Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have called for making colleges and universities debt-free or tuition-free. Disadvantaged students need more than free college to achieve success.
Wildfires are getting bigger and more costly. Can we return them to a less dangerous state by looking to the past?
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Restoring forest landscapes through active thinning and letting fires burn in order to minimize fire damage has proved harder and less effective than advocates believed, says historian of fire.
A 19th-century photograph of a women’s restroom in a Pittsburgh factory.
Brazil has a powerful and dominant national identity, which could be a casualty of the current political crisis. The author of an upcoming book on the subject considers the harm that’s been done.
Friends indeed?
Facebook legos via www.shutterstock.com
Who’s more likely to help you find a job, your close friends or the casual acquaintance you see at the gym? An examination of Facebook friends offers some clues.
How can we get more doctors using better data?
Doctor and data image from shutterstock.com
Analyzing electronic data from many doctors’ experiences with many patients, we can move ever closer to answering the age-old question: what is truly best for each patient?
CubeSats upon release from the International Space Station.
NASA Johnson
Just about anyone can get a tiny, cheap satellite into orbit these days. As we consider how to deploy them responsibly, inspiration comes from an amateur community of enthusiasts.
What will Trump’s higher ed plan mean for students?
Gage Skidmore
Growing enough food to feed 9 billion people by 2050 will require huge amounts of energy and water. Using nanoparticles to boost plant growth and yield could save resources and reduce water pollution.
Victorian-era, middle-class black women who loved to read and write didn’t have many role models.
Jeffrey Green
When biographer Gretchen Gerzina came across an old British newspaper article calling Sarah E. Farro “the first negro novelist,” she wondered: who was Farro, and why had she been lost to history?
Some are calling on the president to issue an apology when he visits Hiroshima. But an East Asia expert says his visit will focus on remembrance, and explains why that is enough.
President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.
REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Frank Wilczek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Max Tegmark, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Two prominent MIT physicists ask whether for nuclear weapons, less is more
Many can identify with the phenomenon of feeling a thrill – followed by a chill – when listening to a particularly moving piece of music.
'Pink' via www.shutterstock.com
Lina Begdache, Binghamton University, State University of New York
College students who take stimulants such as Adderall to get an academic edge might be setting themselves up unknowingly to a vicious cycle of substance abuse and addiction.
Honey bees, which pollinate many valuable crops, are threatened by parasites, pesticides and development. But selective breeding, more benign pesticides and better nutrition could help turn the tide.
Purportedly Chinese dredging vessels are building up land around Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea last year.
U.S. Navy via Reuters
The Philippines is cheering a ruling that China’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea have no legal basis. But the ruling will also ratchet up military tensions with the U.S.
How do government agencies make decisions?
Flowchart diagram via shutterstock.com
Data-driven algorithms drive decision-making in ways that touch our economic, social and civic lives. But they contain inherent biases and assumptions that are too often invisible to the public.
Obama’s message while in Vietnam and Japan may be twofold.
REUTERS
Beneath the usual pomp and circumstance of Obama’s weeklong visit to Asia lies a clear message for aggressors in the region. An East Asia expert from UC Berkeley reads between the lines.
Intense: driven by drier conditions and earlier spring melts, wildfires are getting more potent.
kylewith/flickr
A review of more than 40 years of wildfire activity in the western U.S. demonstrates the potent effect drier, warming spring seasons, due to climate change, is having on wildfires.