Political and ideological barriers can shape the progress of academic disciplines, warns Ivan Boldyrev. In a new paper, the historian of economics at Radboud University explores the complex history of Soviet science and warns that a new Cold War might once again hinder academic progress. His findings have been published in the Journal of Economic Literature.

New York City public school teachers are more likely to stay in schools with a principal and higher proportion of peers that share their race/ethnicity, suggesting the importance of representation and belonging in growing a diverse teacher workforce.

Research shows that compared to White teachers, teachers of color in the United States have consistently higher rates of turnover, a gap that has widened in the last decade. To better understand how staff demographics influence this phenomenon, researchers studied turnover trends in New York City public schools.

Ants Outperform Humans in Group Decision-Making Challenge

A Weizmann Institute study led by Prof. Ofer Feinerman pitted ants and humans against each other in a maze navigation experiment designed to test group cooperation. While humans excelled individually, ant groups demonstrated superior collaborative problem-solving, outperforming human groups in several scenarios. The study highlights the ants’ collective memory and calculated teamwork, contrasting with human groups that often relied on short-term strategies and failed to leverage the "wisdom of the crowd." These findings, published in PNAS, provide new insights into the dynamics of group decision-making and the evolutionary advantages of cooperation.

A new study by Peking University researchers links smoking to an increased risk of developing chronic kidney disease, particularly in its advanced stages. The study, published in Health Data Science Journal, emphasizes smoking cessation as a key preventive measure for kidney health.

Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, has long been a model species for biologists seeking to understand the molecular mechanisms of animal function and how novelty may arise in organisms. Theoretical physicist Andrea Liu of the University of Pennsylvania is conducting research on the insect, along with biology and experimental biophysics collaborators at Duke University. Their research has opened the door to an approach that could offer not only a new understanding of how biological function emerges but also suggest a new class of systems in condensed matter physics.