By Anne Pisor, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Demography, Penn State
Bonface Osindi, Data Scientist in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Global Health-Kenya, Washington State University
If being outside in the heat for even a few minutes felt miserable this summer, imagine what it’s like for herders who are always out walking with their livestock and rarely get a break.
“We have never experienced such hot days,” a woman herder in northern Kenya told our research team in 2024. “It is difficult to [do things] outside [with] the high temperatures.”
Her experience is echoed by herders in both the U.S. and Kenya, where we study health and climate. Our team’s recent data from Kenya suggests…
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By Michael A. Robinson, Research Scientist in Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Colorado Boulder
As wildfire smoke plumes travel thousands of miles, sunlight and atmospheric chemistry bleach their color, strip away their campfire aroma and add them to the mix of urban smog.
Smoky skies plagued the East Coast and Midwest again in summer 2026, as wildfires hundreds of miles away forced people to cancel…
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By Anne Garland Mahler, Professor and Director of Latin American Studies Program, University of Virginia
The State Department views a 1960s-era internationalist movement based in Havana as a Cuban communist plot to destroy America. The truth was far more nuanced.
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By Erin Victor, Postdoctoral Researcher in Sustainability, University of Maine
Extended producer responsibility policies are gaining steam in the US, but what they entail can differ widely from state to state.
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By Jo Mackiewicz, Professor of Rhetoric and Professional Communication, Iowa State University
Jordan Smith, Assistant Professor of English, University of Northern Colorado
Terms that are direct analogs to sexual intercourse are widely used to describe connector ends, but the language is evolving away from those problematic words.
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By Matthew N. Hannah, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Politics and Culture, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ideas from QAnon’s conspiracy theory have appeared on government social media sites during Trump’s second term and continue to divide America amid social and economic crises.
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By K. Chad Clay, Director, Center for the Study of Global Issues (GLOBIS); Associate Professor of International Affairs, University of Georgia
New data from a global rights-tracking project shows the country had large declines in 2025 on 8 of the 9 civil and political rights it measures.
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By Heena Dave, PhD Candidate, Climate Change Education, University of Stirling
For too long, climate communication has relied on the belief that if we stick with the science and communicate the evidence, action will follow. Scientific knowledge gives us the foundations for understanding possible futures, while speculation allows us to explore them. But poetry can bring that speculation to life, giving us a language to express what living through…
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By Hilary Smith, Professor of History, University of Denver
The vast majority of people around the world are lactose intolerant. But American propaganda and scientific biases have made milk and dairy products a staple in global diets.
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By Graham Farrell, Professor of Crime Science, University of Leeds
Hayley J. Fowler, Professor of Climate Change Impacts, Newcastle University
Helena Gillespie, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Student Inclusion and Professor of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, University of East Anglia
Helen Roy, Ecological Entomologist, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology; University of Exeter
Jim Watson, Professor of Energy Policy and Director of the Institute of Sustainable Resources, UCL
Stephen Potter, Professor of Transport Strategy, The Open University
Toby Davies, Associate Professor in Criminal Justice Data Analytics, University of Leeds
In this fifth part in our series on how the UK has changed in the past 25 years, we look at crime, education, transport, energy and the environment.
Crime and policing
Graham Farrell, professor of crime science, University of Leeds
Toby Davies, associate professor in criminal justice data analytics, University of Leeds
Contrary to many media headlines, the story of crime over the last quarter century is positive.…
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