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Top headlines
Lead story
Former Sen. James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican who died on Tuesday, was infamous for his climate change denial. He once held up a snowball in the U.S. Senate chamber to argue that, because it was snowing in Washington in February, climate change was a “hoax.” The denial that he and others promoted for years persuaded some people to ignore both science and the changes in weather patterns happening around them.
As the world faces record-breaking heat waves and extreme storms, Macalester College anthropologist Ron Barrett poses an interesting question: Can humanity still address climate change without believing it’s true?
Barrett looks back in history to germ theory, at a time when microscopes were just coming into use, to show how people can still make the right choices, even if they don’t understand a threat they can’t see.
[ Science from the scientists themselves. Sign up for our weekly science email newsletter. ]
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Stacy Morford
Environment + Climate Editor
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Monster Soup, an 1828 political cartoon by William Health, shows a woman horrified by a magnified drop of Thames River water.
Wellcome Images via Wikimedia
Ron Barrett, Macalester College
In the 19th century, many doctors might not have believed germ theory, but they switched to using protective methods anyway for a simple reason.
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Health + Medicine
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Bill Sullivan, Indiana University
Pregnant people can contract toxoplasmosis, which causes birth defects like blindness and brain defects. The parasite is more common than you might think.
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Linda Charmaraman, Wellesley College; Elana Pearl Ben-Joseph, Wellesley College; J. Maya Hernandez, University of California, Irvine
Sharply restricting kids’ use of digital media is linked with problematic internet use — but it is still unclear why.
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Ethics + Religion
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Gustavo Morello, Boston College
One biblical verse bans tattoos, but the full story of Christianity’s relationship with body modification is more complicated.
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Politics + Society
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Jacob L. Nelson, University of Utah
Is there a plot among journalists to push President Joe Biden out of the race? Why are so many journalists focusing on Biden’s problems and not Trump’s? A journalism scholar explains what’s going on.
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Dante Chinni, Michigan State University; Ari Pinkus, Michigan State University
On issues and policies in which government has a serious role – taxes, immigration, the state of the economy and even abortion – a 2023 survey found a great deal of agreement among Americans.
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Christopher Devine, University of Dayton
Media coverage of vice presidential candidates tends to focus on who can help win the election rather than who is qualified to help govern once in office.
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Lisa Fazio, Vanderbilt University
While people rely less on TV for their daily news than they used to, it remains influential − and the TV storytelling about student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza and more can shift opinions.
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Economy + Business
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D. Brian Blank, Mississippi State University; Brandy Hadley, Appalachian State University
The 6-3 Supreme Court ruling could create new risks for unwary investors – and a new reason for them to invest in index funds.
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Vitaliy Skorodziyevskiy, University of Louisville; Chelsea Sherlock; Clay Dibrell; Emma Su, University of Dayton; Jim Chrisman, Mississippi State University
Small and medium-sized family businesses are more innovative than you might realize.
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Arts + Culture
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Louis Parascandola, Long Island University, Brooklyn
The author of ‘A Black Philadelphia Reader,’ a new anthology of writing by Philadelphia authors past and present, revisits four riveting works by local women.
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Josephine Metcalf, University of Hull; Ben V. Olguín, University of California, Santa Barbara
Many of the book’s themes, including structural racism, inequalities and poverty are as topical now as 30 years ago.
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International
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Chuka Onwumechili, Howard University
Women were banned from playing football in many countries, but that’s just one of many barriers they have overcome.
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