A new review of the scholarly research to date, led by health behavior experts with the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, sheds light on these trends — the good, the bad and whether they are connected — and offers next steps for policy and the design of online environments.

In a new study, published in Peabody Journal of Education, researchers examined outcomes for English learners (ELs) grouped together in core academic courses in high schools and found that concentrating ELs was linked to lower rates of graduation and college enrollment.  The findings build upon a growing body of research challenging grouping ELs together, including a study in the October 2025 issue of American Education Research Journal in which researchers tested the effects of teaching elementary school ELs in homogenous versus heterogenous groups and found no significant differences in academic outcomes for most students.

New research shows that near-term mitigation could spare future generations around 0.6 meters of sea-level rise that would be caused by emissions between 2020 and 2090 following current policies, making today’s decisions critical not only for limiting warming but also for coastal impacts.

A new report shows that the Baltic countries are leading the way in supporting media freedom internationally.

Lithuania topped the Index, Estonia ranked 4^th, while Latvia came 9^th out of the countries measured. 

However four G7 members - the United Kingdom, United States, Italy, and Japan - were placed in the lowest ‘bronze’ category, scoring 10 points or less in the Index.

And although the US ranked equal 12^th in the Index, a time lag in reporting means that this does not capture its significant cuts to aid spending in 2025 under the Trump administration, which have had a substantial impact on international media assistance.

The Index on International Media Freedom Support (IMFS) is the first index to evaluate countries' foreign policy support for media freedom. 

 

Engineers at Duke University have constructed a group of AI bots that together can solve complex design problems nearly as well as a fully trained scientist. The results, the researchers say, show how AI might soon automate straightforward but niche design problems, opening opportunities for explosive advancements.