The Conversation - Footprints from 1.5 million years ago

Taxpayers spend 22% more per patient to support Medicare Advantage – the private alternative to Medicare that promised to cost less

Grace McCormack, University of Southern California; Erin Duffy, University of Southern California

Rather than finding efficiencies and saving money all around, the private companies that administer the Medicare Advantage option to Medicare are profiting at seniors’ – and taxpayers’ – expense.

I wrote a book on the execution of the Rosenbergs for Cold War spying – and a recently declassified document has convinced me that Ethel was innocent

Lori Clune, California State University, Fresno

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in 1953 for conspiring with the Soviets. A newly declassified memo debunks the government’s case against Ethel, and her sons want their mother exonerated.

On Bodhi Day, Buddhists commemorate Siddhartha Gautama’s enlightenment by lighting lamps to combat darkness

Megan Bryson, University of Tennessee

For Buddhists, Bodhi Day represents hope and the potential to overcome suffering.

Is using AI tools innovation or exploitation? 3 ways to think about the ethics

208 million Americans are classified as obese or overweight, according to new study synthesizing 132 data sources

What would it mean if President-elect Trump dismantled the US Department of Education?

Amid lull in tit-for-tat missile exchange, Iran and Israel seek to control the online narrative

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ case raises questions about the many observers who might have ignored his alleged crimes

Tiny laboratories that fit in your hand can rapidly identify pathogens using electricity

Is it possible to dig all the way through the Earth to the other side?

As Trump touts plans for immigrant roundup, militias are standing back, but standing by

Presidents often claim mandates − especially when they want to expand their power or are on the defensive

The Conversation U.S. weekly news quiz

Fritz Holznagel, The Conversation

Here’s the first question of this week’s edition:

Let's begin with good climate change news: Norway is on track to entirely phase out what in 2025?

1. A. Fossil fuel vehicle sales
2. B. Coal power plant operations
3. C. Reindeer methane emissions
4. D. North Sea oil drilling

Test your knowledge