Water cooperation is essential when countries share lakes and rivers – yet it’s been deteriorating in many places, with serious consequences

| Insights & Views

Just over half the worlds population shares a river or lake basin with at least one other country. To sustainably manage those water resources for the health of people, ecosystems and economies, neighboring countries must...

Spanish speakers in Philadelphia break traditional rules of formal and informal speech in signs around town

| Insights & Views

Ive discovered something fascinating about how Spanish speakers in Philadelphia address each other and communicate through public signs. The discovery is part of my research on language patterns in Philadelphia and it...

People say they prefer stories written by humans over AI-generated works, yet new study suggests that’s not quite true

| Insights & Views

People say they prefer a short story written by a human over one composed by artificial intelligence, yet most still invest the same amount of time and money reading both stories regardless of whether it is labeled as...

Plastic pyrolysis − chemists explain a technique attempting to tackle plastic waste by bringing the heat

| Insights & Views

In 1950, global plastic production was about 2 million tons. Its now about 400 million tons an increase of nearly 20,000%. As a material, it has seemingly limitless potential. Plastic is inexpensive to produce while being...

Social movements constrained Trump in his first term – more than people realize

| Insights & Views

Donald Trumps first term as president saw some of the largest mass protests seen in the U.S. in over 50 years, from the 2017 Womens March to the 2020 protests after George Floyds murder. Things feel different this time...

A brief history of Medicaid and America’s long struggle to establish a health care safety net

| Insights & Views

The Medicaid system has emerged as an early target of the Trump administrations campaign to slash federal spending. A joint federal and state program, Medicaid provides health insurance coverage for more than 72 million...

An artist traces her choices under Putin’s Russia – from resistance to retreat to exile – one mural at a time

| Insights & Views

Victoria Lomasko, a graphic artist and muralist, has spent her career documenting how authoritarianism took hold in Vladimir Putins Russia. What she has illustrated as well as the personal journey she has taken affords a...