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Bias in AI persists because it is rooted in real-world data and institutional history rather than isolated technical flaws. When models are trained on existing data, they inherit patterns that reflect how decisions have been made in the past.Bias is often subtle. It can appear as small, consistent disadvantages that accumulate over time rather than obvious errors.Another challenge is that organizations frequently treat bias as a one-time problem. In reality, it is dynamic. As systems evolve, bias can re-emerge in different forms requiring continuous monitoring.Addressing bias effectively means building governance into the lifecycle of AI systems, including regular auditing, transparency, and clear ownership of outcomes.

Election integrity today is shaped as much by perception as by process. Systems can be technically sound yet still face legitimacy challenges if public trust is weak.The information environment plays a major role. Misinformation can spread quickly and shape how people interpret events. Once doubt takes hold, it becomes difficult to reverse.That means election integrity is no longer only a technical issue. It is also about communication, transparency, and institutional credibility.Strengthening integrity requires addressing both dimensions — securing systems and building resilience against misinformation.

Global coordination is becoming harder because interests are diverging across countries and regions. As new power centers emerge, achieving consensus becomes more difficult.Different economic priorities, political systems, and strategic goals contribute to this complexity, making it harder to develop unified responses.Coordination is also affected by institutional factors. Existing frameworks may not be well-suited to current conditions, limiting their effectiveness.Navigating this environment requires flexibility and the ability to build coalitions that can adapt to changing circumstances.

In his language to diplomats and about matters of international concern, Pope Leo is notably good at articulating and reaffirming the principles that Catholics insist must guide decision-making, without getting down into the conclusions at a contestable level. The way he speaks and his presence could make it easier to discuss such sensitive topics. There were times when Pope Francis would talk off the cuff and give exaggerated responses, which would sometimes cause [the Vatican] to have to backtrack. With Leo, it's always careful. I think he sees his job to be a model of deliberation, care and unequivocal commitment to first principles that everybody should live by.

AI is not just automating tasks. It is reshaping how decisions are structured across organizations. In many environments, AI systems determine what information is surfaced, how options are framed, and what outcomes are recommended.These systems are not neutral. They reflect the data they are trained on, the assumptions embedded in their design, and the incentives of the organizations deploying them.The more important issue is governance. Accuracy alone is not enough. Organizations need to understand how AI influences decisions and build oversight mechanisms that track those effects over time.As AI becomes more embedded in operations, the real shift is from human-led decisions supported by tools to environments where systems structure the decision space itself.

AI in 2026 is evolving from a set of tools into a foundational layer shaping how work, decisions, and discovery happen across every industry. The focus is shifting toward more autonomous, integrated, and intelligent systems that augment human capabilities and redefine productivity and visibility.1. AI Agents Become the New InterfaceAI is moving beyond chat into autonomous agents that can take action, not just answer questions. These agents can research, schedule, execute workflows, and interact with other systems on your behalf. Instead of using apps, users increasingly “assign tasks” to AI.2. AI-Driven Search Replaces Traditional DiscoverySearch is shifting from links to answers. AI systems summarize, recommend, and cite sources directly, reducing clicks and reshaping how organizations get found. Visibility now depends on being structured, trusted, and machine-readable, not just ranked.3. Every Role Gets an AI CopilotAI copilots are now embedded across most professional tools, from Microsoft and Google to industry-specific platforms. Employees are expected to use AI to draft, analyze, and optimize their work, making AI literacy a baseline skill.4. Smaller Teams, Bigger OutputAI is dramatically increasing productivity, allowing lean teams to accomplish what previously required much larger groups. This is leading to flatter organizations, faster execution, and higher expectations for output and impact.5. Trust, Governance, and “Human-in-the-Loop” Become CriticalAs AI takes on more responsibility, organizations are prioritizing accuracy, transparency, and oversight. New roles and frameworks are emerging to manage risk, ensure ethical use, and validate AI-generated outputs.Bottom line:AI in 2026 is less about tools and more about systems that act, decide, and shape visibility, making it essential to rethink how work gets done and how expertise gets discovered.

The U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran is driving up fertilizer and fuel prices for U.S. farmers. Nate Bruce, a farm business management specialist with the University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, says the Middle East is a key hub for fertilizer supply chains, and particularly nitrogen fertilizers. A lot of nitrogen-based fertilizers are made using natural gas from the Middle East, so the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has consequences for the international fertilizer market.About 49% of the world’s global urea exports and 30% of the world’s ammonia exports are affected by the ongoing conflict, and while much of the fertilizer that U.S. farmers need for the upcoming growing season is already in the U.S., it is now much more expensive to buy.“Profit margins were already tight before the conflict,” Bruce said, “and having a substantial increase in production costs such as fertilizer creates margin issues for producers going into planting season this spring.”It’s a function of supply versus demand, Bruce said. And because corn production needs a lot of nitrogen to grow, the increased fertilizer costs will make corn more expensive to grow.Bruce said many farmers may shift the acres where they would have planted corn to soybeans, which don’t need nitrogen fertilizer to grow.However, farmers in the Mid-Atlantic may have an advantage insulating them a little bit from the conflict and hefty fertilizer and fuel price increases. Their advantage is the local poultry industry. Mid-Atlantic corn prices are usually higher than other places in the country because the poultry industry has a high demand for corn to use in their chicken feed.“This is a market-unique situation that helps buffer producers in the Mid-Atlantic,” Bruce said.To arrange an interview with Bruce, send an email to MediaRelations@udel.edu.

Pope Leo XIII was known as the "Pope of the East." He was actually listening to many of the patriarchs at the time who were opposed to a lot of the colonization that was happening—and Latinization. So, in my mind, it's notable that one of Pope Leo XIV's first addresses was to the Eastern Catholic Churches and that his first papal visit was to celebrate the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea [an ecumenical council that was among the first efforts to attain theological consensus among Christians]. To me, it signals his recognition of the concentric circles of unity that are needed. First of all, we Catholics have to figure out our own unity. But then what does it mean to be in right relationship with Churches that have equal dignity in terms of their apostolic heritage and have drifted away for historical reasons? I think Pope Leo XIV is trying to listen to the cry of our generation, and younger generations, and help us all discern what is the right response.

A lunar eclipse occurs when the moon passes into the shadow of the sun. This happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, with Earth in the middle. In a total lunar eclipse, the moon passes completely into the central portion of Earth’s shadow. If you were on the near-side of the moon during a total lunar eclipse, the entire surface of the sun would be blocked by Earth’s surface.During a total lunar eclipse, the only light that reaches the surface of the moon is refracted through Earth’s atmosphere, which essentially acts like a lens. Light is a wave, and every color of the rainbow has a different wavelength — red the longest and violet the shortest. As it happens, short-wavelength light is much more likely to be scattered when it passes through the atmosphere. This is why the sky looks blue during the day — the blue and violet sunlight passing overhead is scattered off its path, and some of it reaches our eyes. The red light isn’t scattered nearly as much, so more of it can pass through the atmosphere and, during a total lunar eclipse, reach the moon's surface.Unlike during a solar eclipse, no special safety precautions are necessary — it's perfectly safe to look at the moon (in or out of a lunar eclipse) with the naked eye. A pair of even low-power binoculars will certainly help show the moon in more detail. For photographing the moon, I would recommend a camera with some optical zoom — the moon is only about 0.5 degrees across. Because of the low lighting conditions, a tripod or other support would be helpful since a longer exposure time will be needed.On average, there are about two lunar eclipses per year, but only about one third of lunar eclipses are total. The next lunar eclipse will be in August; it will be a partial lunar eclipse. The next total lunar eclipse will occur at the end of 2028.One of my favorite things about total lunar eclipses is that it’s hard to know ahead of time quite what it will look like. The moon can take on a color ranging from burnt orange to red to grayish brown. The closer the moon passes to the center of Earth's shadow, the darker the color will be. Also, since the sunlight that reaches the moon during a total solar eclipse first passes through Earth’s atmosphere, atmospheric conditions — including clouds and even volcanic activity — can significantly affect the moon’s color.

CaptionResizeWrap TextRemoveSupport for, and trust in, public health is at a nadir. Recent accomplishments include the rapid development and approval of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine, effective mpox response, declines in opioid overdose deaths through harm reduction, and evidence-based public health initiatives addressing root causes of gun violence. Despite these initiatives, which have significantly reduced the population-level impact of injury and illness, perceived missteps in the management of COVID-19, pervasive mis- and disinformation, increasing public distrust, and a lack of financial support have contributed to the deterioration of public health’s ability to respond to disasters and emergencies. The impact of false narratives and disinvestments interrupt the public health workforce pipeline, denying students opportunities to be trained for and participate in public health emergency preparedness activities. In 2003, I began my career as a disaster epidemiologist conducting household interviews for rapid needs assessments being conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the N.C. Division of Public Health, and the University of North Carolina following Hurricane Isabel.For more than two decades, I deployed with students in partnership with local, state, and federal public health agencies to respond to disasters and collect data that contributed to both the immediate and long-term mitigation of the negative health impacts of disasters.This work, conducted in communities across the United States, is only possible because of a community’s trust in public health agencies and individuals’ willingness to share their postdisaster needs with our interview teams, which typically include a public health student and a local resident.The collection of perishable data in postdisaster contexts is challenging regardless of circumstance, and alterations have been made over time to ensure better representation of pregnant women, migrant workers, and rural populations in these postdisaster assessments. Yet, these assessments would not be possible at all without trusted connections between governmental agencies, academic public health, and disaster-affected communities.Politicization threatens our ability to respondPoliticization of disaster response and disaster assistance, and the mis- and disinformation that has now become prevalent around it, make it more difficult to collect these data. Following Hurricane Helene, one of my public health students at the University of Delaware worked with the western North Carolina nonprofit Sustaining Essential and Rural Community Healthcare to conduct key informant interviews and a Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response community survey. Both officials and residents reported that misinformation took time and attention away from response activities and disinformation led residents to distrust the response and recovery.After the pandemic, we have a dramatically under-resourced public health preparedness and response system, even in the face of more frequent and severe disasters and public health emergencies. These challenges will continue to mount as the Trump administration dismantles not only public health but also science more broadly. If the administration continues with their stated intent to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research, this will further limit our ability to understand the human health impacts of extreme weather and weather-related hazards associated with climate change. This comes after significant damage to other federal agencies, including the CDC, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, all of whom monitor and collect data on disasters caused by natural, biological, and technological or industrial hazards and risks.A weakened workforce pipelineWith the rapidly changing landscape, students are learning about “how things used to be,” with an asterisk next to almost all federal disaster and public health policies and legal frameworks noting that the material could be outdated quickly. However, it is important that students are aware of the mechanisms and functionalities that have existed before this most recent political upheaval. For new public health professionals to help build back programs in more sustainable and resilient ways, it is vital that they have a comprehensive understanding of the policies that were dismantled, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. However, limited job opportunities and ongoing uncertainty will steer this generation of public health students away from governmental public health careers, leaving a long-term deficit of expertise.The difference between an emergency and a disaster is that in an emergency, actions can be taken to avoid a disaster, which exceeds the capacity of an impacted community. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) workforce is 20% smaller under the Trump administration, and mitigation grants through the Flood Mitigation Assistance and Building Resiliency Infrastructure and Communities programs have been eliminated. Reducing community capacity to manage social, systemic, and infrastructural risks through disaster risk reduction, mitigation, and anticipatory action will result in emergencies more frequently progressing into disasters. Furthermore, without federal capacity to respond in agencies like FEMA or CDC, the risks that a given emergency will become a disaster also drastically increase simply because of the ways resources are allocated. Students will no longer have the opportunity to participate in fieldwork when there are no federally supported disaster responses or to learn about disaster epidemiology when there is no longer funding for academic programs that teach students public health in complex emergencies and disaster epidemiology concepts. A safety net that is frayed in nondisaster times will simply unravel during a public health emergency.Overall, it is critical for both the current and future public health workforce to continue to work to identify and understand the social drivers of health and the ways in which the current regulatory, technological, and political moment is affecting public health in both the short and long term. Discussing the ongoing stress impacts of the “triple disaster” in Japan in 2011 (i.e., earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident at the Fukushima power plant), Adam highlighted the importance of identifying and understanding the impacts of new and unexpected stressors on population health.A call to action Borrowing from this framing, the next generation of public health professionals must now begin to engage in quantifying the public health impacts of these policies to generate the essential evidence base for the future reinvestment in, and reinvigoration of, public health emergency preparedness.Current public health students can begin to actively capture the baseline state of public health, commit to ongoing active surveillance and measurement, and engage with both objective measures of health and self-reported perceptions to track how the human-made and unexpected stressors like artificial intelligence, climate change, and political polarization may affect us.While being “political” has often been seen as a negative for public health officials, now is not the time for public health students to be insular or isolated. Although engaging with the political, legislative, legal, and business sectors as a public health student or professional may feel daunting, public health must now more than ever engage with a variety of new partners and tools for public health practice. We cannot respond to the current attacks on public health in isolation. Businesses must speak up regarding how important a healthy and safe workforce is to their success. Local officials must advocate for the health of their residents and communities.The long-held sovereignty of local public health governance must give way to regional collaborations like the recently announced Northeast Public Health Collaborative, which brings together 10 states and New York City to work together on issues like vaccine policy, public health financing, and public health data collection, management, and analysis.Public health has always had the impetus to protect previous achievements—vaccination, robust surveillance systems, workplace and environmental safety, maternal and child health, reducing health disparities—through monitoring and evaluation, education, regulatory enforcement, and other essential public health services. For public health students, now is the time to find your passion, engage with partners that can support you, and prepare to lead.