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Political leaders in the United States, Israel, and Iran are increasingly employing religious rhetoric to justify ongoing military actions. From biblical metaphors used by American and Israeli officials to messianic narratives within the Iranian leadership, faith serves as a tool for authoritarian nationalism, but the instrumentalization of scripture sets a dangerous precedent for international relations, complicating efforts toward peace and violating historical secular norms during war.

NASA redesigned the Artemis program to prioritize building a permanent human presence on the lunar surface through strategic infrastructure investments. The agency added intermediate missions in low Earth orbit to test docking systems and life-support technologies. The shift ensures the development of reliable operations for repeated lunar missions. Consistent activity on the Moon will eventually shape international space law expectations.

In his powerful book “The Burnout Society,” South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han argues that in modern society, individuals have an imperative to achieve. Han calls this an “achievement society” in which we must become “entrepreneurs” – branding and selling ourselves; there is no time off the clock. But there’s a connection between unhealthy forms of leisure and burnout. Philosophy can help us navigate some of the pitfalls of leisure in an achievement society. The celebrated Greek philosopher Aristotle in particular can offer important insights.

It is a tumultuous time in the politics of gender. On the one hand, transgender and queer social movements have sought to expand people’s ability to break out of the gender binary of man or woman. On the other, the Trump administration has aggressively worked to reassert the gender binary by law.

Starting in 2026, companies selling coffee on the European Union market will have to prove that their product is “deforestation-free.” That means every bag of beans, every jar of ground coffee and every espresso capsule must trace back to coffee plants on land that hasn’t been cleared of forest since Dec. 31, 2020. The rule change could transform how coffee is grown, traded and sold.

The Trump administration revoked protections on more than 13 million acres of a 23-million-acre Alaskan reserve in November 2025, including some of its most ecologically sensitive areas. Congress also voted to rescind protections in the reserve and open the door to oil and gas drilling. The moves followed the administration’s decision in October to also open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.