Plus: Why more co-workers aren't allies
| | | | Top headlines Lead story I've been reading aloud each night to my kids, now ages 4 and 7, since they were just a few days old. But once my 7-year-old began to read fluently on her own, our bedtime story time transformed into us quietly reading side by side, each with a book in hand. It turns out, I am not the only parent who stopped reading aloud to her children once they learned to read on their own − only 37% of families reported reading aloud to their 6- and 8-year-old kids in 2024. This compares with 51% of families who read aloud to their very young children, under 4 years old. Our lead story today by Erin Clabough, a neuroscientist at the University of Virginia, is making me rethink this recent shift in our evening routine. In the article, Clabough explains the results of her recently published study that examined the impact of reading on older children's creativity and empathy. She describes these two skills as superpowers that help children predict behavior and navigate social situations safely. Reading isn't "just about preparing kids to sleep or teaching them to decode words," Clabough writes. "They're building neural pathways for understanding others and imagining possibilities. With repeated practice, these connections strengthen, just like practicing piano." She adds: "In a world designed to pull families toward screens, bedtime reading remains a refuge where parent and child share the same imaginative space." [ Science from the scientists themselves. Sign up for our weekly science email newsletter. ] |  | Amy Lieberman Education Editor | |  A father reads a bedtime story to his daughter in 1955. Lambert/Getty Images Erin Clabough, University of Virginia New research shows that parents who read to their 6- to 8-year-olds nightly boost their children's creativity and empathy. | Ethics + Religion | -
Gerard F. Powers, University of Notre Dame The Catholic Church's teachings on 'just war' have guided leaders' long history of opposing many military interventions. | | Health + Medicine | -
Patrick Aguilar, Washington University in St. Louis To lower health care costs, the Trump administration will have to wrangle a complex system fraught with competing interests. | | Economy + Business | -
Meg A. Warren, Western Washington University; Michael T. Warren, Western Washington University The reasons colleagues stay silent when co-workers are mistreated may not be what you assume − and it's not what companies typically spend money on in their efforts to create a fair environment. | | Politics + Society | -
Jennifer Lynn McCoy, Georgia State University The electoral system used by many global democracies eliminates gerrymandering and has been shown to give more equal representation to minorities and women. -
Timothy Welbeck, Temple University Ona Judge was one of 9 people George Washington owned when he lived in the President's House in Philadelphia. | | International | -
Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager, Colorado State University The center of gravity in Europe is increasingly aligning along a Rome-Berlin axis. | | Environment + Energy | -
Charles Prior, University of Birmingham Native American lands contain 30% of the nation's coal, 50% of its uranium and 20% of its natural gas, as well as copper, lithium and rare earth elements. -
Gary W. Yohe, Wesleyan University A federal judge dealt one blow to the effort when he found the administration had violated the law in handpicking a panel to question climate science. | | Science + Technology | -
Rachael Seidler, University of Florida; Tianyi (Erik) Wang, University of Florida These changes aren't permanent – the brain goes gradually back to normal after coming back to Earth. Understanding the physical effects of spaceflight helps plan space missions. | | | | Today's graphic 📈 |
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