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Victorian ghost photographs amused viewers with spooky thrills

  • Written by Andrea Kaston Tange, Professor of English, Macalester College
image'The Haunted Lane,' a stereoscope card from L.M. Melander & Bro., 1875. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

October has long been associated with ghosts – from ancient Celtic festivals to ward off restless spirits after harvest time to the modern standby of using an old sheet to make a last-minute Halloween costume. In...

Read more: Victorian ghost photographs amused viewers with spooky thrills

Civilian support for military coups isn’t a bug – it’s a feature

  • Written by Salah Ben Hammou, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Rice University
imageMembers of the Malian junta wave as civilians gather to celebrate the overthrow of the president on Aug. 21, 2020. AP Photo/File

In September 2024, authorities in Benin detained the country’s former sports minister and a prominent businessman for allegedly plotting a coup against the West African nation’s president, Patrice Talon. Had a...

Read more: Civilian support for military coups isn’t a bug – it’s a feature

On Ukraine, candidate Trump touts his role as dealmaker while Harris sticks with unwavering support

  • Written by Lena Surzhko Harned, Associate Teaching Professor of Political Science, Penn State
imageContinued support from the White House for Ukraine could hinge on the presidential election.AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

The U.S. presidential election isn’t drawing eyes only at home – Moscowand Kyiv are watching closely, too.

Regardless of who wins in November, there will be significant implications for Ukraine as it continues to...

Read more: On Ukraine, candidate Trump touts his role as dealmaker while Harris sticks with unwavering support

Don’t panic reading ‘electoral process porn’: There are plenty of safeguards to make sure voters’ wishes are respected

  • Written by Justin Levitt, Professor of Law, Loyola Law School Los Angeles
imageElectoral process porn can make people think their vote will be stolen, so what's the point of voting?Illustration: wildpixel/ iStock / Getty Images Plus

You’ve probably seen them: alarming columns or stories with alarming headlines about how somebody is going to exploit an obscure provision in election law to undo the 2024 presidential...

Read more: Don’t panic reading ‘electoral process porn’: There are plenty of safeguards to make sure voters’...

Nebraska Democrats hope Omaha will be a ‘blue dot’ on the state’s red electoral map − and their lawn sign is a vibe

  • Written by Christina Elizabeth Dando, Professor of Geography, University of Nebraska Omaha

White signs emblazoned with a big blue dot are going up in yards across Omaha, Nebraska, in an unusual political statement of support for Democratic candidates.

Nebraska splits its electoral votes, giving Omaha’s congressional district a single electoral vote out of the state’s total of five. If enough of Omaha’s metropolitan...

Read more: Nebraska Democrats hope Omaha will be a ‘blue dot’ on the state’s red electoral map − and their...

The whip-poor-will has been an omen of death for centuries − what happened to this iconic bird of American horror?

  • Written by Jared Del Rosso, Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminology, University of Denver
imageAn illustration, drawn and engraved, of an eastern whip-poor-will, by Richard Polydore Nodder.Florilegius/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

In one of the most haunting scenes of Stephen King’s 1975 novel “Salem’s Lot,” a gravedigger named Mike Ryerson races to bury the coffin of a local boy named Danny Glick. As night...

Read more: The whip-poor-will has been an omen of death for centuries − what happened to this iconic bird of...

Tim Walz’s candidacy for vice president underscores the political power of teachers

  • Written by Christopher Chambers-Ju, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Texas at Arlington
imageAs a former high school teacher, Tim Walz represents a rarity among politicos. PeopleImages/E+ via Getty Images

On July 25, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to the American Federation of Teachers – the first labor union she addressed after announcing her candidacy for president.

Even though she was speaking to a roomful of teachers,...

Read more: Tim Walz’s candidacy for vice president underscores the political power of teachers

Presidential election could help decide fate of the 70,000 Afghans living temporarily in the US

  • Written by Idean Salehyan, Professor of political science, University of North Texas
imageAfghan evacuees arrive at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., on Aug. 27, 2021. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

The Taliban, an ultraconservative Islamic political group, retook control of Kabul a little more than three years ago, dashing many Afghans’ hopes for a tolerant, democratic government.

As U.S. troops withdrew from...

Read more: Presidential election could help decide fate of the 70,000 Afghans living temporarily in the US

Aurora and Springfield aren’t the first cities to become flash points in US immigration debate − here’s what happened in other places used as political soapboxes

  • Written by Miranda Cady Hallett, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Human Rights Center Research Fellow, University of Dayton

Many Americans had probably never heard of Aurora, Colorado, or Springfield, Ohio, before Donald Trump broadcast his false claims about these cities nationwide late in the 2024 presidential campaign.

First, in September 2024, the Republican presidential nominee claimed in a debate with Kamala Harris that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were stealing and...

Read more: Aurora and Springfield aren’t the first cities to become flash points in US immigration debate −...

Election officials are hard at work to deliver fair, secure and accurate elections – despite a constant flow of attacks

  • Written by Mitchell Brown, Professor of Political Science, Auburn University
imageVoting machines are tested at the Wake County Board of Elections on Sept. 17, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. Allison Joyce/Getty Images

The 2024 election is rife with controversy, from the politics of the campaigns to the politics surrounding the administration of elections. Accusations of wrongdoing and ineptitude continue to plague election officials,...

Read more: Election officials are hard at work to deliver fair, secure and accurate elections – despite a...

More Articles ...

  1. ‘Childless cat ladies’ have long contributed to the welfare of American children − and the nation
  2. Wild animals can experience trauma and adversity too − as ecologists, we came up with an index to track how it affects them
  3. More kids than ever need special education, but burnout has caused a teacher shortage
  4. Tracking vampire worms with machine learning − using AI to diagnose schistosomiasis before the parasites causing it hatch in your blood
  5. Could fungi actually cause a zombie apocalypse?
  6. Some people love to scare themselves in an already scary world − here’s the psychology of why
  7. During the American Revolution, Brits weren’t just facing off against white Protestant Christians − US patriots are diverse and have been since Day 1
  8. Hemingway, after the hurricane
  9. What the history of blasphemy laws in the US and the fight for religious freedom can teach us today
  10. AI, cryptocurrencies and data privacy: Comparing the Trump and Harris records on technology regulation
  11. To make nuclear fusion a reliable energy source one day, scientists will first need to design heat- and radiation-resilient materials
  12. MicroRNA − a new Nobel laureate describes the scientific process of discovering these tiny molecules that turn genes on and off
  13. Microplastic pollution is everywhere, even in the exhaled breath of dolphins – new research
  14. Aquaculture could harm animal welfare or protect it, depending on what species the farms raise
  15. Black Myth: Wukong – how China’s gaming revolution is fueling its tech power
  16. Bouncing between war-torn countries: Displacement in Lebanon and Syria highlights cyclical nature of cross-border refuge
  17. What is Chabad-Lubavitch? A Jewish studies scholar explains
  18. Overseas US voters get ignored by political campaigns − but could be crucial supporters
  19. Philly hospitals test new strategy for ‘tranq dope’ withdrawal – and it keeps patients from walking out before their treatment is done
  20. How to be a boss at giving performance reviews
  21. Coastal cities have a hidden vulnerability to storm-surge and tidal flooding − entirely caused by humans
  22. What is Temporary Protected Status? A global migration expert explains why the US offers some foreign nationals temporary protection
  23. 4 ways AI can be used and abused in the 2024 election, from deepfakes to foreign interference
  24. Presidential elections provide opportunities to teach about power, proportions and percentages
  25. Socially distanced layout of the world’s oldest cities helped early civilization evade diseases
  26. Color complexity in social media posts leads to more engagement, new research shows
  27. On crime and justice, Trump and Harris records differ widely
  28. ‘Childless cat ladies’ is a political catchphrase that doesn’t match reality − Democrats and Republicans have similar demographics and experiences when it comes to parenthood
  29. People displaced by hurricanes face anxiety and a long road to recovery, US census surveys show − smarter, targeted policies could help
  30. How dogs were implicated during the Salem witch trials
  31. This course explores the history of contested presidential elections
  32. Candidate experience matters in elections, but not the way you think
  33. Farms to fame: How China’s rural influencers are redefining country life
  34. Rain may have helped form the first cells, kick-starting life as we know it
  35. Why FEMA’s disaster relief gets political − especially when hurricane season and election season collide
  36. A devastating hurricane doesn’t dramatically change how people vote – but in a close election, it can matter
  37. What is a communist, and what do communists believe?
  38. No country still uses an electoral college − except the US
  39. Godzilla at 70: The monster’s warning to humanity is still urgent
  40. What does Springfield, Illinois, in 1908 tell us about Springfield, Ohio, in 2024?
  41. From Swift to Springsteen to Al Jolson, candidates keep trying to use celebrities to change voters’ songs
  42. Trump’s musical interlude is a twist on the long tradition of candidates enlisting musicians’ support, from Al Jolson to Springsteen to Swift
  43. As OpenAI attracts billions in new investment, its goal of balancing profit with purpose is getting more challenging to pull off
  44. Scientists around the world report millions of new discoveries every year − but this explosive research growth wasn’t what experts predicted
  45. Atmospheric rivers are shifting poleward, reshaping global weather patterns
  46. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is a Halloween visitor from the spooky Oort Cloud − the invisible bubble that’s home to countless space objects
  47. Vatican synod is opening the door a bit wider for Catholic women − but they’ve been knocking for more than 100 years
  48. Happiness class is helping clinically depressed school teachers become emotionally healthy − with a cheery assist from Aristotle
  49. Swing-state GOP leaders amplified election denial in 2020 − and may do so again
  50. San Francisco is suing the EPA over how specific water pollution permits should be