Why federal efforts to protect schools from cybersecurity threats fall short

Nir Kshetri, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

Cybercriminals target schools because they’re uniquely vulnerable. A cybersecurity expert explores whether a new White House initiative will be enough to deter bad actors.

Artificial light lures migrating birds into cities, where they face a gauntlet of threats

Carolyn S. Burt, Colorado State University; Kyle Horton, Colorado State University

Migrating birds need stopover locations en route where they can rest and feed. A new study shows that artificial light draws them away from sites they would normally use and into risky zones.

Israel can and will ignore US appeals to minimize casualties in Gaza

Gregory F. Treverton, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Conflict has escalated between Joe Biden and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu over the conduct of the Israel-Hamas war. But a national security veteran says the US has little leverage over Israel.

Is Hamas the same as ISIS, the Islamic State group? No − and yes

Brian Glyn Williams, UMass Dartmouth

A scholar of the Islamic State group says Hamas has undergone a radical ISIS-inspired transformation that has not yet gotten widespread public attention.

In the worst of America’s Jim Crow era, Black intellectual W.E.B. Du Bois found inspiration and hope in national parks

Thomas S. Bremer, Rhodes College

Though progressive politics at the turn of the 20th century called for the protection of America’s national parks, it did so for the enjoyment of white people.

4 business lessons from the Boston Tea Party

Jay L. Zagorsky, Boston University

Two and a half centuries later, some things haven’t changed.

When authoritative sources hold onto bad data: A legal scholar explains the need for government databases to retract information

Janet Freilich, Fordham University

Theranos was dissolved years ago, and its CEO, Elizabeth Holmes, is in prison, but the company’s patents based on bad science live on – a stark example of the persistence of faulty information.

Drinking during holidays and special occasions could affect how you parent your kids

Bridget Freisthler, The Ohio State University

Even parents who don’t drink much throughout the year may have a few extra eggnogs at a Christmas party or beers while watching the Super Bowl. And that has implications for how they treat their kids.

Lighting a fire using friction requires an understanding of some physics principles − but there are ways to make the process easier

Bradley Duncan, University of Dayton

You may have seen contestants on reality shows like “Survivor” make fire using friction, but do you know the physics behind the process?

CRISPR and other new technologies open doors for drug development, but which diseases get prioritized? It comes down to money and science

C. Michael White, University of Connecticut

Drug development takes a great deal of time, money and effort. While future profits play a big factor in which diseases gets prioritized, advocacy and research incentives can also tilt the scale.

Release of Alberto Fujimori in Peru rekindles fears of backsliding on human rights

Ñusta Carranza Ko, University of Baltimore

The former Peruvian strongman appeared frail as he left prison. But his influence on politics remains strong.

American universities in the spotlight over reaction to Israel-Gaza war

Gemma Ware, The Conversation

The first of two episodes of The Conversation Weekly podcast exploring how the Israel-Gaza war is affecting life at universities.

What’s the point of giving gifts? An anthropologist explains this ancient part of being human

How QR codes work and what makes them dangerous – a computer scientist explains

Before he was House speaker, Mike Johnson represented a creationist museum in court. Here’s what that episode reveals about his politics