By David Campbell, Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Hans Peter Schmitz, Bob and Carol Mattocks Distinguished Professor in Nonprofit Leadership, North Carolina State University
Lindsey McDougle, Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University - Newark
The 50 American individuals and couples who gave or pledged the most to charity in 2025 committed US$22.4 billion to foundations, universities, hospitals and more. That total was 35% above an inflation-adjusted $16.6 billion in 2024, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s latest annual tally of these donations.
Media entrepreneur and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg led the Chronicle’s Philanthropy 50 list, followed by Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Allen died in…
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By Fatima-Zahra Aklalouch, Associate Professor, Université Paris Cité
What does Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s political discourse say about the controversial US secretary of Health whose task is to make “America healthy again”?
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By Fatma Ozdogan, PhD Candidate & Researcher, School of Architecture, Université de Montréal
Elizabeth Maly, Associate Professor, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University
Julia Gerster, Associate Professor, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University
Memorials, monuments, preserved school buildings and found objects form part of a memory culture that keeps conversations about risk reduction going.
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By Sarah Berger Richardson, Associate professor, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Daphnée B. Ménard, Doctorante en droit, avocate, LL.B., LL.M. , L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
‘Buying local’ often goes hand in hand with ethical choices. But when it comes to meat, we need to reconsider this equation.
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By Simone Dichiara, Assistant Research Professor of Astrophysics, Penn State
Eleonora Troja, Associate Professor of Astrophysics, University of Rome Tor Vergata
Gold and platinum are found in space, created when two stars collide. Astrophysicists can even trace this process further back, to the merger of galaxies.
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By Simon Mabon, Professor of International Relations, Lancaster University
A report in the Washington Post the day after the Iran war began suggested that Saudi Arabia and Israel had both lobbied Donald Trump to attack Iran. The Saudis swiftly denied that they had pushed for war.
In the days since, as Iran lashed out in retaliation, Saudi Arabia came under attack. An Iranian drone hit the US embassy in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and an oil processing plant at Ras Tanura was targeted. Two people were killed…
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By Wenge Xu, Senior Lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction, School of Computing, Birmingham City University
Self-driving cars are very much a reality and no longer a vision from science fiction. In the UK, automated vehicles (AVs) such as self-driving shuttles are already being tested on public roads.
Self-driving taxi services are expected to launch in 2026, and the Automated Vehicles Act is scheduled for implementation in 2027. This act establishes the legal groundwork for driverless cars to operate on Britain’s roads.
As these vehicles…
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By Sahar Maranlou, Lecturer in Law and Socio-legal Studies, Royal Holloway, University of London
Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur is an innovative feminist story set in Iran. The story follows five women and the circumstances that make them leave their lives to start anew in a garden on the outskirts of Tehran.
Written in the late 1970s, it was immediately banned on publication. Shortly after, Parsipur was arrested and jailed for her frank and defiant portrayal of women’s sexuality. This groundbreaking book is now available for the first time in English, translated by Faridoun Farrokh.
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By Erica Consterdine, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Lancaster University
The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, says that her plans to overhaul the asylum system are rooted in “Labour values”. The proposals include removing government support for some asylum seekers and limiting initial refugee status from five years to 30 months.
In a Guardian op-ed, Mahmood wrote that these values, uniting working-class communities, social reformers and immigrants…
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By Justin Stebbing, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University
Multi-cancer blood tests promise early detection, but the evidence is thin, the risks real, and they’re no substitute for listening to your body.
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