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A member of the National Guard, center, administers the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to a farmworker.

Vaccine mandates aren’t new. But do they work?

COVID-19

With lagging vaccine campaigns and threats of the new delta variant, some world leaders are prompted to impose vaccine mandates.

An elderly man is shown wearing a blue jacked with two kids running nearby and an painting of a hand holding a candle on the wall.

How poetry has helped a hospital chaplain in the pandemic

COVID-19
“Tear down the walls of ignorance and narrow-mindedness,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told graduates at the 368th commencement ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 30, 2019.

From ‘mein Mädchen’ to ‘leader of the free world,’ Angela Merkel is winding down her political career

Leaders
Craft urban foraging

Online map helps city dwellers find wild produce growing in their neighborhoods

Food
The “Copenhagen Wheel” is designed to help give riders a boost up steep hills like in San Francisco. Cyclists still have to pedal to get the extra thrust.

Is the e-bike revolution ready to come to America?

Business
Before the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, five states had "red flag" statutes called gun violence restraining orders. Recently, Florida became the six state to add the statute.

Researchers still struggle to get funding to study gun violence

Culture

Any potential money is barred by a congressional act known as the Dickey Amendment, which mandates that none of the funds available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would be “used to advocate or promote gun control.”

Taiwo Ajai-Lycette in HEAR WORD! Naija Woman Talk True, a play that challenges some of the central tenants of the #MeToo movement.

#MeToo echoes through play about Nigeria: ‘I am a force, a tidal wave, and I won’t hide’

Arts

Nigerian playwright Ifeoma Fafunwa tells stories of sexual harassment. But her latest work puts the onus on women to fight their oppressors.

A drummer performs during a celebration of Sahrul, a festival of flowers, in Ranchi, India. Recently, the findings were released from a study that played snippets of songs from 86 small remote societies to online listeners in 60 countries to see if shares

New findings explore the universality of music, features that are recognizable across cultures

Arts

Take away the words and familiar instruments. Would you still be able to identify a type of song just by the melody or rhythm of a song?

A soft robotic system that gently tugged on the esophagus of a pig proved to elongate the organ by 10 millimeters.

New mechanical cell-manipulation technique could provide pathways into fixing disorders — even cancer

Health

Could a study in which a pig’s esophagus was elongated using a soft robotic system for nine days really help lead to a cure for cancer? It’s actually not that much of a stretch.

A flyer in New York City offering accent reduction classes

Why people are still trying to ‘lose’ their accents

Culture

English is spoken with countless accents by both native and non-native speakers. But a hierarchy of accents persists. So whether you’re from Thailand or Tennessee, accent reduction may be a goal.