Why Russia’s church leader is blessing Putin’s war

How a few geothermal plants could solve America’s lithium supply crunch and boost the EV battery industry

Bryant Jones, Boise State University; Michael McKibben, University of California, Riverside

Lithium is essential for batteries that power electric vehicles and store energy from solar and wind farms. A new US source could provide 10 times more lithium than the country uses today.

Fewer Americans are hunting, and that raises hard questions about funding conservation through gun sales

John Casellas Connors, Texas A&M University; Christopher Rea, The Ohio State University

Every gun and bullet sold in the US generates excise taxes to support conservation. But Americans are buying guns now for different reasons than in the past – and increasingly, not for hunting.

6 wildfire terms to understand, from red flag warning to 100% containment

David Godwin, University of Florida

Dry, windy conditions have fueled devastating fires in Texas. Understanding these terms can help people in at-risk areas prepare.

Maps show – and hide – key information about Ukraine war

Timothy Barney, University of Richmond

Geographers often talk about the ‘silences’ of maps – what’s missing and unseen. Those silences can be as meaningful as what’s shown.

Ukraine’s women fighters reflect a cultural tradition of feminist independence

Mia Bloom, Georgia State University; Sophia Moskalenko, Georgia State University

In Ukrainian history and culture, women enjoyed independence and agency. The presence of women fighters in the war now is no surprise.

Ukraine’s economy went from Soviet chaos to oligarch domination to vital global trader of wheat and neon – and now Russian devastation

Yuriy Gorodnichenko, University of California, Berkeley

Ukraine was becoming increasingly linked with the global economy. Russia’s invasion puts its progress at risk.

Why weren’t women allowed to act in Shakespeare’s plays?

Elizabeth Steinway, Colorado State University

It may have had something to do with protecting female purity. No official statute clearly required men to do all the acting back then.

A large solar storm could knock out the power grid and the internet – an electrical engineer explains how

Kyiv has faced adversity before – and a stronger Ukrainian identity grew in response

How weapons get to Ukraine and what’s needed to protect vulnerable supply chains