Editor's note

Russian hackers’ targets aren’t only computer networks or information stored on servers – they’re people’s minds. Richard Forno of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Center for cybersecurity explains how two federal indictments from the Mueller probe reveal how new technologies and old propaganda strategies combine to exploit how people think.

Turkey’s recently re-elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made religious education a top priority. Religious schools were an important part of Muslim life and provided rich learning after the birth of Islam in the seventh century. However, given today’s globalized economies, scholar Myriam Renaud asks if they prepare students for 21st century jobs.

Americans tend to get more active in the summer as warmer temperatures make cycling, baseball and other sports more enticing. Unfortunately, this also leads to more visits to the ER. Economist Jay Zagorsky decided to take advantage of the summer weather to bike 3,000 miles across the U.S. After taking a tumble, he looked into just how dangerous riding a bike – or engaging in a variety of other sports and activities – can be.

Jeff Inglis

Science + Technology Editor

Top stories

Cyberattacks target Americans’ thinking. Fancy Tapis/Shutterstock.com

Weaponized information seeks a new target in cyberspace: Users' minds

Richard Forno, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Russian hackers are coupling old propaganda strategies with new technologies to attack and exploit not just computers and stored data, but how people think.

Children at a madrasa in the Assaba region of Mauritania in May 2014. Michal Huniewicz

What are madrasa schools and what skills do they impart?

Myriam Renaud, University of Chicago

Madrasas, or Islam-centered schools, have long spread knowledge and literacy throughout the Muslim world. However, can they prepare students for today's tech-based economies?

Cycling can be more dangerous than it looks. AP Photo/Kevin Clifford

I’m an economist riding a bike across America, defying what the data says about cycling's safety

Jay L. Zagorsky, The Ohio State University

The warm summer months encourage more of us to get outside and exercise, whether by shooting hoops or riding a bike. But there's a downside: higher risk of injury.

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