By Bernadette A. Lear, Education, Behavioral Sciences, and Social Sciences Librarian, Penn State
As a librarian who researches and writes about library history in Pennsylvania, I was delighted to see the American Library Association’s efforts to celebrate its 150th anniversary this year, while making several mentions of Pennsylvania.
The ALA highlighted its 1876 founding in Philadelphia; how Pittsburgh philanthropist…
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By Osea Giuntella, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Pittsburgh
Sally Sadoff, Professor of Economics and Strategy, University of California, San Diego
Silvia Saccardo, Associate Professor of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University
Universities and colleges won’t necessarily pay students to sleep. But they can offer other incentives that encourage them to close their eyes earlier.
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By Alexandra Cremona, Lecturer, Human Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Limerick
Most of us are used to hearing about the risks of not getting enough iron. Yet having too much iron in the body can also cause serious health problems.
Iron overload occurs when it gradually accumulates in the body. Excess iron can be stored in organs such as the liver, heart and pancreas. This can scar the liver, weaken the heart so it cannot pump blood properly, and damage the body’s ability to control blood sugar, leading to diabetes.
Could changing what you eat and drink affect…
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By Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager, Professor of Critical Cultural & International Studies, Colorado State University
The Italian leader has positioned Italy as a geopolitical hinge between competing power centers. The Middle East has just given that strategy a new environment.
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By Marinei Herselman, Lecturer, University of Fort Hare
When a child is raped, abandoned or removed from a violent home in South Africa, a child protection social worker is assigned to the wellbeing of that child. They listen to the details, assess the danger, make urgent decisions. Once the child has been placed somewhere safe, the social worker moves on to the next case.
I am a social work researcher and educator, and have worked in the field of trauma for more than three decades. Protecting children has been at…
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By Zoe Groves, Lecturer in Modern Global, Colonial and Postcolonial History, University of Leicester
Anusa Daimon, Senior Lecturer in History
Henry Dee, Research Fellow in History
Julie Weise, Associate Professor of History, University of Oregon
Anti-immigrant violence began to sweep across South Africa once again in March 2026. Over the following months an estimated 56,000 Malawians and 115,000 Zimbabweans were forced to flee their homes. At…
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By Giulio Lucarini, Senior Researcher, Institute of Heritage Science, National Research Council (CNR)
Cyprian Broodbank, Disney Professor of Archaeology, Director, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge
Toby C. Wilkinson, Assistant Research Professor, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge
In the hills of north-west Morocco, overlooking the river that gives the site its name, research at Oued Beht is bringing to light a previously unknown chapter of the region’s past. The discovery of a substantial built structure suggests that, during the second millennium BC, communities in north-west Africa were actively shaping their environment. They were also engaging in broader networks of interaction across the Mediterranean world.
Previous research by the Oued Beht Archaeological Project had already
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By Mia Cobb, Research Fellow, Animal Welfare Science Centre, The University of Melbourne
Donald Maurice Broom, Emeritus Professor of Animal Welfare, University of Cambridge
This year, greyhound racing in Britain turns 100 years old. The first race ran on July 24 1926 in Manchester, where six dogs chased a mechanical hare around a track.
Recently, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) published its 2025 welfare figures, under a reassuring headline: licensed racing “maintains high welfare standards”.
Look closely, and those same…
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By Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Node Leader in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures, Flinders University
Alan N Williams, Partner Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures, James Cook University
Lynette Russell, Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor, Monash University. Deputy Director ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures, Monash University
Sean Ulm, Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures, James Cook University
Shane Ingrey, Postdoctoral research fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures (CIEHF) and Gujaga Foundation, UNSW
Genetic, archaeological and environmental evidence suggest the Indigenous population fell by more than 90% In the 70 years after the British invaded.
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By Aris Katzourakis, Professor of Evolution and Genomics, Paleovirology Lab, University of Oxford
Smallpox DNA from two people buried in Chile reveals the virus’s arrival through European colonisation – but recreating it would require deliberate laboratory work.
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