For most Americans, Ukraine is a faraway place that shares little history with us. The Cold War is an exception.

Thought it was gone for good when the Soviet Union crumbled? Well, a new Cold War is emerging. In an article he wrote for The Conversation, Jaro Bilocerkowycz, a University of Dayton political scientist, explores why Putin doesn’t fear military threats on his borders. After all, he points out, Russia has a powerful nuclear arsenal and the largest conventional forces in Europe.

What Putin does fear, Bilocerkowycz writes, is the spread of democracy to places like Ukraine.

This week we also liked articles about a man who sparked a big debate over humans’ role in climate change in the early 20th century, the mental health benefits transgender adolescents get from puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormone therapy and why many Muslim women wear hijab while engaging in sports.

Howard Manly

Race + Equity Editor

Soldiers with the 92nd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces conduct drills in northeastern Ukraine on Jan. 31, 2022. Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

A new Cold War emerging as Russia launches full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Jaro Bilocerkowycz, University of Dayton

The days of Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe disappeared at the end of the Cold War nearly 30 years ago. It appears Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to start a new Cold War..

Ketanji Brown Jackson at her Senate Judiciary Committee hearing as a nominee to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia Circuit, on April 28, 2021. Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images)

Biden nominates Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court: 7 questions answered

Alexis Karteron, Rutgers University - Newark

A constitutional law professor provides insight on what Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the Supreme Court, could mean for how that court works.

Colorized version of a 1935 photo of a male ivory-billed woodpecker, now believed to be extinct. Photographed by Arthur A. Allen. Forestry Images/Wikipedia

Digital sound archives can bring extinct birds (briefly) back to life

Hannah Hunter, Queen's University, Ontario

There are no more ivory-billed woodpeckers or Bachman’s Warblers on Earth, but they’ve left an echo behind.

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