UPS and Teamsters agree on new contract, averting costly strike that could have delayed deliveries for consumers and retailers

Jason Miller, Michigan State University

The strike would have been the first for the parcel delivery giant since 1997.

As witchcraft becomes a multibillion-dollar business, practitioners’ connection to the natural world is changing

Helen A. Berger, Brandeis University

Practitioners of Pagan religions no longer need to go into a forest to find an object for their altars. Commercialization has meant that sacred objects are available online.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts uses conflicting views of race to resolve America’s history of racial discrimination

Henry L. Chambers Jr., University of Richmond

Two Supreme Court rulings on the use of race appear at odds with each other. Blame Chief Justice Roberts’s ambivalence on race, a constitutional law scholar writes.

Sen. Tuberville’s blockade of US military promotions takes a historic tradition to a radical new level – and could go beyond Congress’ August break

Brooks D. Simpson, Arizona State University

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama is using a long-standing Senate practice to block military promotions.

Do smartphones belong in classrooms? Four scholars weigh in

Louis-Philippe Beland, Carleton University; Arnold Lewis Glass, Rutgers University; Daniel G. Krutka, University of North Texas; Sarah Rose, Staffordshire University

The 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report proposed restrictions on the use of technology in the classroom.

Where the government draws the line for Medicaid coverage leaves out many older Americans who may need help paying for medical and long-term care bills – new research

Marc Cohen, UMass Boston; Jane Tavares, UMass Boston

Increasing the number of older people with both Medicaid and Medicare would mean fewer of them would be forced to skimp on the care and treatment they need.

To reclaim downtowns from traffic, require developers to offer strategies for cutting car use

Chris McCahill, University of Wisconsin-Madison

US cities are starting to reform laws that required developers to provide minimum amounts of parking. But there’s more they can do to loosen the auto’s grip on downtowns.

Persuading businesses and people to reduce climate emissions is key to slowing climate change – research-based techniques and new approaches from the behavioral sciences can show how to do it

Kira Barrett, The Conversation

How much does human behavior influence climate change? Can it be changed, and how? In June, climate change experts and behavioral scientists came together to answer these important questions.

Fragile X syndrome often results from improperly processed genetic material – correctly cutting RNA offers a potential treatment

Joel Richter, UMass Chan Medical School; Sneha Shah, UMass Chan Medical School

Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited form of intellectual disability. Using short bits of DNA to fix improperly transcribed genes may one day be a potential treatment option.

Measuring helium in distant galaxies may give physicists insight into why the universe exists

Anne-Katherine Burns, University of California, Irvine

The way particles interacted while the universe was forming seconds after the Big Bang could explain why the universe exists the way it does – a physicist explains matter-antimatter asymmetry.

DeSantis’ ‘war on woke’ looks a lot like attempts by other countries to deny and rewrite history

Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to manage waste

Despite calls for her to recuse herself from Trump’s criminal case, Judge Aileen Cannon’s situation doesn’t meet the standard for when a judge should step away