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Why Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon prayer services challenge traditional notions of separation of church and state – but might be blessed by the Roberts Supreme Court

  • Written by John E. Jones III, President, Dickinson College
imageThe wall between church and state appears increasingly thin.hayesphotography/iStock Getty Images Plus

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is engaging in “a proselytizing Christian campaign” in his job, according to The Washington Post.

Hegseth hosts prayer services at the Pentagon and virtually crusades as a Christian, praying at the...

Read more: Why Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon prayer services challenge traditional notions of separation of church...

Thousands of AI-written, edited or ‘polished’ books are being sold – an eerie echo of Orwell’s ‘novel-writing machines’

  • Written by Laura Beers, Professor of History, American University
imageWhen it comes to machine-produced 'literature,' does it really matter whether the outputs can pass for original art?J Studios/Digital Vision via Getty Images

At some point in the next several months, I am hoping to receive a modest check as a member of the class covered in the class-action settlement Bartz v. Anthropic.

In 2025, the artificial...

Read more: Thousands of AI-written, edited or ‘polished’ books are being sold – an eerie echo of Orwell’s...

Strait of Hormuz: Why the US and Iran are sailing in very different legal waters

  • Written by Elizabeth Mendenhall, Associate Professor of Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island
imageA vessel heads toward the Strait of Hormuz on April 8, 2026.Shady Alassar/Anadolu via Getty Images

The Strait of Hormuz exists in the eye of the beholder.

While everyone agrees that, geographically speaking, it is a strait – a narrow sea passage connecting two places that ships want to go – its political and legal status is rather more...

Read more: Strait of Hormuz: Why the US and Iran are sailing in very different legal waters

The Islamabad talks were doomed to failure – and Hormuz blockade has thrown another obstacle to any Iran-US deal

  • Written by Farah N. Jan, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Pennsylvania
imageU.S. Vice President JD Vance leaves Islamabad on April 12, 2026. Jacquelyn Martin - Pool/Getty ImagesJacquelyn Martin/Getty Images

Twenty-one hours of direct negotiations. The highest-level face-to-face engagement between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

And yet, U.S. Vice President JD Vance boarded Air Force Two in Islamabad...

Read more: The Islamabad talks were doomed to failure – and Hormuz blockade has thrown another obstacle to...

AI companions can give constant support – but distort ideas about what a relationship really is

  • Written by Oluwaseun Damilola Sanwoolu, Ph.D. Candidate in Philosophy, University of Kansas
imageHuman love is valuable precisely because it's limited – we can't be everything to everyone all the time.Maria Korneeva/Moment via Getty Images

When the movie “Her” debuted in 2013, its plot felt like science fiction. The protagonist, Theodore, is a jaded man with no vigor for life. He comes alive after talking daily with his...

Read more: AI companions can give constant support – but distort ideas about what a relationship really is

Antibiotics can trigger bacteria to release bubbles of inflammation tinder, making it harder to treat infection

  • Written by Panteha Torabian, Ph.D. Candidate in Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology
image_E. coli_ is mostly harmless and sometimes beneficial – but some strains can cause serious infection.Photo by Eric Erbe, Colorization by Christopher Pooley/USDA ARS

Antibiotics are designed to kill harmful bacteria and help the body recover from infection. But some antibiotics may also push bacteria to release tiny particles that can make...

Read more: Antibiotics can trigger bacteria to release bubbles of inflammation tinder, making it harder to...

How debate about gender identity could undermine global efforts to protect victims of violence

  • Written by Jenna Norosky, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University, State University of New York
imageA transgender woman takes part in an International Day For The Elimination Of Violence Against Women demonstration in El Salvador on Nov. 25, 2019.Camilo Freedman/APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images)

Aided by the Trump administration, debate over gender identity has gone from being a touchstone of domestic culture wars to infiltrating the work of...

Read more: How debate about gender identity could undermine global efforts to protect victims of violence

A justice department opinion arguing the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional could revert the nation to a time when presidents freely burned their papers

  • Written by Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College
imageAt least one past president burned his papers.Stephen Hyun/Getty Images

Prior to 1978, U.S. presidents could do what they pleased with the records from their time in office. They owned them.

But in 1978, the Presidential Records Act established new rules for the official records of a president. Passed in the wake of Watergate, when President Richard...

Read more: A justice department opinion arguing the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional could revert...

What if Texas’ destructive Tax Day flood had centered on inner Houston instead? It’s why cities should plan for the improbable

  • Written by James R. Elliott, Professor of Sociology, Rice University
imageA couple battle floodwaters as they evacuate their Houston apartment complex on April 18, 2016.AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Ten years ago, the infamous Tax Day storm swamped the Houston area with off-the-charts rainfall. Nearly 2 feet of rain fell in less than 15 hours in parts of the region, starting on April 17, 2016. The rain flooded thousands of...

Read more: What if Texas’ destructive Tax Day flood had centered on inner Houston instead? It’s why cities...

New federal figures reveal 1 in 3 US households struggle to pay energy bills, but the reality is likely even worse

  • Written by Diana Hernández, Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University
imageEnergy costs are hitting more American households harder than in past years.Olga Rolenko/Moment via Getty Images

Americans’ concerns about being able to afford electricity and home heating fuel are elevated since the beginning of the Iran war. But newly released nationwide data shows that even before the war began, these concerns were...

Read more: New federal figures reveal 1 in 3 US households struggle to pay energy bills, but the reality is...

More Articles ...

  1. Using atomic nuclei could allow scientists to read time more precisely than ever – what this research could mean for future clocks
  2. What if Texas’ destructive Tax Day storm had centered on inner Houston instead? It’s why cities should plan for the improbable
  3. Industries most exposed to AI are not only seeing productivity gains but jobs and wage growth too
  4. Why rural hospitals in Pennsylvania and across the country are closing in increasing numbers – 5 myths about rural health care
  5. Trump’s exchange with Pope Leo reflects deep-rooted tensions between the Vatican and the United States: 4 essential reads
  6. How a new mapping tool helps Florida planners protect wildlife corridors as the state grows
  7. Cannabis legalization spurs innovation, but not always in ways that benefit patients or public health
  8. AIs have ‘personalities’ – here’s how they affect you more deeply than you may realize
  9. Artemis II crew brought a human eye and storytelling vision to the photos they took on their mission
  10. ‘Bouncing back’ is a myth – resilience means integrating hard experiences into your life story, not ignoring them
  11. 25 million people lost Medicaid after the COVID-19 pandemic — and state policies shaped who stayed covered
  12. Gray whales are dying in San Francisco Bay at an alarming rate – this isn’t normal
  13. The enduring legacy of medieval Christian depictions of Islam in today’s political discourse
  14. District school boards have become political hotbeds for book bans and more – here’s what they actually do
  15. 4 ways the war in Iran has weakened the United States in the great power game
  16. Artemis II crew used modern photography to tell the visual story of their lunar journey – and update some classic Apollo images
  17. Artemis II moonshot reflects a spacefaring vision present in Jules Verne’s 19th-century novel
  18. US ceasefire with Iran: What’s next? A former diplomat explains 3 possible scenarios
  19. In his efforts to remake federal architecture, Trump repudiates the ‘republican ideals’ that have long informed it
  20. I found a new meteor shower, and it comes from an asteroid getting broken down by the Sun
  21. As a philosopher, I’m convinced that Trump isn’t lying − he’s doing something worse
  22. Doctors can refuse to treat LGBTQ+ patients in several states – these religious exemption laws lead to drops in HIV testing
  23. Tobacco is still one of the world’s top killers – here are the key obstacles to enacting generational smoking bans
  24. What declining vaccination rates mean for families in Allegheny County – where 1 in 3 kindergarten classrooms lack herd immunity for measles
  25. Health care sticker shock has become the norm, but talking to your doctor about costs can help you rein it in
  26. After ceasefire, negotiating a lasting deal with Iran would require overcoming regional rivalries and strategic incoherence
  27. 80 years later, scholarship is breaking silence on women’s suffering and strength at Treblinka – including their role in its uprising
  28. It’s OK to love all the bees (the honey bees, too)
  29. We collected data on how 779 Michigan school districts are regulating student cellphones − here are the trends
  30. AI can design and run thousands of lab experiments without human hands. Humanity isn’t ready for the new risks this brings to biology
  31. Psilocybin mushrooms are going mainstream, but scientific research and regulation lag behind
  32. What a Chinese crackdown on corruption meant for Beijing’s high-end restaurant market
  33. Standards-based grading offers a different model of assessing student learning in the classroom
  34. Trump administration’s lawsuits against Harvard and UCLA have roots in a decades-old fight over civil rights law
  35. Pope Leo XIV’s Africa journey: How each stop reflects his message of peace
  36. The good life requires two things, self-knowledge and friends – you can’t have one without the other
  37. Israeli threats to occupy or annex south Lebanon dust off a decades-old playbook
  38. Presidential words can turn the unthinkable into the thinkable − for better or for worse
  39. Philadelphia’s 40-year history of protecting undocumented immigrants began with churches hiding refugees from El Salvador
  40. Mutual aid and self-sufficiency are key to life near USSR’s contaminated nuclear test zone in Kazakhstan
  41. City animals act in the same brazen ways around the world
  42. Water conservation works, but climate change is outpacing it: Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas offer a glimpse of the future
  43. From a vaccine mascot to business leadership, lessons for the US from Brazil’s public health system in building public trust and keeping it
  44. Why Americans are buying $22 smoothies despite feeling terrible about the economy
  45. When a president is unfit for office, here’s what the Constitution says can happen
  46. Why the Persian Gulf has more oil and gas than anywhere else on Earth
  47. ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! Speedy Gonzales set to make his triumphant return to the silver screen
  48. Hosting the NFL draft is less about weekend beer sales and more about long-term brand value
  49. Israel’s death penalty law has little to do with criminal justice and everything to do with ethno-nationalism
  50. 1776’s Declaration of Independence inspired Washington’s troops to fight against the odds – and also helped bring in powerful allies