Education May 14 Many college students struggle to pass remedial math. Do they need to? Colleges created remedial education classes to ensure students were sufficiently prepared for more advanced material. But increasingly, there’s a sense that remedial courses are hurting the prospects of the students they are intended to help. As a result, some California…
Education May 07 For these states and cities, funding college is money in the bank A majority of American college graduates leave school with tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. The issue of paying for college is so concerning that several 2020 presidential candidates have proposed forgiving student debt or making public colleges…
World Apr 06 Scottish city looks to culture to reinvent its future The River Tay was once the lifeblood of Dundee, Scotland. But the nation's fourth-largest city is now in the middle of a reinvention. With $1.2 billion in investments, Dundee is hoping to draw tourists and business by becoming a center…
Science Mar 31 Climate change pushes Florida’s mangroves north Mangroves are prevalent in tropical south Florida, but the plants have been moving farther north as climate change makes freezing weather less common. Hari Sreenivasan reports on the plant's encroachment and what it means for the future of coastal ecosystems.
Science Mar 17 Uncovering the history of Earth’s climate To understand the history of climate change, researchers are digging underneath the ocean floor where organisms and plants have accumulated in sediment over millennia. Maureen Raymo studies this science of paleoclimatology using a vast collection of materials at Columbia University’s…
Nation Feb 23 New York moves to regulate a ‘likely human carcinogen’ in drinking water New York state is proposing the country’s first firm limit on a chemical found in drinking water in heavy concentrations in some Long Island, New York communities. 1,4-dioxane has been labeled a “likely human carcinogen” by the EPA, but is…
Nation Jan 16 Supreme Court declines to hear case about toxic burn pits on military bases overseas The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from veterans who had sued defense contractors over claims that toxic smoke from open burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan caused them serious health problems. One of the contractors, KBR, countered that…
Arts Jan 05 Artist M.C. Escher spent a lifetime distorting perspective The late Dutch artist M.C. Escher is perhaps best known for his tessellations that fool the eye, like “Sky and Water I,” where birds in the air trade off negative space with fish underwater. But there are 200 lithographs, woodcuts…
World Dec 09 Brexit may divert power from these ocean energy advances As Scotland moves ahead with bringing tidal energy from an emerging technology to a commercial reality, Brexit could shake up the ocean power industry. To end a two-part series on advances in this field, Hari Sreenivasan heads to an ocean…
World Dec 08 Scotland is betting on tidal energy As Scotland transitions from fossil fuels to renewable energy, it is investing in an unexpected source: tidal currents. Similar to wind turbines, which sit above ground, tidal turbines are one hundred feet below water and use tides instead of wind…