Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions

After climbing for decades, the percentage of Americans with no religion has leveled off. For the past few years, the share of adults who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” has stood at about 29%, according to a major study the Pew Research Center released Feb. 26, 2025. But this hardly means that the “nones,” or their impact on American life, are going away. In fact, their sheer size makes it likely that they will increase in political prominence.

The death of Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa (Arequipa, 1936 – Lima, 2025) marks the end of a Golden Age of Latin American literature. Just as there will not be another generation in Spain like that of Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, Góngora and Quevedo, in America there will not be another like that of Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez, Julio Cortázar, César Vallejo, Pablo Neruda, Jorge Luis Borges, Alejo Carpentier and Carlos Fuentes.

The Supreme Court has now said the order to facilitate Abrego García’s return is proper. But the high court also said the district court judge should further clarify its order, being mindful of the president’s authority when it comes to conducting foreign relations. The Salvadoran government seems to be imprisoning Abrego García at the request of the U.S. government.

Foreign accents can have a big impact on the way we interpret meaning. In our increasingly globalised world, foreign accents are an inevitable part of communication, but studies suggest they can create barriers, not just in comprehension but also in perception of the speaker and social interaction.

Across the United States, many universities are dismantling DEI initiatives – closing and rebranding offices, eliminating positions, revising training programs and sanitizing diversity statements – while professors are preemptively self-censoring. While some universities may believe that compliance with the administration will protect their funding and independence, a few historical parallels suggest otherwise.

There is a broad fetishisation of manufacturing in many countries. One theory is that it is potentially ingrained in human thinking by pre-historic experiences of finding food, fuel and shelter dominating all other activities. But for Trump, the thinking is likely related to a combination of nostalgia for a bygone (somewhat imagined) age of manufacturing, and concern over the loss of quality jobs that provide a solid standard of living for blue collar workers – a core part of his political base.

Place names are more than just labels on a map. They influence how people learn about the world around them and perceive their place in it. Names can send messages and suggest what is and isn’t valued in society. And the way that they are changed over time can signal cultural shifts.

Thirty years ago in Israel, advocating for genocide could land you in prison. Not anymore. Israeli clerics and officials are openly calling for the systematic massacre of Palestinians–genocide–in Gaza. The Israeli legal system is ignoring the rhetoric.

The Democrats have been under intense pressure to find an effective way to challenge US President Donald Trump without control of either chamber of Congress or a de facto opposition leader. They may have just found one in New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.

Of course, history is contested. There will always be a variety of views about what should be included and excluded from America’s story. But most recent debates center on how much attention should be given to the history of the nation’s accomplishments over its darker chapters. The Smithsonian, as a national institution that receives most of its funds from the federal government, has sometimes found itself in the crosshairs.

No one is supposed to serve more than two full terms as president, according to the 22nd Amendment. The only way someone can serve more than two terms is if they served less than two years in a previous term in which they weren’t elected president. It is worth understanding why the two-term tradition was considered so important that it was turned into constitutional law the first time it was violated.

Marine Le Pen, figurehead of France’s Rassemblement National (RN), one of the most established far-right parties in Europe, has been found guilty of embezzling funds from the European parliament. Le Pen is highly unlikely to be able to stand as a candidate in the next presidential election in 2027.

Your biological internal clock is controlled in a small region of the brain called the hypothalamus. It regulates hormone release, body temperature and metabolism. So if your circadian rhythm is out of kilter, those things will be disrupted too.

Ukraine is often recognised for its vast agricultural lands and industrial heritage, but beneath its surface lies one of the world’s most remarkable geological formations, the “Ukrainian Shield”. These geological processes created favourable geological conditions for forming several mineral deposits including lithium, graphite, manganese, titanium and rare earth elements. All these are now critical for modern industries and the global green energy transition.