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Teen Activists Lead the Fight Against Climate Change
Just a little over a year ago, a 15-year-old girl missed the first day of school to stand in front of the Swedish Parliament with a “School Strike for Climate Change” sign. Under her knitted beanie and with her long double braids coming down to her chest, Greta Thunberg stood still with her mouth firmly… Read More
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Lawmakers, Universities, Nonprofits Step Up Efforts to End Student Hunger
Student hunger, once a seemingly hidden crisis, is beginning to receive the attention it deserves. In April, Temple University’s Hope Center surveyed almost 86,000 students to find that nearly half of them had experienced food insecurity within the 30 days leading up to the survey. In other words, they didn’t know where they would get… Read More
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At These Colleges, Students Begin Serious Research Their First Year
Rat brains to understand Parkinson’s disease. Drones to detect plastic landmines. Social media to predict acts of terrorism. These are just a few potentially lifesaving research projects that students have undertaken in recent years at universities in New York and Maryland. While each project is interesting by itself, there’s something different about these particular research… Read More
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How Universities, Students Can Help the World Achieve SDGs by 2030
For years, the United Nations and its member states have been striving to create a world that is more economically, socially and environmentally sustainable for all. In 2015, they set 17 specific goals, named the “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs), and provided the world’s countries with guidance on how to achieve them by 2030. The goals,… Read More
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Are You Mentally Well Enough for College?
Last spring, an 18-year-old college freshman who got straight A’s in high school – but was now failing several courses – came to my office on the campus where I work as a psychologist. The student was seeking a medical exception so that he could withdraw from the classes he failed instead of taking the… Read More
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Student Spotlight: UCF Undergrad Helps NASA Unlock Clues to the Origin of Life
For Jennifer Nolau, a University of Central Florida (UCF) physics student and self-described “sci-fi nerd,” working this past summer with NASA was a dream come true. Instead of sleeping in or working a part-time job — as most undergrads do during summer break — Nolau spent her time examining images of boulders and rocks from… Read More
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Should We Be Scared of AI?
For decades, humans have fantasized about the idea of an artificial intelligence (AI) takeover. Science fiction movies like “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Terminator” and “I, Robot” enthralled viewers for years, mostly because they teased the chance of an AI-driven, dystopian future. But today, that dystopian future may be too close for comfort. Before his… Read More
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1 in 5 College Students Takes Math Courses That Repeat What They Already Know
Although going to college offers the promise of engaging with new ideas and learning new skills, when it comes to math, the experience can sometimes be like high school all over again. In a new study of more than 5,000 students in two- and four-year colleges across the nation, I found that roughly one in… Read More
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Students Gather at UNLEASH to ‘Create Real, Scalable Solutions’ to SDGs
What do the prime minister and the crown princess of Denmark, Ashton Kutcher and Sophia, the most advanced and celebrated robot in the world, have in common? At each of the two annual UNLEASH Labs, these influential, inspiring individuals set the stage for the real limelight of the event — a group of 1,000 different… Read More
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University Study Helps Navajo Cancer Survivors Find a Path to Recovery
For a group of Native American cancer survivors, movement may have been the best medicine. Such is the conclusion of a recently completed study designed to help a group of Navajo cancer survivors rehabilitate through a specially crafted exercise program. The study was conducted by the Partnership for Native American Cancer Prevention (NACP), a collaboration… Read More
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72% of Undergrads Want to Work Remotely
Seventy-two percent of undergraduate students would rather work remotely than work in an office, according to a recent College Pulse study. The study, which considered the opinion of 22,970 undergraduate students, highlights a growing trend — employees want more flexibility. And, according to Terren Klein, CEO of College Pulse, employers would be wise to give… Read More
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Australian University Unveils New Renewable Power System
The University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) in Australia has completed construction on a new thermal energy storage system that promises to cut the university’s energy usage by 40 percent. The unique system, which is being dubbed the “water battery,” utilizes power drawn from over 6,000 newly-installed solar panels to chill a 4.5-megalitres tank of… Read More
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Report Highlights the Most Sustainable Colleges and Universities
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) recently released its annual Sustainable Campus Index report, recognizing some of the world’s most sustainable colleges and universities. Topping AASHE’s list with “platinum” ratings are Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, Stanford University, UC Irvine, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and Colorado… Read More
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How Colleges Can Help Transgender Students Struggling with Mental Health
A recent study found that students who identify as transgender, gender nonconforming, or genderqueer, are up to four times more likely than their cisgendered peers to suffer from mental health issues. To come to that conclusion, researchers looked at self-reported rates of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, self-injury and suicidality in more than 1,200 “gender minority… Read More
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The Amazon Is Burning: 4 Essential Reads on Brazil’s Vanishing Rainforest
Nearly 40,000 fires are incinerating Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, the latest outbreak in an overactive fire season that has charred 1,330 square miles of the rainforest this year. Don’t blame dry weather for the swift destruction of the world’s largest tropical forest, say environmentalists. These Amazonian wildfires are a human-made disaster, set by loggers and cattle… Read More
