Israel's High Court ruled that women must be allowed to take exams for Jewish religious authority positions. The decision is a milestone in a shift for Orthodox Judaism, which has historically prohibited women from becoming rabbis and taking religious leadership roles.
The Conversation
Orthodox Judaism is making space for women’s religious leadership – even without traditional ordination
A court decision allowing Israeli women to take the Chief Rabbinate’s exams is the latest sign of growing recognition for women’s religious lea...
Exoplanets’ atmospheres may reveal whether life could actually survive there — and whether Earth's climate-regulating processes exist elsewhere in the galaxy.
The Conversation
Beyond the habitable zone: Exoplanet atmospheres are the next clue to finding life on planets orbiting distant stars
Searching for life on other planets requires more than just measuring their distances from their stars. A future NASA telescope may help search for...
Developed countries have promised huge increases in climate finance aid to help poor nations recover from climate disasters. Some of that money is just renamed development aid – and has funded projects like airport expansions with LED lighting and an ice cream company's expansion.
The Conversation
How climate finance to help poor countries became a global shell game – donors have counted fossil fuel projects, airports and even ice cream shops
Wealthy countries promised billions of dollars to help developing nations adapt to climate change, but the result rests on a shaky foundation of fu...
Cardiac medicine has made great strides over the past 50 years, saving millions of lives. The story of Dick Cheney’s life and treatment, from early angioplasties to drug-eluting stents and a heart transplant, is a good mirror on the progress.
The Conversation
Vice President Dick Cheney’s life followed the arc of the biggest breakthroughs in cardiovascular medicine
Life-changing advances in cardiovascular medicine enabled Cheney to live a productive life well beyond what many heart patients experience. But pre...
“There’s certainly no Trumpism without Trump, but MAGA without Trump would be like the tea party.” Anthropologist Alex Hinton says that’s why the Epstein files matter so much to MAGA — they sit at the intersection of anti-elite conspiracy theories, Christian morality politics and deep loyalty to Trump.
The Conversation
Why MAGA is so concerned with Epstein − and why the files are unlikely to dent loyalty to Trump
President Donald Trump’s base has supported him through countless controversies. But they split from him over the release of the Epstein files. W...
 #USPolitics #Epstein
Making peace can be messy. 30 years after the Dayton Peace Accords ended the Bosnian war, scholars who have studied the war and its aftermath say the “ugly peace” has held — preventing warfare but locking the country into crony capitalism and ethnonationalist deadlock.
The Conversation
The Dayton Peace Accords at 30: An ugly peace that has prevented a return to war over Bosnia
More than 100,000 people were killed in the Bosnian war. But the peace that ended it in 1995 sowed the seeds for ethnonationalism.
ICE is building a 24/7 social media monitoring program that would scan Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and dozens of other platforms. Private contractors would turn public posts into enforcement leads fed directly into government databases.
The Conversation
Always watching: How ICE’s plan to monitor social media 24/7 threatens privacy and civic participation
ICE’s dragnet is expanding across social media, putting everyone’s digital lives into the realm of border and immigration enforcement.
“Someone who says I’m against abortion but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life. And someone who says I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don’t know if that’s pro-life.” - Pope Leo XIV
The Conversation
What does ‘pro-life’ mean? There’s no one answer – even for advocacy groups that oppose abortion
The term ‘pro-life’ can seem simple – but how Americans and advocacy groups interpret it varies widely.
The FDA has taken the “black box” warning off hormone replacement therapy for menopause — that big bold label that signaled serious risks. Newer research shows these treatments are safe for many, especially if given with a cream instead of a pill. A nurse practitioner who specializes in Women’s Health says the move could help more patients finally get relief from hot flashes, brain fog and other symptoms.
The Conversation
I treat menopause and its symptoms, and hormone replacement therapy can help – here’s the science behind the FDA’s decision to remove warnings
Hormone therapy is not a silver bullet that reverses aging, but it can significantly improve bothersome symptoms that can diminish people’s quali...
 #health #menopause
Retailers have quietly tightened return policies (with shorter windows and new fees) to increase their profits. Before you buy this #BlackFriday, check the fine print of the return policy – just in case.
The Conversation
Retailers are quietly changing their return policies – here’s why you should be on the lookout this Black Friday
During the pandemic, retailers used generous return policies to win over shoppers. Now, those policies are costing them billions – prompting a wi...