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Editor's note
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This week, in his first public statement on the scandal, President Donald Trump denied any knowledge of “hush money” being paid to Stormy Daniels, the adult star who alleges that she had an extramarital relationship with Trump. Meanwhile the affair does not seem to have affected the president’s support among conservative Christians. Sociologist Kelsy Burke argues their reaction to the Stormy Daniels story "fits right into how evangelical Christians have responded to pornography in recent history.”
Middlebury College’s Laurie Essig has been following America’s plastic surgery industry for years. One industry constant has been its growth, so she was taken aback when she learned that over the past decade, the number of Americans getting nose jobs has... nosedived. She wonders why a perfect nose is no longer something people are willing to pay for.
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Kalpana Jain
Senior Religion + Ethics Editor
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Top stories
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Stormy Daniels, an adult star, at a local restaurant in downtown New Orleans.
AP Photo/Bill Haber
Kelsy Burke, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
The Christian right's response to pornography in recent history is complicated. The moral conviction against porn remains strong, but there is also sympathy for its consumers.
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The nose isn’t going under the knife like it once did.
Lightspring/Shutterstock.com
Laurie Essig, Middlebury College
People who’ve gotten nose jobs are also trying to revert to a more natural look.
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Environment + Energy
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Deron Burkepile, University of California, Santa Barbara; Mark C. Ladd, University of California, Santa Barbara
With coral reefs in crisis around the world, many organizations are working to restore them by growing and transplanting healthy corals. A new study spotlights techniques that help restored reefs thrive.
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Catherine Brinkley, University of California, Davis; Jacqueline Kingsley, University of California, Davis
From Brooklyn to Los Angeles, thousands of Americans are raising chickens in their backyards. But without stricter regulation, urban poultry farming is risky for both humans and birds.
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Mariel Borowitz, Georgia Institute of Technology
There are more satellites than ever before, orbiting Earth and collecting data that's crucial for scientists. Why do some nations choose not to share that data openly?
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Mark Wilson, Michigan State University
It will be hard to adjust. Considering what happened with the onset of car travel and web surfing, society can't just wing it.
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Arts + Culture
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Amanda Lotz, University of Michigan
It’s worth looking at how local news stations have traditionally operated.
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Melanie Green, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
We can disagree with co-workers in meetings. We can argue about sports with friends. A new study explores why politics seems to be an entirely different beast.
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Economy + Business
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Elizabeth C. Tippett, University of Oregon
A purported contract between Sinclair and an anchor demanded a huge penalty if the employee quit. While many asked if that's legal, a more interesting question is why more companies don't do the same thing.
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Joseph Blasi, Rutgers University; Douglas L. Kruse, Rutgers University
The recent March for Our Lives showed just how unsatisfied American youth are with their leaders. Recent polls suggest the economic system may be the next item on their agenda.
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Fuel Economy Rules
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Greg Dotson, University of Oregon
The Trump administration announced a plan to relax fuel economy standards, but well-designed regulations can drive clean car innovations that make U.S. industry globally competitive.
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James M. Sallee, University of California, Berkeley
Since the federal government started setting fuel economy standards, US-built cars have doubled their fuel efficiency, saving money for consumers and reducing pollution.
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John DeCicco, University of Michigan
Manufacturers always have to make trade-offs when they design new cars, balancing the need to protect public health and the environment with their urge to wow customers.
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Nicholas Bryner, University of California, Los Angeles; Meredith Hankins, University of California, Los Angeles
Air pollution could be the next battleground between California and the Trump administration, which is reviewing the Golden State's special legal authority to regulate tailpipe emissions.
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Education
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Erin McHenry-Sorber, West Virginia University
The Oklahoma teachers strike is about more than just pay, but rather a longstanding pattern of decline in funding for the state's public schools.
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Marybeth Gasman, University of Pennsylvania
As the student protest over conditions at Howard University continues, a scholar weighs in on what the fallout means for historically black colleges and universities.
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Politics + Society
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Derek H. Alderman, University of Tennessee
When activists have sought to rename main thoroughfares that don’t serve just primarily black neighborhoods, they have faced many challenges.
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Dov Waxman, Northeastern University
The violence that led to the deaths of 18 Palestinians last week in Gaza dominated the headlines. But that's not the real story from that day: The nonviolence of thousands of other demonstrators is.
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Rebecca Hanson, University of Florida; Leonard Gómez Núñez, Universidad Nacional Experimental de Seguridad (UNES), Venezuela
After a fire killed 66 inmates at a Venezuelan jail in March, news stories portrayed the country's prisons as lawless. The real backstory of this deadly riot is more complex — and maybe a bit scarier.
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Joe Arvai, University of Michigan
An academic suing the EPA over its decision to bar certain scientists from serving on advisory boards says the EPA needs to address legitimate criticisms to rebuild after Pruitt.
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Science + Technology
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Sherry Hamby, Sewanee: The University of the South
People in Appalachia are skeptical and cautious around technology – and how they think can be useful and instructive for living in a tech-centric world.
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Jeff Inglis, The Conversation
Scholars discuss the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal: what happened, what's at stake, how to fix it, and what could come next.
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Christopher Palma, Pennsylvania State University
A couple thousand satellites are orbiting Earth right now. Under the right conditions, your naked eye can spot these human-made objects in the night sky.
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Chip Colwell, University of Colorado Denver
Are DNA samples today's version of the human skeletons that hung in 20th-century natural history museums? They can provide genetic revelations about our species' history – but at an ethical price.
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Ethics + Religion
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Michael Blake, University of Washington
An expert explains why a recent plan to include a question about citizenship in the 2020 census is unjust, both for citizens and noncitizens.
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Paul Harvey, University of Colorado
A scholar argues how MLK's ideas and thoughts remain underappreciated in wider public consciousness.
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Health + Medicine
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Jeffrey Roth, University of Florida
For years, educators have viewed socio-economic status as an influence on learning. Here's why a recent study suggests the full story may be more complicated than that.
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Fabian V. Filipp, University of California, Merced
Cancer is a disease of our genes, but resistance to therapy might go beyond cancer mutations. The DNA stays the same, but cancer cells outsmart the drugs by switching their gene activity.
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