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- Military leaders frequently underestimate how big the wars they engage in will get. Gen. Douglas MacArthur predicted U.S. troops could come home from the Korean War in time for Christmas, just months after the conflict started. But Chinese attacks that winter extended the war for years. And President Donald Trump said in March that the Iran war would be a "short-term excursion," but it has now lasted more than five months, with periods of escalation.
- Across the United States, the number of people who do not have and do not want to have children is growing. While they are twice as likely to live in California as Louisiana, individual demographic characteristics are the strongest predictors of who is childfree, according to a study published in PLOS One by Zachary Neal and Jennifer Watling Neal from Michigan State University, U.S.
- Online conflict tends to advance social movements rather than undermine them, according to new research from McGill's Desautels Faculty of Management.
- The Amish, a Christian denomination and a three-century-old ethnic group of German migrants known for its strict lifestyle standards, are one of the fastest-growing minority populations in the U.S. For more than a century, the number of Amish people—whose American lineage traces back to Pennsylvania in the early 1700s and the Midwest by the mid-1800s—has grown rapidly, from several thousand in 1910 to 250,000 a century later.
- This summer, America celebrated the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, widely recognized as the formal founding of our nation and one of the early stages of establishing a democratic government.
- When social media arrived on the scene, there were high hopes that they would improve—or even "democratize"—communication about climate change by, for instance, lowering access barriers, creating a more direct channel between science and the public, and giving more voices from civil society a chance to exchange ideas and views on the issue, goals and solutions.
- The past decade has brought a wave of legal reforms around same-sex relationships across Asia: India struck down its colonial-era ban in 2018; Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage in 2019; Singapore repealed Section 377A, with the change taking effect in 2023; and Thailand's marriage equality law came into effect in 2025.
- If you ask an economist why everything is so expensive these days, you will likely get an answer explaining how oil—the lifeblood of the global economy—is currently facing supply bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz, thereby driving up global energy prices.
- As protesters rally against data center construction in dozens of states and New York and Texas pause the issuance of permits for large data centers, a new nationally representative survey finds that Americans' opposition to data centers in their communities has risen sharply since last spring.
- For more than two decades, Charis E. Kubrin has followed the data wherever it leads. As UC Irvine Chancellor's Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, she has built a career studying one of America's most politically charged questions: Does immigration drive crime?
- Oregon voters' narrow 2022 approval of a referendum designed to limit gun purchases has instead resulted in thousands more firearms in the state than there otherwise would have been, a new analysis suggests.
- From genome editing to quantum computing, scientific progress is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, yet public faith in science is collapsing. Our species has mapped the human genome, created powerful computers that sit in the palms of our hands and extended human life spans beyond what our ancestors could have imagined—meanwhile, anti-intellectual movements are gaining momentum.
- Social cohesion is the glue that holds society together. Now, those bonds are breaking, and polarization has been growing for years. Educational programs aimed at strengthening social cohesion by promoting greater tolerance often focus on social differences, such as ethnicity, religion or nationality. Yet are such programs effective? A German–American team of researchers involving the University of Konstanz recommends the opposite approach: Instead of focusing on differences, such programs should center on universal human values.
- Do you ever see comments on social media that seem way off-topic but still manage to wrench the discussion around to divisive political debate?
- As food insecurity persists across high-income countries, charitable organizations and food banks are playing an increasingly important role in helping households access food. A new study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Sheba Medical Center examines the scale and structure of one such system and raises questions about how philanthropic food aid should fit within national food security policy.
- Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 had an almost immediate impact on global energy markets and the movement of food around the world. During the first year of the conflict, international crude oil and natural gas prices rose sharply. Disruptions to exports of wheat, maize, sunflower oil and fertilizers from Russia and Ukraine contributed to record global food prices.
- Republicans and Democrats, renters and homeowners, rich and poor—agree on at least one thing: Buying a home is harder today than it was for their parents. The latest UCI-OC Poll suggests that's just the beginning of the problem.
- A research team led by Professor Hitoshi Yamamoto of Rissho University analyzed five years of longitudinal panel survey data collected between 2020 and 2024 and examined how vaccine-related conspiracy beliefs were associated with media skepticism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study's results appear in Scientific Reports.
- New research from Rutgers University–Newark psychologist Kent Harber reveals a strong connection between conspiracy theories, antisemitic attitudes and hostility toward Israel.
- Most Americans favor nonviolent measures, such as temporary barricades, over violent measures, like the use of rubber bullets, by border enforcement officers toward undocumented migrants on the southern border, a UCL-led study published in the journal Migration Studies has found.
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