Fossilized teeth shed light on human brain evolution

Typical mass shooters are in their 20s and 30s – suspects in California’s latest killings are far from that average

Jillian Peterson, Hamline University ; James Densley, Metropolitan State University

Mass shooters over the age of 60 are rare, but often differ from younger gunmen in motives and actions prior to their attack.

Monterey Park: A pioneering Asian American suburb shaken by the tragedy of a mass shooting

James Zarsadiaz, University of San Francisco

Once seen as the Chinese Beverly Hills, Monterey Park is now seen as Asian America’s ‘town square’ – the impact of a mass shooting there will ripple across the country.

COVID-19 deaths in the US continue to be undercounted, research shows, despite claims of ‘overcounts’

Andrew Stokes, Boston University; Dielle Lundberg, Boston University; Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, University of Minnesota; Yea-Hung Chen, University of California, San Francisco

Taking into consideration the number of excess deaths caused by COVID-19 compared with pre-pandemic years is critical to getting an accurate accounting of the pandemic’s real toll.

Even bivalent updated COVID-19 boosters struggle to prevent omicron subvariant transmission – an immunologist discusses why new approaches are necessary

Matthew Woodruff, Emory University

The new bivalent boosters against COVID-19 have failed to halt omicron infections. However, new technologies are being developed that pave a way forward.

Atlanta’s BeltLine shows how urban parks can drive ‘green gentrification’ if cities don’t think about affordable housing at the start

Dan Immergluck, Georgia State University

A longtime critic of Atlanta’s BeltLine explains how the popular network of parks has increased inequality in the city and driven out lower-income residents.

Starbucks fans are steamed: The psychology behind why changes to a rewards program are stirring up anger, even though many will get grande benefits

H. Sami Karaca, Boston University; Jay L. Zagorsky, Boston University

Many Starbucks customers are irked by recent changes to its popular rewards program. But they may not have as much to complain about as it seems.

Calls for Pope Benedict’s sainthood make canonizing popes seem like the norm – but it’s a long and politically fraught process

Joanne M. Pierce, College of the Holy Cross

A specialist in Catholic litury and rituals explains that while several popes have been canonized, it is a long process that may take several years to examine and uncover any hidden flaws.

‘The Whale’ is a horror film that taps into our fear of fatness

Beth Younger, Drake University

In a thin-obsessed culture, fatness has become its own kind of monster.

The SAT and ACT are less important than you might think

Mary L. Churchill, Boston University

An increasing number of colleges aren’t interested in seeing applicants’ standardized test results.

How has the inside of the Earth stayed as hot as the Sun’s surface for billions of years?

Jewish doctors in the Warsaw Ghetto secretly documented the effects of Nazi-imposed starvation, and the knowledge is helping researchers today – podcast

Stopping the cancer cells that thrive on chemotherapy – research into how pancreatic tumors adapt to stress could lead to a new treatment approach