The Supreme Court has rejected President Trump’s plan to control how ballots get sent in the mail. But that does not mark the end of the President's efforts to undermine mail-in voting, and change who votes and how.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired or blocked promotions of 10% of the military's top ranked officers. Former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall says it's created 'a climate of fear throughout the entire institution.' What’s going on inside the Pentagon, and what it means for the future of the U.S. military.
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On Point news analyst Jack Beatty on one of President Trump’s oft-repeated rhetorical tropes and what its conjectured origin story might say about his internal salience map.
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Twenty-five years ago, the U.S. suffered the worst terrorist attack in its history. Today, roughly 40% of Americans are too young to remember the events of 9/11. Journalist Garrett Graff shares an oral history of 9/11, how that day unfolded and how it changed America forever.
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The Treasury Department recently eliminated a rule that required American companies to identify their owners. The rule was intended to prevent money laundering. What’s driving the decision to drop it?
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An OpenAI cybersecurity test took an unexpected turn when hundreds of its AI agents got around safeguards and hacked into another tech company. Should OpenAI have done more to prevent the attack?
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You don’t need a license to ride a bike in the U.S. But e-bikes are a different story. Some states classify them as bicycles, others as vehicles. And in some places, you even need insurance to ride one. How to regulate e-bikes, for personal and public safety.
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It's not just phones anymore. More teachers and even entire U.S. school districts are cutting back the time students spend on laptops and other screens. How do students really learn -- and do screens help or hurt?
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On Point news analyst Jack Beatty on the chasm between what politicians say when they are running for office and what they can do in office, and why he thinks 2026 is the year of the demagogue.
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One in 5 Americans say they've seen a ghost. But what if it was really our brain that had tricked us into thinking we saw something we didn't?
In the "Science of the Supernatural" psychology professor Melissa Maffeo argues how a paranormal experience could be our brains just misinterpreting the external world.
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Highly toxic wastewater from America’s fracking boom is buried in deep underground wells. But in some places that toxic waste is bubbling upwards -- threatening local drinking water. How Marietta, Ohio is trying to fight fracking waste.
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Flock cameras are used by thousands of police forces across the country to track vehicles. But a growing popular backlash has led to cities canceling their Flock contracts. What that says about the tension between public safety and privacy in America.
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Since Google Maps launched in 2005, the little blue dot has come to symbolize a transformation in how we navigate through the world -- wholly reliant on GPS. But what do we lose when we no longer get lost?
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When politicians talk about America’s working class, they often mean blue collar workers without college degrees. But as more workers feel financially squeezed, should we expand that definition?
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Sharon McMahon has built a huge online audience with her explanations of how America’s system of government works. She tells Jack and Dorey why her non-partisan approach to political understanding can rebuild trust.
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We think of ladybugs as cute red beetles associated with good luck and gardening. But the real ladybug story involves poaching, trafficking and a struggle for survival.
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Americans have been told for decades to toss plastic into the recycling bin. But only a small share actually gets recycled. Now, California is trying to overhaul the system by cracking down on misleading labels and holding companies responsible for their plastic waste. Will it work?
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Music. Books. Film. Artificial intelligence is changing how we express ourselves. Is AI a tool for creativity -- or a barrier?
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In his new book, "Walking Red Flag: Dating Advice from Your Favorite Guy Friend," comedian Jared Freid offers tips, tricks and real talk on modern dating.
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James Spooner grew up as a punk rocker with a mohawk. But as a mixed-race kid, he didn’t always feel like he belonged. Then, he found Afro-punk -- and pushed it into the spotlight.
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On Point news analyst Jack Beatty talks to author Ann Larson about her new book "Clean Up on Aisle Five”; the realities of grocery store workers, their place in our society and economy and what it says about the need for dignity in essential labor.
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You might think a healthy brain starts and ends in your head – but there are miles and miles of neuron fibers that connect your brain with nearly every corner of your body. Why a healthy brain needs a healthy body.
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A tunnel. A bright light. Reuniting with deceased loved ones. Many people who have near-death experiences have remarkably similar stories. Why?
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The rate at which artificial intelligence is able to replicate human behavior has increased in recent years. Does that mean it's thinking like us?
In the third episode of "Brainwaves," what artificial intelligence teaches us about our own capacity for thought.
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Consciousness is how we are able to feel, dream and imagine. And yet -- scientists haven't figured out how consciousness definitively works. What we know, what we don’t and what that tells us about our brains.
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The brain is the organ that makes us who we are. It’s our conduit between reality and thought. But somehow, we’ve only scratched the surface in understanding how the brain actually works.
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On Point news analyst Jack Beatty has an epiphany: Retrofitting should be the defining goal of our civilization.
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Lewis and Clark became American legends. But they didn’t explore the West alone. A new book profiles the forgotten members of the Corps of Discovery and their remarkable stories.
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Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is a pro-Palestinian, anti-Hamas expert who grew up in Gaza City. He says a realistic path to peace in the Middle East requires different thinking.
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Texas has a new statewide mandatory reading list for all public school students -- with whole books on the curriculum. Should other states follow suit?
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WASHINGTON, Sept. 09, 2026, El Eden Import Distributor Corp., a Long Island City, N.Y. firm, is recalling approximately 264 pounds of potato chip products containing chicharrón (pork cracklings) because they...
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2025 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for frozen, fully cooked ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and...
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27, 2025 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for frozen, fully cooked Wegmans breaded chicken breast...
WASHINGTON, Jan. 8, 2025 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for frozen product labeled as Chicken Curry Empanadas...
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense..." NSF is vital because we support basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future. This type of support:
With an annual budget of $8.5 billion (FY 2021), we are the funding source for approximately 27 percent of the total federal budget for basic research conducted at U.S. colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.
We fulfill our mission chiefly by issuing limited-term grants -- currently about 12,000 new awards per year, with an average duration of three years -- to fund specific research proposals that have been judged the most promising by a rigorous and objective merit-review system. Most of these awards go to individuals or small groups of investigators. Others provide funding for research centers, instruments and facilities that allow scientists, engineers and students to work at the outermost frontiers of knowledge.
NSF's goals -- discovery, learning, research infrastructure and stewardship -- provide an integrated strategy to advance the frontiers of knowledge, cultivate a world-class, broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce and expand the scientific literacy of all citizens, build the nation's research capability through investments in advanced instrumentation and facilities, and support excellence in science and engineering research and education through a capable and responsive organization. We like to say that NSF is "where discoveries begin."
Many of the discoveries and technological advances have been truly revolutionary. In the past few decades, NSF-funded researchers have won some 236 Nobel Prizes as well as other honors too numerous to list. These pioneers have included the scientists or teams that discovered many of the fundamental particles of matter, analyzed the cosmic microwaves left over from the earliest epoch of the universe, developed carbon-14 dating of ancient artifacts, decoded the genetics of viruses, and created an entirely new state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate.
NSF also funds equipment that is needed by scientists and engineers but is often too expensive for any one group or researcher to afford. Examples of such major research equipment include giant optical and radio telescopes, Antarctic research sites, high-end computer facilities and ultra-high-speed connections, ships for ocean research, sensitive detectors of very subtle physical phenomena and gravitational wave observatories.
Another essential element in NSF's mission is support for science and engineering education, from pre-K through graduate school and beyond. The research we fund is thoroughly integrated with education to help ensure that there will always be plenty of skilled people available to work in new and emerging scientific, engineering and technological fields, and plenty of capable teachers to educate the next generation.
No single factor is more important to the intellectual and economic progress of society, and to the enhanced well-being of its citizens, than the continuous acquisition of new knowledge. NSF is proud to be a major part of that process
Officially coming into existence on July 1, 1870, the Department of Justice was empowered to handle all criminal prosecutions and civil suits in which the United States had an interest. To assist the Attorney General, the 1870 Act also created the Office of the Solicitor General, who represents the interests of the United States before the U.S. Supreme Court.
On a single night in 2020, roughly 580,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States. Homeless Assistance:
If you are at risk of being homeless or in need of transitional housing, HUD partners may be able to work with you on a long-term plan and connect you with resources for success. Search for a Continuum of Care resource provider to get started.
Other Assistance:
Paying my rent (rental assistance) —
Applying for a Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) —
Talking to a housing counselor —
Reporting housing discrimination —
Finding Coronavirus resources
U.S. President Joe Biden's official portrait, 2021
Joe Biden at age 10 (1953)
Joe Biden at the White House in 1987
Joe Biden and Barack Obama, July 2012
