imageTake time to identify the goals that are most important to you.Luis Alvarez/DigitalVision via Getty

Do you ever find yourself at the end of a nonstop day feeling like you haven’t made progress on the things that are actually important to you? If so, you’re not alone.

If you are a person with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or...

Read more: For adults with ADHD – or even those with just some symptoms – using smart strategies to start and...

MLB doubles down on gambling with new Polymarket deal

  • Written by Michael Delayo, Ph.D. Candidate in Communication Arts and Sciences, Penn State
imageMLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has reversed his predecessors’ zero-tolerance stance toward gambling.Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images

MLB’s past few seasons have been plagued by a spate of gambling scandals.

In April 2024, authorities arrested Ippei Muzihara, the interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, on...

Read more: MLB doubles down on gambling with new Polymarket deal

How Iranian hackers pose a threat to US critical infrastructure

  • Written by William Akoto, Assistant Professor of Global Security, American University School of International Service
imageIran has long had sophisticated hacking operations.Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Michigan may be more than 6,000 miles away from the war in Iran, but, virtually speaking, it’s well within striking distance.

An Iran-linked group calling itself Handala claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on Portage, Michigan-based medical device...

Read more: How Iranian hackers pose a threat to US critical infrastructure

Getting $750 a month didn’t end homelessness – but our study shows it still improved the lives of homeless people

  • Written by Benjamin F. Henwood, Professor of Social Policy and Health, University of Southern California
imageThere was no evidence that participants in this experiment squandered the money they received.AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Can giving homeless people US$750 a month to use any way they choose help them move into long-term housing?

I am the director of the University of Southern California Homelessness Policy Research Institute. My research team, in...

Read more: Getting $750 a month didn’t end homelessness – but our study shows it still improved the lives of...

More Articles ...

  1. Irresponsible parental gun ownership could become a factor in custody disputes
  2. Better urban design could help save Florida’s threatened Big Cypress fox squirrel
  3. Bypass the Strait of Hormuz with nuclear explosives? The US studied that in Panama and Colombia in the 1960s
  4. AI’s fluency in other languages hides a Western worldview that can mislead users − a scholar of Indonesian society explains
  5. 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
  6. Trump risks falling in to the ‘asymmetric resolve’ trap in Iran − just as presidents before him did elsewhere
  7. Why Iran targeted Amazon data centers and what that does – and doesn’t – change about warfare
  8. The Department of Justice is suing states for sensitive voter data − an election law scholar explains why federal efforts are facing resistance
  9. Why Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris, won’t stop ‘til she gets enough from his estate
  10. You’re not going to be alone in national parks this summer – enjoy the company
  11. Winter’s alarmingly low snowpack offers a glimpse of the changing rhythm of water in the western US
  12. Federal election observers once played a key role in securing voting rights for all − but times have changed
  13. The NFL draft brings economic gains – and hidden public safety costs
  14. What Detroit can learn from participatory budgeting processes in NYC, Boston and Brazil
  15. Students were skipping my astrophysics class to play video games – so I turned the class itself into a video game
  16. How long young cancer patients survive often depends on the insurance they have
  17. 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
  18. ‘Project Hail Mary’ demonstrates how intellectual humility can be a guiding force for scientists and astronauts
  19. Holocaust survivors in France came home to stolen apartments, looted furniture and bureaucratic hurdles
  20. How California’s war on smog and its ambitious car pollution rules made everyone’s air cleaner
  21. How polling failures, gambling legalization and political gridlock paved the way for the explosive rise of prediction markets
  22. From youth bulges to graying societies: The demographic dynamics that are upending the world
  23. Trump Fed pick Kevin Warsh could shake up the central bank with his ‘family fight’ model
  24. Ticks are the backyard threat southwestern Pennsylvania homeowners keep ignoring
  25. Benefits of mindfulness meditation go far beyond relaxation – here’s what it is and how to practice it
  26. Artemis II’s long countdown – a space historian explains why it has taken over 50 years to return to the Moon
  27. How sea mines threaten global trade, and how navies detect them
  28. Decades of hostility between Iran and the US were preceded by a little-remembered century-long friendship
  29. 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
  30. 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
  31. Are multiverses real? An astrophysicist explains why it depends on how you define ‘real’
  32. Panicking scientists, canceled experiments – federal funding cuts turned my work as a research dean into crisis management
  33. Sex test used in IOC’s new transgender ban more likely to exclude from Olympics intersex women who were assigned female at birth
  34. Shiite grief over attacks on Iran’s sacred cities has deep historical roots
  35. We analyzed Philly street scenes and identified signs of gentrification using machine learning trained on longtime residents’ observations
  36. Trump’s ‘God Squad’ pits energy vs. endangered species, but it’s a false choice – protecting wildlife can be good for business
  37. COVID-19 variant BA.3.2 is spreading quickly across US – a doctor explains what you need to know
  38. Ultralightweight sonar plus AI lets tiny drones navigate like bats
  39. What Americans can learn from other civil activism movements against authoritarian regimes
  40. War on Iran during nuclear negotiations undermines the US’s ability to talk peace around the world − and the effects won’t end when Trump leaves office
  41. From ‘Project Hail Mary’ to Artemis II, spaceflight captures audiences when it centers on people because human space travel is hazardous
  42. New study measures titanium in Apollo rock to uncover Moon’s early chemistry
  43. How a diplomatic snub evokes the complicated US-Brazil relationship in the second Trump era
  44. American politicians talk about persecuted Christians abroad – but here’s what happens when those Christians migrate to the US
  45. Why do some people treat the Magic Kingdom and Disney adults like cultural abominations?
  46. Birutė Galdikas: The last of the ‘angels’ in primatology’s most extraordinary chapter
  47. Birutė Galdikas: The last of ‘Leakey’s Angels’ in primatology’s most extraordinary chapter
  48. War in the Middle East made the case for renewables – what’s happening in each country tells a harder story
  49. Cameras have quietly appeared in thousands of US cities – now, their integration with AI is sounding alarms
  50. Two verdicts in two days: How American courts are rewriting the rules for Big Tech and children