Walz pick turns focus on what a VP brings to White House – 3 essential reads

Howard Manly, The Conversation

With a few notable exceptions, historians have found little evidence that vice-presidential picks actually help their presidential tickets.

Bangladesh’s protests explained: What led to PM’s ouster and the challenges that lie ahead

Tazreena Sajjad, American University School of International Service

Military leaders have formed an interim government and promised a transition to civilian rule. Protesters who brought down the previous government are demanding nothing less.

Grassroots efforts to increase voting are gaining momentum in these states, even as other states make voting harder

Tova Wang, Harvard Kennedy School

Americans have been hearing for years that democracy is being eroded and is literally at stake in the upcoming presidential election. But there is good news on the voting front as well.

Kamala Harris’ identity as a biracial woman is either a strength or a weakness, depending on whom you ask

Jennifer Ho, University of Colorado Boulder

While many voters embrace Kamala Harris’ candidacy and the fact that she is a multiracial woman without any biological children, some Republicans are using her identity as fodder for attacks.

Readers trust journalists less when they debunk rather than confirm claims

Randy Stein, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Caroline Meyersohn, California State University, Long Beach

Providing a correction can affect how the audience feels about the journalists trying to set the record straight.

Chang'e 6 brought rocks from the far side of the Moon back to Earth − a planetary scientist explains what this sample could hold

Jeffrey Gillis-Davis, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

The far side of the Moon has a very different composition from the near side − so researchers are eager to see what stories these samples will tell.

Brain implants to restore sight, like Neuralink’s Blindsight, face a fundamental problem − more pixels don’t ensure better vision

Ione Fine, University of Washington; Geoffrey Boynton, University of Washington

Engineers have tried for decades to develop bionic eyes to reverse blindness. But the brain is far more complex than a computer.

Assassination is always unlawful − regardless of who is killed and on whose orders

Mary Ellen O'Connell, University of Notre Dame

The release of a Russian hit man and the assassination of Israel’s enemies in Lebanon and Iran have shone a spotlight on killings carried out on state orders.

Ancient poppy seeds and willow wood offer clues to the Greenland ice sheet’s last meltdown and a glimpse into a warmer future

Paul Bierman, University of Vermont; Halley Mastro, University of Vermont

Our discovery of a tundra ecosystem, frozen under the center of Greenland’s ice sheet, holds a warning about the threat that climate change poses for the future.

I researched the dark side of social media − and heard the same themes in ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

Israel’s military starts drafting ultra-Orthodox Jews – but the battle over serving ‘the army of God’ vs. the army of the state isn’t over, and points to key questions for the country’s future

The French baron who revived the Olympics believed they were more than sport – they were a religion of perfection and peace