Editor's note

For more than 200 years, the separation of church and state has prevented U.S. government funds from ending up in church coffers. Such separation has influenced rulings about school prayer, state-sponsored scholarships and the teaching of creationism in science classrooms. But, explains West Virginia law professor John E. Taylor, a recent Supreme Court decision in the Trinity Lutheran playground case may change all that.

As you are reading this, trillions of microorganisms deep inside your body are influencing what food you crave, how your body holds onto fat and your immune response. These organisms – your microbiome – communicate with your brain and even your bone marrow. If we can learn to understand these interactions “treatments could be developed for a range of illnesses,” write Jasenka Zubcevic and Christoper Martynuik of the University of Florida.

And, for nearly 20 years, the international community has been trying to stop North Korea from developing long-range missiles. Daniel Salisbury of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey explains how North Korea may have gotten around the rules to build an ICBM.

Kaitlyn Chantry

Editor

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The Supreme Court’s decision in the Trinity Lutheran case is blurring the lines between church and state. aradaphotography/Shutterstock.com

The Supreme Court, religion and the future of school choice

John E. Taylor, West Virginia University

The Trinity Lutheran case signals the Supreme Court's willingness to interpret separation of church and state as religious discrimination. What will this mean for the future of vouchers and school choice?

Health + Medicine

Arts + Culture

  • Why some Arab countries want to shutter Al Jazeera

    Philip Seib, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

    When the network launched in 1996, it radically changed the media landscape of the Arab world. Two decades later, some regimes are still seething.

Politics + Society

Environment + Energy

  • How environmentalists can regroup for the Trump era

    Robert Percival, University of Maryland, Baltimore

    Green groups fighting Trump's anti-environmental agenda should heed precedents from the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations. They can also learn from the Australian experience.

Science + Technology

  • Dancing toward better physical rehabilitation

    Lena Ting, Emory University

    Highly trained dancers provide insights for researchers helping design improved rehab programs for people with mobility impairments. The next step could include rehab robots as dance partners.

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Today’s interesting fact

In the 1930s, the AMA encouraged the growth of insurance plans, creating a system that "incentivized doctors to run up a bill that they then sent off to a faraway, faceless corporation."

 

Republican health care bills defy the party's own ideology

Christy Ford Chapin

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Christy Ford Chapin