Fix to loneliness could come from the office

Deep-sea mining threatens sea life in a way no one is thinking about − by dumping debris into the thriving midwater zone

Alexus Cazares-Nuesser, University of Hawaii

A planned mining method to gather critical minerals from the seafloor would create sediment plumes higher up in the water column where many creatures live.

Trump is not a king – but that doesn’t stop him from reveling in his job’s most ceremonial and exciting parts

Shannon Bow O'Brien, The University of Texas at Austin

While President Donald Trump appears to govern with the flourish of a head of state, he is more invested in the job’s pageantry than the day-to-day.

Trump’s desire to ‘un-unite’ Russia and China is unlikely to work – in fact, it could well backfire

Linggong Kong, Auburn University

During the Nixon era, the US encouraged a split between the Soviet Union and communist China. But things have changed since the Cold War ended.

Syria after Assad: why many Syrian refugees aren’t returning home

Charlotte Al-Khalili, University of Sussex; Melissa Gatter, University of Sussex

Syrian refugees must be able to decide what’s next for them as pressures mount for their return.

Amid a tropical paradise known as ‘Lizard Island,’ researchers are cracking open evolution’s black box – scientist at work

James T. Stroud, Georgia Institute of Technology

A decade of fieldwork is revealing how one of biology’s fundamental principles works in real time.

Engineering students explore how to ethically design and locate nuclear facilities in this college course

Aditi Verma, University of Michigan; Katie Snyder, University of Michigan

Students explore nuclear facilities in virtual reality and learn about the ethical dimensions of nuclear technology in a University of Michigan course.

Mae Reeves used showstopping hats to fuel voter engagement and Black entrepreneurship

Reneé S. Anderson, Smithsonian Institution

Mae Reeves was the creative and business force behind Mae’s Millinery, a pioneering boutique near the corner of 60th and Market streets in Philadelphia.

Avoiding your neighbor because of how they voted? Democracy needs you to talk to them instead

Betsy Sinclair, Washington University in St. Louis

The more Americans isolate themselves from people in the other political party, the more stereotypes take over. In turn, that pushes people to isolate even more.

DNA says you’re related to a Viking, a medieval German Jew or a 1700s enslaved African? What a genetic match really means

Shai Carmi, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Harald Ringbauer, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

The genetic testing company 23andMe filed for bankruptcy earlier this week. In an article from 2024, two population geneticists explain what direct-to-consumer genetic tests can, and can’t, tell you about your family tree.

National monuments have grown and shrunk under US presidents for over a century thanks to one law: The Antiquities Act

Beatings, overcrowding and food deprivation: US deportees face distressing human rights conditions in El Salvador’s mega-prison

What causes the powerful winds that fuel dust storms, wildfires and blizzards? A weather scientist explains