What people can do now to prevent dementia

If you want Americans to pay attention to climate change, just call it climate change

Wändi Bruine de Bruin, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; Gale Sinatra, University of Southern California

Phrases like ‘climate crisis,’ ‘climate emergency’ or ‘climate justice’ might seem to escalate the urgency, but a large survey shows they don’t help and may actually hurt.

Birth of a hurricane: What meteorologists look for as they hunt for early signs of a tropical cyclone forming

Xingchao Chen, Penn State

Forecasters are closely watching a storm headed for the Caribbean that’s likely to become Ernesto. New techniques are helping them spot potentially dangerous storms earlier than ever.

A bipartisan data-privacy law could backfire on small businesses − 2 marketing professors explain why

John Lynch, University of Colorado Boulder; Jean-Pierre Dubé, University of Chicago

Privacy comes at a price.

3 strategies to help college students pick the right major the first time around and avoid some big hassles

Rachael Cody, University of Connecticut

Changing majors can cost money and time. Doing career-related research early on can help college students avoid that fate.

Why is an ultimate goal called a ‘Holy Grail?’

Joanne M. Pierce, College of the Holy Cross

Several threads, including pre-Christian mythology, veneration of relics in Christian tradition, and medieval literature, have combined over the centuries into the Holy Grail metaphor of today.

Could dinosaurs still exist somewhere in the world? A paleontologist explains

Hans Sues, Smithsonian Institution

It’s fun to imagine secret dinosaur survivors living today, hidden in a remote corner of Earth. But the truth of who made it through the extinction event 66 million years ago may surprise you.

At its core, life is all about play − just look at the animal kingdom

David Toomey, UMass Amherst

Reduced to its essence, the process of natural selection would look a lot like play.

Wagner Group setback in Mali challenges Moscow’s strategy in Africa and the region’s faith in Russian mercenaries

Christopher Michael Faulkner, US Naval War College

Dozens of Russian fighters were killed in confrontation with rebel groups in Mali amid speculation that Ukrainian intelligence played a role.

UK riots: five essential reads on what triggered a week of violence

Laura Hood, The Conversation

The UK has experienced more than a week of violent rioting, during which white nationalists have marauded through towns and cities, fighting with police and calling for borders to be closed to keep out…

Britain’s ‘broken’ water system: a history of death, denial and diarrhoea

Lukas Engelmann, The University of Edinburgh; Jacob Steere-Williams, College of Charleston

The water regulator has issued a record £168m fine to Thames, Yorkshire and Northumbrian Water for a ‘catalogue of failure’ regarding illegal sewage discharges – with more fines expected to follow.

Imane Khelif’s gold medal run shows how sex testing in women’s sports puts regulators in an impossible bind

Bangladesh’s protests explained: What led to PM’s ouster and the challenges that lie ahead

Trees don’t like to breathe wildfire smoke, either – and they’ll hold their breath to avoid it