Social media has turned traditional Japanese matcha into a booming wellness culture, though its roots lie in Zen Buddhism. A scholar of premodern Japanese literature unpacks that history.
The Conversation
How tourism, a booming wellness culture and social media are transforming the age-old Japanese tea ceremony
Social media has turned traditional Japanese matcha into a commercial trend, though its roots lie in Zen Buddhism. A scholar of premodern Japanese ...
Weighted vests can promote bone health and weight loss, but they’re not a cure-all, explains a dietitian who works with aging people.
The Conversation
Wearing a weighted vest can promote bone health and weight loss, but it’s not a cure-all
Are weighted vests more than a fitness fad? A health and exercise expert explains their potential benefits and limitations.
New tax laws eliminate several federal grants and loan repayment programs for nurses. This will worsen America’s nursing shortage and leave patients waiting longer for care, according to scholars who oversee nursing programs at large universities.
The Conversation
New federal loan limits will worsen America’s nursing shortage and leave patients waiting longer for care
The 2025 tax and spending law lowers the federal loan borrowing limits for nursing students, raising the up-front costs of nursing school.
Influenza A and Mpox are among the viruses an infectious disease expert is worried about for 2026.
The Conversation
Viral outbreaks are always on the horizon – here are the viruses an infectious disease expert is watching in 2026
Viral infections are on the rise and spreading across the globe.
Trash piles on highways. Smog-filled air. Landfills that were just big piles of trash (like the one in this photo from 1972). Complaints about environmental laws often ignore the progress made in cleaning up America since bipartisan 1970s lawmaking. Our story in @latimes.com
Los Angeles Times
Contributor: Photos of the dirty 1970s will make you appreciate the EPA
The public and politicians in both parties saw the urgency 50 years ago and enacted the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act. ...
Without the support of Venezuela's Maduro, conditions on the ground in Cuba are so grim that the Trump administration thinks the communist government in Havana could fall without any direct US intervention.
The Conversation
Cuba’s leaders just lost an ally in Maduro − if starved of Venezuelan oil, they may also lose what remains of their public support
Conditions on the ground in Cuba are so grim that the Trump administration thinks Havana could fall without any US intervention.
Wildlife managers spent weeks unsuccessfully searching for a grizzly bear in British Columbia that had injured 11 schoolchildren. One solution to situations like this: using facial recognition techniques on bears.
The Conversation
How facial recognition for bears can help ecologists manage wildlife
Recent advances in computer vision and other types of artificial intelligence offer an opportunity for facial recognition to apply to bears and oth...
Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act doubled support for the largest farm subsidies while cutting SNAP funding. That disconnect broke the bipartisan political coalition that once passed farm bills, and a comprehensive farm bill may never pass again, according to researchers.
The Conversation
Why 2026 could see the end of the Farm Bill era of American agriculture policy
Farm bills – famously complex legislative and spending balances between farm subsidies, food assistance, conservation and more – have tended to...
Today Venezuela, tomorrow Iran? The supreme leader is running out of options to counter Trump administration pressure and domestic unrest. An analyst of Middle East affairs focusing on Iran explains:
The Conversation
Today Venezuela, tomorrow Iran: can the Islamic Republic survive a second Trump presidency?
Perhaps no one outside of Venezuela should care more about the US invasion and capture of President Nicolás Maduro than the Islamic Republic of Ir...
Chimpanzee mothers lose the ability to supervise their offspring around age 2. Researchers studying wild chimps suggest that loosened parental supervision, not puberty, may explain why adolescent chimps – and human teens – take more risks.
The Conversation
Risks young chimps take as they swing through the trees underscore role of protective parenting in humans
The youngest chimpanzees are the biggest risk-takers. Would humans show the same pattern if adults weren’t keeping such a close watch on little k...