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Treating Nord Stream blasts as a whodunit misses the point – and plays into Russia’s plan to distract and divide

  • Written by Keith Brown, Professor of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University

In the two years since saboteurs planted explosives on Nord Stream 1 and 2 – gas pipelines that spanned the Baltic Sea to connect Russia to Germany – the finger of suspicion has fallen on a succession of possible culprits.

Immediately after the Sept. 26, 2022, blast, many Western experts blamed Russia. The theory was that Moscow blew up...

Read more: Treating Nord Stream blasts as a whodunit misses the point – and plays into Russia’s plan to...

Want to fight gender inequality? A review of data from 118 counties shows that development aid works

  • Written by Bedassa Tadesse, Professor of Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth

Gender inequality isn’t just unfair — it’s also a drag on the world economy. Giving women the same economic opportunities as men would add about US$12 trillion to global gross domestic product by 2025, one analysis found. That’s an 11% boost.

The link between women’s empowerment and economic growth is well established....

Read more: Want to fight gender inequality? A review of data from 118 counties shows that development aid works

Want to fight gender inequality? A review of data from 118 countries shows that development aid works

  • Written by Bedassa Tadesse, Professor of Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth

Gender inequality isn’t just unfair — it’s also a drag on the world economy. Giving women the same economic opportunities as men would add about US$12 trillion to global gross domestic product by 2025, one analysis found. That’s an 11% boost.

The link between women’s empowerment and economic growth is well established....

Read more: Want to fight gender inequality? A review of data from 118 countries shows that development aid...

As human population grows, people and wildlife will share more living spaces around the world

  • Written by Neil Carter, Associate Professor of Wildlife Conservation, University of Michigan

Human-wildlife overlap is projected to increase across more than half of all lands around the globe by 2070. The main driver of these changes is human population growth. This is the central finding of our newly published study in the journal Science Advances.

Our research suggests that as human population increases, humans and animals will share...

Read more: As human population grows, people and wildlife will share more living spaces around the world

Thwaites Glacier won’t collapse like dominoes as feared, study finds, but that doesn’t mean the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ is stable

  • Written by Mathieu Morlighem, Professor of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College
imageThe calving front of Thwaites' ice shelf. The blue area is light reflecting off ice below the water.James Yungel/NASA Icebridge

Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier got its nickname the “Doomsday Glacier” for its potential to flood coastlines around the world if it collapsed. It is already contributing about 4% of annual sea-level rise as...

Read more: Thwaites Glacier won’t collapse like dominoes as feared, study finds, but that doesn’t mean the...

Rural voters don’t necessarily love Walz, despite the camo hat and small-town upbringing

  • Written by Nicholas Jacobs, Assistant Professor of Government, Colby College
imageTim Walz has a rural image, but that doesn't mean rural America will vote for him.Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Getty Images

The selection of Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’ running mate has sparked a wave of commentary suggesting that simply by elevating a former small-town football coach to the candidacy for vice president, Democrats will naturally s...

Read more: Rural voters don’t necessarily love Walz, despite the camo hat and small-town upbringing

Squid have tiny teeth in their suckers − scientists could use their unique properties to make self-healing materials

  • Written by Abdon Pena-Francesch, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Michigan
imageAn electron-microscopy image of the teeth inside a squid sucker.Abdon Pena-Francesch

When you think of a fearsome, sharp-toothed predator, a squid probably isn’t the first animal that comes to mind. But these complex creatures have sophisticated eyesight, a strong beak to crush shells and agile tentacles that help them snatch up prey.

Oh, and...

Read more: Squid have tiny teeth in their suckers − scientists could use their unique properties to make...

Space missions are getting more complex − lessons from Amazon and FedEx can inform satellite and spacecraft management in orbit

  • Written by Koki Ho, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
imageAs companies develop satellite constellations as shown in this illustration, they'll need to repair satellites in orbit. NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld, CC BY-ND

Most space mission systems historically have used one spacecraft designed to complete an entire mission independently. Whether it was a weather satellite or a human-crewed module like...

Read more: Space missions are getting more complex − lessons from Amazon and FedEx can inform satellite and...

China leans into using AI − even as the US leads in developing it

  • Written by Shaoyu Yuan, Dean's Fellow at the Division of Global Affairs, Rutgers University - Newark
imageThe Chinese government has made extensive use of existing AI technologies, including for surveillance.Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images

In the competitive arena of global technology, China’s ambitions in artificial intelligence stand out – not just for their scale but for their distinct strategic approach.

In 2017, the Chinese Communist...

Read more: China leans into using AI − even as the US leads in developing it

America’s Iran policy is a failure − piecemeal deterrence and sanctions can go only so far

  • Written by Arie Perliger, Director of Security Studies and Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, UMass Lowell

The escalating conflict between Israel and Iran in recent months is frequently explained as another extension of Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza. After all, Hamas enjoys a close relationship with Iran, and both share the goal of eliminating the Jewish state.

But there’s more to it than that.

As a scholar of security studies who has...

Read more: America’s Iran policy is a failure − piecemeal deterrence and sanctions can go only so far

More Articles ...

  1. Democratic Party’s embrace of organized labor in 2024 elections has long roots that had started to wither
  2. Los Angeles is in a 4-year sprint to deliver a car-free 2028 Olympics
  3. Politicians step up attacks on the teaching of scientific theories in US schools
  4. Do Charli XCX’s and Kid Rock’s endorsements make a difference? 19% of young people admit they might
  5. AI pioneers want bots to replace human teachers – here’s why that’s unlikely
  6. Blood sugar fluctuations after eating play an important role in anxiety and depression
  7. The mystic and the mathematician: What the towering 20th-century thinkers Simone and André Weil can teach today’s math educators
  8. Readers prefer to click on a clear, simple headline − like this one
  9. 75 years ago, the KKK and anti-communists teamed up to violently stop a folk concert in NY
  10. Does Democratic VP candidate Walz swear too damn much?
  11. Sharks are taking a bite out of anglers’ catch in the Gulf of Mexico, but culling isn’t likely to help
  12. Biden administration’s negotiated price cuts for 10 common prescription drugs likely to save Medicare billions, beginning in 2026
  13. Why don’t more politicians retire? A medical anthropologist explains how the US could benefit from a mandatory retirement age
  14. Could we use volcanoes to make electricity?
  15. Ancient Rome had ways to counter the urban heat island effect – how history’s lessons apply to cities today
  16. Astronomers have warned against colonial practices in the space industry − a philosopher of science explains how the industry could explore other planets without exploiting them
  17. Anthropology students present their research in poetry, plays and op-eds in this course
  18. Who is the ‘Laughing Buddha’? A scholar of East Asian Buddhism explains
  19. Banana apocalypse, part 2 – a genomicist explains the tricky genetics of the fungus devastating bananas worldwide
  20. US voters say they’re ready for a woman president − but sexist attitudes still go along with opposition to Harris
  21. Editing fetal genomes is on the horizon − a medical anthropologist explains why ethical discussions with the target communities should happen sooner rather than later
  22. His crayon is purple – but is Harold a Black boy?
  23. Most young voters support Kamala Harris − but that doesn’t guarantee they will show up at the polls
  24. Complicated app settings are a threat to user privacy
  25. West Nile virus season returns − a medical epidemiologist explains how it’s transmitted and how you can avoid it
  26. Hard-to-treat traumas and painful memories may be treatable with EMDR – a trauma therapist explains why it is gaining popularity
  27. US has its first national strategy to reduce plastic pollution − here are 3 strong points and a key issue to watch
  28. US military presence in Syria carries substantial risks, but so does complete withdrawal
  29. What is mpox? A microbiologist explains what’s known about this smallpox cousin
  30. In praise of the weird
  31. Catholics are debating whether to remove paintings by a priest accused of abusing women − but let’s not confuse the artist and the art, writes an art historian
  32. Real-time crime centers are transforming policing – a criminologist explains how these advanced surveillance systems work
  33. Chicagoans watch films of the violent 1968 convention protests to get ready for the Democratic convention
  34. Hispanic women are less likely to get PrEP treatment − new intervention could change that
  35. Raising the retirement age won’t defuse China’s demographic time bomb – but mass immigration might
  36. Trees compete for space, light and resources, and those clashes can leave battle scars
  37. Students with mental health struggles linked to absenteeism and lower grades, showing clear need for more in-school support
  38. Local elections are less partisan because voters will cross party lines when issues hit close to home
  39. Kamala Harris’ sudden political rise echoes that of another female politician, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern
  40. How back-to-back hurricanes set off a year of compounding disasters for one city − and alarm bells about risks in a warming world
  41. 3 years after fall of Kabul, US Congress has still not acted to secure future of more than 70,000 Afghan evacuees in US
  42. Ukraine’s cross-border incursion challenges Moscow’s war narrative – but will it shift Russian opinion?
  43. Historians diving for balloons and hoping for hot dish: What Smithsonian curators will be doing at the Democratic National Convention
  44. Offensive names dot the American street map − a new app provides a way to track them
  45. Americans love free speech, survey finds − until they realize everyone else has it, too
  46. Fluid keeps your brain from crushing itself and shields your spine from shock – a neurologist explains what happens when it stops working
  47. Future lawyers learn key lessons from studying poetry in parks in this course
  48. Philly schools are in disrepair − the municipal bond market is 1 big reason
  49. 3 of Jane Austen’s 6 brothers engaged in antislavery activism − new research offers more clues about her own views
  50. Kamala, a common name in India, is associated with several deities and is a symbol of wisdom