Celebrity candidates bring shock factor to midterms

Women get fewer chances to speak on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, according to an AI-powered, large-scale analysis of interruptions

Ashique KhudaBukhsh, Rochester Institute of Technology

An analysis of hundreds of thousands of interactions on cable news programs shows that women interrupt more often than men – and it may be because they also have to fight for equal airtime.

Guns at voting sites have long sparked fears of intimidation and violence – yet few states ban their presence

Robert Spitzer, State University of New York College at Cortland

Election-related violence isn’t unheard of in the US. A scholar of gun laws explains how the threat is only increased by allowing people to carry firearms as they vote.

Netanyahu on track to win in Israeli election – but there are many challenges ahead

Ran Porat, Monash University

The Likud leader looks set to return as Israeli prime minister after a period of political instability in the country – and five elections in less than four years.

Cannabis holds promise for pain management, reducing the need for opioid painkillers – a neuropharmacology expert explains how

Benjamin Land, University of Washington

Studies suggest that marijuana and CBD use might help relieve chronic pain while also reducing a patient’s need for opioids.

Water was both essential and a barrier to early life on Earth – microdroplets are one potential solution to this paradox

Nicolás M. Morato, Purdue University

The chemical reaction that forms essential biomolecules like proteins and DNA normally doesn’t occur in the presence of water. Microdroplets provide a unique environment that make it possible.

Talk of ‘Christian nationalism’ is getting a lot louder – but what does the term really mean?

Eric McDaniel, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts

Christian nationalist ideas are about more than simply being religious and patriotic. They form a worldview about how the nation should be structured and who belongs there.

Loss and damage: Who is responsible when climate change harms the world’s poorest countries, and what does compensation look like?

Bethany Tietjen, Tufts University

That’s the big question at the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP27. Here are some of the ideas being floated.

Music inspires powerful emotions on screen, just like in real life

Gena R. Greher, UMass Lowell

Music and film have gone hand in hand ever since the release of ‘The Jazz Singer’ nearly 100 years ago.

Parents have very warm feelings toward other parents – here’s why that could be bad news for the child-free

Zachary P. Neal, Michigan State University; Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University

If parents prefer to associate with other parents, what does that mean for people who have decided against having kids?

Why schools’ going back to ‘normal’ won’t work for students of color

Adriana Villavicencio, University of California, Irvine

A scholar explains why schools can’t focus only on closing pandemic-related learning gaps.

Former math teacher explains why some students are ‘good’ at math and others lag behind

Frances E. Anderson, University of Nebraska Omaha

A former math teacher explains what’s behind the recent drop in math scores for the nation’s fourth and eighth graders.

Elon Musk takes Twitter private – here’s what that means for the company and its chances of success

A blood test that screens for multiple cancers at once promises to boost early detection

American voters are angry – that is a good thing for voter turnout, bad thing for democracy