Plus: How your mind maps numbers
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Top headlines
Lead story Stephen Colbert was a correspondent on “The Daily Show” for seven years before helming “The Colbert Report” for nine years. In 2015, he replaced David Letterman as host of “The Late Show,” the long-running franchise that CBS will be taking off the air tomorrow evening. Colbert’s career isn’t over – perhaps another run for president is in the cards! – but his impact on comedy and politics is already undeniable. “Many satirists lean toward cynicism, portraying politics as hopelessly corrupt and public life as fundamentally absurd. Not Colbert,” writes Penn State scholar of political satire Sophia A. McClennen. McClennen, who has studied the comic’s career for nearly two decades, explains how a deep commitment to pluralism and democratic ideals has always lingered beneath Colbert’s deadpan wit. Blurring the line between comedy and direct action, Colbert helped educate millions of Americans about the vagaries of campaign finance law, encouraged voter participation in countless elections and relentlessly critiqued the outrage-driven news cycles of cable news. Of Colbert’s over-the-top, conservative, pundit persona on “The Colbert Report,” she writes, “The joke was never America itself. The target was a performance of patriotism that treated dissent as disloyalty, emotional certainty as evidence and partisan identity as civic virtue.” [ Science from the scientists themselves. Sign up for our weekly science email newsletter. ] |
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Nick Lehr Senior Arts + Culture Editor |
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Stephen Colbert tapes a segment for ‘The Late Show’ at Quicken Loans Arena ahead of the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images
Sophia A. McClennen, Penn State The greatest satirists do more than expose hypocrisy. They reshape how citizens understand power and civic responsibility.
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Politics + Society |
Scott Shackelford, Indiana University The federal task force that defends US elections has been largely absent this election cycle, and the threat-sharing hub it relied on has been defunded. Timothy Welbeck, Temple University Ona Judge was 1 of 9 people George Washington owned when he lived in the President’s House in Philadelphia. The city will recognize her legacy each May 21. |
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Science + Technology |
Yeimy J. Rivera, Smithsonian Institution The Sun is a complex physical body. It generates incredible amounts of heat and a strong, often tangled, magnetic field. Olga Lazareva, Drake University; Reggie Gazes, Bucknell University On your mental number line, are the numbers smaller on the left or on the right? Two comparative cognition researchers explain how culture may influence the orientation – but also may not.
💬 Comments open Alex Krasnok, Florida International University Quantum computers are still a work in progress but quantum sensors are already in use at hospitals, laboratories and by defense contractors. |
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Health + Medicine |
Susan Radzilowski, University of Michigan Misinformation and a shifting legal landscape have left many families with trans children uncertain about what care doctors can still provide. |
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Environment + Energy |
H. Christopher Frey, North Carolina State University The move reshapes how future assessments of chemical dangers will be carried out, and if they’ll be ignored, delayed or understated to benefit industry. Paul Bierman, University of Vermont Melting ice, thawing permafrost and crumbling fjord walls are just a few of the risks climate change poses for those living and working in Greenland. |
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Ethics + Religion |
Steven K. Green, Willamette University The ‘Rededicate 250’ rally raised questions about separation of church and state. Jefferson and Madison’s many letters to each other shed light on that much-debated principle. Anisah Bagasra, Kennesaw State University Negative portrayals of Muslims are not without consequence – they lead to increased discrimination, hate crimes and psychological harm, writes a scholar of Islamophobia. |
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Arts + Culture |
Matthew Jordan, Penn State There was once a bipartisan consensus that media power had to be regulated if democracy were to survive.
💬 Comments open
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Economy + Business |
Liza Barnes, Drexel University; Ashley Hardin, Washington University in St. Louis; Christina Lacerenza, University of Colorado Boulder About 2 in 3 Americans who are employed can get paid time off work while getting and recovering from chemotherapy or surgeries doctors have told them they need. |
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