School budgets strangled by corporate tax breaks

Stock indexes are breaking records and crossing milestones – making many investors feel wealthier

Alexander Kurov, West Virginia University

The S&P 500 topped 5,000 on Feb. 9, 2024, for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average will probably hit a new big round number soon too.

Why the United States needs NATO – 3 things to know

Klaus W. Larres, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Donald Trump has threatened to not defend some NATO countries if Russia attacks them. But the US also benefits from the power that NATO gives it, as well as the stability it helped create in Europe.

Israeli siege has placed Gazans at risk of starvation − prewar policies made them vulnerable in the first place

Yara M. Asi, University of Central Florida

Arable land has been destroyed, as have food production sites. But even before the current operation in Gaza, Palestinians there suffered high rates of food insecurity.

Prabowo Subianto is poised to succeed in lifelong quest to become Indonesia’s president. This is why it’s so worrying

Tim Lindsey, The University of Melbourne

As the former general settles into office, a further gradual dismantling of democratic checks and balances, institutions and individual freedoms is very likely.

Bacteria in your gut can improve your mood − new research in mice tries to zero in on the crucial strains

Andrea Merchak, University of Florida

The organisms living in your gut microbiome can influence your mental and physical health. Researchers have developed a way to better test for those biological effects.

Nitazenes are a powerful class of street drugs emerging across the US

Christopher P. Holstege, University of Virginia

An overdose death in Boulder County, Colorado, was linked to a powerful new formulation of a designer drug never approved for use in humans.

‘It is hijacking my brain’ – a team of experts found ways to help young people addicted to social media to cut the craving

Annie Margaret, University of Colorado Boulder; Nicholas Hunkins, University of Colorado Boulder

You can free yourself from some of the time you spend online in as little as four weeks.

For graffiti artists, abandoned skyscrapers in Miami and Los Angeles become a canvas for regular people to be seen and heard

Colette Gaiter, University of Delaware

The colorful bubble letters have attracted praise and condemnation, with taggers seeing their work as a gift to the city, while others decry it as rampant vandalism.

Children are expensive – not just for parents, but the environment − so how many is too many?

Trevor Hedberg, University of Arizona

You can donate to environmental charities and even purchase carbon offsets, but not having an additional child typically has a much greater impact.

Turkey will stop sending imams to German mosques - here’s why this matters

Brian Van Wyck, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The Turkish government started sending imams to Germany in the 1980s, but under a new agreement, imams will be trained in Germany instead.

Gold, silver and lithium mining on federal land doesn’t bring in any royalties to the US Treasury – because of an 1872 law

Sam Kalen, University of Wyoming

Hard rock minerals like gold, silver, copper and lithium on public lands belong to the American public, but under a 150-year-old law, the US gives them away for free.

As we dream, we can listen in on the waking world

Gemma Ware, The Conversation

Dream researcher Başak Türker explains how she was able to communicate with people while they were dreaming. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.

Why is free time still so elusive?

Can anyone make a citizen’s arrest? The history and legalities of catching criminals yourself

Several companies are testing brain implants – why is there so much attention swirling around Neuralink? Two professors unpack the ethical issues