Commentary

Some clichés are like planets, their gravitational pull too strong for all but the most propulsive acts of creativity. Middle age is one of these. The changes often associated with being in your 40s and 50s – gray hairs, career doldrums, time’s squeaky-wheeled chariot drawing near – can seem as inevitable as aging itself.

Biomedical research in the U.S. is world-class in part because of a long-standing partnership between universities and the federal government. On Feb. 7, the U.S. National Institutes of Health issued a policy that could weaken the position of the United States as a global leader in scientific innovation by slashing funds to the infrastructure that allows universities and other institutions to conduct research in the first place.

Article 2 does not grant the president unlimited power. While almost all modern presidents flex their muscles in the initial stages of their administration, the first weeks of the second Trump presidency have seen a rapid-fire, often dizzying array of executive actions that have sparked heated, even virulent, disputes among politicians, the media and citizens about how much power the president of the United States should have.

In his short yet prolific life, Dunbar used folk dialect to give voice and dignity to the experience of Black Americans at the turn of the 20th century. He was the first Black American to make a living as a writer and was seminal in the start of the New Negro Movement and Harlem Renaissance. Dunbar also penned one of the most iconic phrases in Black literature – “I know why the caged bird sings” – his poem “Sympathy.”

In America’s constitutional balance, Congress passes the laws, the president administers the laws, and the courts interpret the laws. This elegant but simple system stood in contrast to the nearly unshackled power of the British king, who ruled over the American colonies before independence. During its first month, the second Trump administration has pushed a new balance of these powers, granting the president expansive and far-reaching authority. These actions imperil the power of elected lawmakers to pass legislation, oversee the federal government and exercise spending authority.

Among Friedrich Merz’s first acts was a bold statement that his first priority is “to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA”.

Flu returns annually as an epidemic. It is a constant threat to public health, affecting millions of people and causing severe complications in the most vulnerable: young children, older adults, and people with pre-existing conditions.

“Degrowth” emerged in Europe, particularly in France, in the late 2000s. Philosophers such as André Gorz and economists such as Serge Latouche were among its early proponents, with researchers such as Tim Jackson later popularising the concept in the English-speaking world. They argue that the root cause of environmental destruction lies not only in human activity but also in a global economic model that has prioritised growth and profit since the Industrial Revolution.

A recent survey conducted by Sermitsiaq (a Greenlandic newspaper) and Berlingske (a Danish newspaper) directly addressed this question and found that only 6% of respondents wanted Greenland to leave Denmark and instead become part of the US.

The U.S. is falling in line with Moscow on a key plank of the Kremlin’s plan to delegitimize Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian government. Challenging Zelenskyy’s legitimacy is part of a deliberate ongoing propaganda campaign by Russia to discredit Ukrainian leadership, weaken support for Ukraine from its key allies and remove Zelenskyy – and potentially Ukraine – as a partner in negotiations.

European leaders are scrambling to respond to what looks like the end of reliable US protection of the continent. It is unclear what the “main European countries” (which includes the UK) might be able to agree on. But individual countries, including the UK and Germany, have come forward to put concrete offers on the table for Ukraine’s security, which could include putting their troops on the ground.

Removing millions of immigrants would be costly for everyone in the U.S., including American citizens and businesses. Overall, immigrants without legal authorization make up about 5% of the total U.S. workforce. But that overall percentage doesn’t reflect these immigrants’ concentrated presence within various industries. Approximately half of U.S. farmworkers are living in the country without legal authorization. If those workers were to be suddenly removed from the country, Americans would see an increase in food costs, including what they spend on groceries and at restaurants.

The six-year terms reflect a goal of establishing a largely nonpartisan governing board, since presidents usually appoint board members aligned with their own party. Until now, that balance has been the norm. But that outcome wasn’t mandated when Congress passed legislation establishing the Kennedy Center. Having a politically balanced board has historically helped the Kennedy Center raise money and attract world-class artists.

While the idea of AI politicians might make some people uneasy, survey results tell a different story. A poll conducted by my university in 2021, during the early surge of AI advancements, found broad public support for integrating AI into politics across many countries and regions. A majority of Europeans said they would like to see at least some of their politicians replaced by AI.

The problem with relying on the courts for help goes beyond ideology and right-leaning justices going along with a right-leaning president. One challenge is speed: The current administration is moving much faster than courts do, or even can. The other is authority: The courts’ ability to compel government action is limited, and also slow.

Interviews with over 1,400 respondents in a demographically matched online panel of the Jewish Israeli population, and as part of an in-person survey in Gaza, show why 16 months of extreme violence and suffering have created psychological barriers to peace. The interviews also suggest ways to achieve a more positive future.

Working behind the scenes since the 1950s, researchers working for companies such as Exxon, Shell and Chevron had made their leaders well aware that the widespread use of their product was already causing climate change. They then started making large donations to national and state-level candidates and politicians they viewed as friendly to the interests of the industry.

Imagine a world in which a hurricane devastates the Gulf Coast, and the U.S. has no federal agency prepared to quickly send supplies, financial aid and temporary housing assistance. Could the states manage this catastrophic event on their own?

For months readers have been learning about the enormity of Andrea Skinner’s suffering, following sexual abuse by her stepfather, and her mother Alice Munro’s decision to stay with and protect him. As scholars re-read Munro with a knowledge of the secrets she kept and the pain she caused, we have an opportunity — if not an obligation — to use our re-readings to reckon with sexual abuse of children and the silence that so often surrounds it.

A true advertising face-plant is a commercial that’s both tone-deaf and completely forgettable – so dull, off-putting or confusing that when a brand completely switches up its strategy, you almost don’t remember the massive blunder that compelled it to change course in the first place. Almost. Here are five of the biggest Super Bowl advertising flops.

A growing number of students in public schools – right now, about 15% of them – are eligible for special education services. But going into the current school year, more than half of U.S. public schools anticipate being short-staffed in special education.

The idea that autism is caused by vaccines has recently been revived by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the presumptive nominee for US Secretary of Health and Human Services, as well as by president-elect Donald Trump. There is strong data from different countries showing that these vaccines do not cause autism or underlie the vast increase in autism diagnosis rates. So why do suspicions that vaccines cause autism remain?

Hollywood has long resorted to this posh-but-unspecific English accent when telling stories set in European spaces where English isn’t the native language. This imperial accent appears in countless major productions. Where does this false British accent come from?

Using hateful, polarizing language to gain a political advantage or make an argument against a group of people, like immigrants, is not unique to the U.S. The use of this language is associated with populist shifts in many parts of the world. In Italy, such language was accompanied by mob violence, mass evictions and demolition of informal camps set up in the streets.

Since the 1940s, positive sentiment toward capitalism has improved. In the 2020s, the average article with capitalism got a more balanced 37% negative and 34% positive sentiment score. While capitalism clearly isn’t loved in the press, it’s also not disparaged as much as it was just after World War II.

A vote in Germany’s national parliament (Bundestag) has led to fears that the firewall supposedly separating mainstream political parties and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been blown apart.

In the 1990s Disney began buying land in northern Virginia for a planned theme park called America. It would be centered on American history. It was a colossal failure. Questions over how Disney would tell the complex – often discriminatory – history of the nation spurred a group of historians, led by David McCullough, to lodge their concerns: How would Disney construct its narrative of the United States? And how would the park affect Manassas, one of the most important Civil War battle sites?

The many controversial people appointed to the Trump administration, from Elon Musk to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have at least one thing in common: They dislike and distrust experts. While anti-intellectualism and populism are nothing new in American life, there has hardly been an administration as seemingly committed to these worldviews.

“Off limits” words – a category ranging from insults and swear words through to racial slurs and hate speech – have extraordinary power. They elicit strong emotional responses, and reveal a massive amount about a society’s values, cultural norms, and psychological processes.

Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon on Jan. 21, 2025, in which she appealed to President Donald Trump to have mercy toward groups frightened by his position on immigrants and LGBTQ+ people – especially children – drew reactions from both sides of the aisle. In a post on his social networking site, Truth Social, Trump called her comments “nasty in tone” and remarked that she “brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way.” Christian history is full of examples of people who have spoken out, unafraid to risk official censure, or even death.

In a 1997 opinion, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that the Constitution barred the federal government from impressing into its service…the police officers of the 50 States.’

Whether known as the Centre Pompidou or simply Beaubourg, this Parisian landmark is set to close its doors from 2025 to 2030 for extensive renovations. Criticised and even mocked at its opening, the Centre Pompidou has since earned its place as an iconic fixture in the Parisian landscape and a major player on the international museum scene.

Particularly when these batteries are soaked in saltwater, they can become “ticking time bombs,” in the words of Florida State Fire Marshall Jimmy Patronis. That’s because the fire doesn’t always occur immediately when the battery is flooded. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 36 EVs flooded by Hurricane Ian in Florida in 2022 caught fire, including several that were being towed after the storm on flatbed trailers.

Today, GLP-1 drugs, including Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound, have become household names and key tools in the fight against obesity. GLP-1 drugs could help treat dozens of other ailments as well. But there are risks. GLP-1 drugs come with significant side effects and increase the risk of 19 health conditions, such as gastrointestinal issues, kidney stones and acute pancreatitis, in which the pancreas becomes inflamed and dysfunctional.

Communities’ reactions to satire are deeply influenced by factors such as religious marginalization, political exclusion and cultural tensions. The Charlie Hebdo attack was a horrific act of violence that cannot be justified. However, the discussions that followed often overlooked the ways in which the magazine’s caricatures perpetuated racist stereotypes – particularly against Muslims.