More than a quarter of private colleges are at risk of closing

https://www.npr.org/2026/04/13/nx-s1-5777582/many-private-colleges-at-risk-of-closing More than a quarter of private colleges are at risk of closing, a new projection shows April 13, 20265:00 AM ET By Jon Marcus …A new estimate projects that 442 of the nation's 1,700 private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities, with a combined 670,000 students, are at risk of closing or having to merge within the next 10 years….More than 120 institutions are at the very highest risk, according to the forecast by Huron Consulting Group, which helps clients in industries including higher education formulate business strategies. For its assessment, the company analyzed enrollment trends, tuition revenue, assets, debt, cash on hand and other measures. Many are, like Sterling, small and rural. "Now that this might be gone, I just really worry about some students out there that are going to have less and less choices," Keeley said. It's a crisis whose magnitude has been overshadowed by political and culture-war attacks on higher education and is propelled by the simple law of supply and demand after a long decline in the number of Americans who are going to college. "We have too many seats. We have too many classrooms," Peter Stokes, a managing director at Huron, said of U.S. colleges and universities. "So over the coming five to 10 years, this shakeout is going to take place."… There are about 3,700 two- and four-year public and private degree-granting colleges and universities in the United States. That's already down from a peak of 4,726 in 2012. Almost all that have closed since then were private, for-profit schools, which enjoyed a brief boom before crashing under the weight of consumer discontent and increased regulation. …Many converging reasons explain why private, nonprofit colleges and universities, too, are now under existential strain. There are already 2.3 million fewer students than there were in 2010. A drop in the birthrate that began around the same time means there is about to be a further downward slide in the number of 18-year-olds through at least 2041. Among the other factors:  The proportion of high school graduates who go on to college is also down, from 70% in 2016 to 61% in 2023, the most recent year for which the figure is available.  The number of visas issued for new full-tuition-paying international students coming to the United States plummeted by nearly 100,000 this year, or 36%.  And looming caps on federal loans for graduate study, which take effect in July, threaten to reduce demand for yet another crucial revenue source. While higher education institutions previously weathered short-lived declines in enrollment and increases in costs, today "every major revenue stream and expense category is under pressure at the same time," the higher education consulting firm EAB warns in a new analysis. Eighty-six percent of college and university leaders are worried about their schools' long-term financial viability, according to a survey in December by the American Council on Education, the principal industry association. A fifth of college and university presidents say they've had serious discussions about merging with another university or college, a separate survey by Hanover Research and the industry news site Inside Higher Ed found. Signs of strain are spreading And nearly a third of private, nonprofit colleges and universities nationwide posted deficits in 2024, according to research by Robert Kelchen, director of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. And it's not just small schools that are affected. Even public universities and colleges are facing deepening financial problems, reports the Fitch bond-rating agency, citing slowing economic growth and federal policy changes. The University of Southern California has sent pink slips to more than 900 employees. Stanford University, Northwestern University, and Depaul University have also seen layoffs. And, as part of what its president called a "broader strategy to strengthen GW's long-term financial health," George Washington University announced in March that it had sold a satellite science and technology campus in Virginia for what the student newspaper reported was $427 million. Community colleges, too — which enroll nearly 5.6 million students — are suffering financial squeezes that leave them less able to adapt or respond to change, according to Daniel Greenstein, former chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, who now tracks financial exposure in the industry. In the case of community colleges, wrote Greenstein, "The risk is not a sudden collapse of the sector. The risk is a slow erosion of capacity in precisely the institutions on which communities rely most." Still, after two and a half decades in which the price of tuition has increased faster than inflation, for a payoff many consumers no longer think is worth the money, higher education often gets little sympathy for its predicament — and even less after years of political and culture war attacks on the ideological leanings of faculty and leadership. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/04/college-enrollment-demographic-cliff/686750/ The Looming College-Enrollment Death Spiral After many decades of democratization, higher education could once again become a luxury good. By Jeffrey Selingo April 12, 2026, 7 AM ET The “demographic cliff” is upon us. The number of teenagers graduating from American high schools peaked last year. It will begin declining this spring and keep falling steadily through at least 2041. The trend is more of a downward slope than an abrupt falloff, but the gradient is steep and represents a crisis to colleges dependent on filling classroom seats and dorm beds. The United States currently has about 4,000 colleges. According to a recent study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, about 60 are closing on average each year; that number could double in any given year if the bottom falls out of enrollment. If the harm were only to the institutions forced to close because they’re running out of customers, that would be unfortunate but not tragic. But the causality runs in the other direction too, as students who otherwise would have gone to college find themselves with no viable option in the place where they live. American higher education has long consisted of two markets: one where high-achieving, typically affluent students compete for seats at national universities, and one where mostly middle- and lower-income students stay closer to home. Members of the first group will be fine even as college closures accelerate. The second group will suffer. After many decades of democratization, higher education could once again become a luxury good. Over the past half century, as more teenagers have enrolled in higher education, what was once mostly a local business has become national, especially for top students, whose sense of distance has gradually shifted. Campuses that once felt far away now seem closer, thanks first to interstate highways, then to discount airlines, and then to technology. Parents in the 1980s might have talked to their college kid on a dorm-floor pay phone once every few weeks, if they were lucky. Today’s parents can text and FaceTime their kids multiple times a day…. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/10/ivy-league-schools-prestige/684454/ The ‘Best’ Colleges Aren’t the Best Forever Prestige isn’t permanent. By Jeffrey Selingo October 4, 2025 For decades, higher education seemed immune to market forces, as families stretched to pay almost any price for a top-ranked college. Prestige was seen as synonymous with enduring value: Harvard would always be Harvard, Yale would always be Yale, followed by the Northwesterns and the Cornells, with aspirants such as the University of Southern California and Northeastern further down the ladder. But with sticker prices surging and graduates facing a tough job market, many parents have begun to question whether prestige alone is worth the price. As reputation loses some of its grip on the marketplace, colleges are moving up and down the list more than ever. How we think about brands in higher education was largely decided centuries ago when America’s top colleges were established. These perceptions were cemented in the late 1980s, when U.S. News & World Report turned its college rankings into an annual exercise. A school’s “reputation score,” as determined by a survey of college leaders, was the most heavily weighted factor in assigning it a ranking on the list. Reputation is still the biggest factor in the U.S. News methodology, and plenty of people still care enough about an exclusive brand to pay a premium for it. In recent years, however, many families have begun to put more emphasis on practical matters such as tuition costs, hands-on learning, and career outcomes. This evolution in priorities stems partly from personal experience. Today’s parents—who are more likely than their parents to be college graduates—have seen the college hierarchy change in their lifetime. When U.S. News released its 1989 rankings, it not only issued overall rankings, but also listed the top 25 colleges by reputation alone. A few of the names among the latter list seem like typos today: the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University, Indiana University Bloomington. Meanwhile, schools that were considered regional brands three decades ago, such as the University of Southern California and New York University, have risen in the rankings and now have acceptance rates that rival those of the Ivy League. Last cycle, NYU broke its own record, with more than 120,000 applications for a class of some 5,700 students….

What a chimpanzee 'civil war' can teach us about how societies fall apart

https://www.npr.org/2026/04/13/nx-s1-5781149/chimpanzee-civil-war-primate-conflict-anthropology What a chimpanzee 'civil war' can teach us about how societies fall apart April 13, 20266:00 AM ET. By Nathan Rott https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4272x2848+0+0/resize/1200/quality/85/format/webp/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fc2%2Fee%2F711a58af44b996a1a0f9281fcda0%2Fsandel-adz4944-image-1.jpg The Ngogo chimpanzee group in Uganda's Kibale National Park is the largest known community of wild chimpanzees in the world. Over the last decade, it has split into two distinct groups that are hostile to each other. Aaron Sandel The group of chimps she and her colleagues were studying broke into two factions and turned on each other. It looked very much like a civil war. Chimpanzees that had intermingled peacefully and grown up together were systematically killing each other. It changed Goodall's view of one of humanity's closest relatives. "I used to think, 'Well, they're very [much] like people but nicer,'" she told the public radio program Fresh Air in 1993. "And then I realized that when opportunity arises, they have this nasty, brutal side to them just like we do." Asked what precipitated the war, Goodall said it was hard to say. It was the first one that researchers had ever seen. "We shan't be very sure until it happens again," she said Now, in the journal Science, a team of researchers has described a second brutal and ongoing "civil war" that has permanently divided the largest known group of wild chimpanzees in the world. "I was struck by some of the similarities of what they've described to what we observed in Gombe," said Anne Pusey, a retired primatologist who worked with Goodall in Tanzania and wasn't involved in the new study. "It's rather uncomfortably familiar seeing how these relationships can break down and then lead to antagonisms between groups that weren't there before." The new study draws from more than 30 years of observations of the Ngogo chimpanzee group in the western forests of Uganda. At its peak, nearly 200 individuals were in the Ngogo group, living cohesively in smaller subgroups that the researchers labeled as "clusters." Males and females from different clusters intermingled. They mated, hunted together and worked together to fight off other outside groups. Researchers took videos of males from different clusters holding hands. The new study draws from more than 30 years of observations of the Ngogo chimpanzee group in the western forests of Uganda. At its peak, nearly 200 individuals were in the Ngogo group, living cohesively in smaller subgroups that the researchers labeled as "clusters." Males and females from different clusters intermingled. They mated, hunted together and worked together to fight off other outside groups. Researchers took videos of males from different clusters holding hands. Then, in 2015, the researchers started seeing signs that something was off. "I can even pinpoint it to one particular day when there was a really big change," said Aaron Sandel, the lead author of the new study and a primatologist at the University of Texas at Austin. On that June day, Sandel was observing a large number of chimpanzees from the Western cluster while they were in their territory. At one point, they heard other chimpanzees nearby, presumably from the larger Central cluster. The Western chimpanzees quieted all of a sudden. "They started touching each other in this reassurance, like they were really nervous," Sandel said. "And to me, this seemed like they were acting as if they were hearing outsider chimps." Instead of reuniting and intermingling like they normally would, the Western chimpanzees fled and the Central chimpanzees chased them. "Nothing really like that had ever been observed before — and then they avoided each other for six weeks," Sandel said. "So this was very clear, like on the ground, something big has just happened." Over the next few years, polarization increased, and by 2018 the clusters were essentially completely separate groups. Then the killing started. The victim of the first observed lethal attack was an adolescent male from the Central cluster that the researchers had named Errol. Sandel had watched him grow up. "I'm just trying to observe as objectively as possible and really just document everything," he said. "In some respects, I feel like a war correspondent. I'm trying to understand this really rare behavior. … Like what's causing this?" Over the next seven years, the Western group killed at least six other adults and 17 infants from the Central cluster. The fighting continues to this day. Why the Ngogo group split and why its members turned on each other is still unclear. In the paper, Sandel and his co-authors suggest several factors that may have contributed: the size of the group, competition for food and male-to-male competition. The natural deaths of five adult males and one adult female in 2014, before the intergroup divisions took root, may have weakened social networks. "I think it's clear from this study and from other studies of chimps and other animals that you can get these kinds of conflicts without a lot of things that we think about as being the source of conflict in humans," said Michael Wilson, a primatologist at the University of Minnesota, who wasn't involved in the study. "Lions don't have religion and political parties or ideologies. Neither do wolves or ants for that matter." Neither do chimpanzees, the authors of the new study note. To Sandel, that's a reason for optimism. "If in chimpanzees, we can see this conflict and lethal violence occur in the absence of all these aspects of human behavior that we often attribute to civil war, then I wonder to what extent are the interpersonal rel ationships and behaviors actually more important than we realize in humans," he said. Perhaps, he added, strengthening our social bonds and letting old grudges die can help prevent larger violence. "Like with the chimps: If you act like a stranger, you become a stranger," Sandel said. "I want to avoid that in my own life."

Satellite Imagery

https://www.npr.org/2026/04/10/nx-s1-5775780/us-iran-war-israel-satellite-imagery-planet-vantor-censorship … Unlike previous conflicts, the U.S. has also worked harder to restrict information from the region as well. Trust between the Pentagon and journalists was already low – many in the press corps, including NPR, left the building last fall after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demanded members of the press sign a pledge to not solicit information outside of press briefings. With little access to the Pentagon or troops on the ground, satellite images played an outsized role early in the Iran conflict. Reporters used the images to document blows traded by the U.S., Iran and Israel. But within days, the satellite imagery was causing headaches for war planners. On March 3, CNN published Planet imagery showing a base where six U.S. servicemembers were killed. The New York Times published extensive analyses of the damage to communications infrastructure and bases throughout the region. And many outlets, including NPR, used satellite imagery to show that a strike at a girl's elementary school in Iran was part of a larger set of targets at a nearby military base. The U.S. subsequently took responsibility for the strike, and an investigation continues. [Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has sought to tightly control information coming out of the Pentagon.Image] By mid-March, the two largest U.S. firms, Vantor and Planet, stopped distributing imagery to the press altogether. Planet then imposed a 14 day hold on all imagery out of the region before switching to an indefinite moratorium. Planet operates a fleet of around 150 satellites that photograph most of Earth's landmasses on a daily basis. Its images had become a mainstay for observers of the events in the Middle East in recent years. The company's pictures have been used to help track atrocities in Syria, document previous attacks by Iran, and chronicle Israel's destruction of Gaza. Both Vantor and Planet say that the decision to begin limiting imagery has been voluntary. "Vantor independently determines when and how these controls are implemented as part of our responsible business practices," the company wrote in an e-mail. "These decisions are not mandated by any government or third party." In an e-mail to NPR on Thursday, Planet added that it hoped to restore access soon: "We remain highly engaged with the U.S. Government," the statement read. "Our goal is to get back to unrestricted access for all of our customers globally as soon as possible, while continuing to limit the risk that our data could be misused." Both companies' satellites are regulated by the government, and both are heavily dependent on business from the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies around the world. Nearly 60% of Planet's revenue in its last quarter came from defense and intelligence contracts, according to a recent shareholder report. Vantor is also a major government contractor that has been awarded millions by agencies like the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Department of Defense, among others. Last July, the company announced it had won $205 million in contracts with several nations in the Middle East and North Africa, though it declined to say which nations are involved. Censorship workarounds Experts contacted by NPR said that the efforts at censorship had worked to some degree–and they'd made their jobs harder. But there's still information to be found online. On Telegram, Iranian channels, many of which are pro-government, frequently publish videos of events inside the country. Images also continue to trickle in from the Gulf countries, such as a widely circulated image of a destroyed American E-3 Sentry aircraft that was taken at a base in Saudi Arabia. Verifying the images and videos, especially in the age of AI, can be tough. "The big problem is that it becomes very hard to fact check things like videos," said Lewis. The ability to sort fact from fiction "is a lot harder when you don't have recent ground-truth satellite imagery." But the satellite imagery isn't completely gone either. Publicly-funded satellites continue to supply images of the Middle East, albeit at lower resolution than the commercial companies. And a trickle of images from other providers, such as Airbus, continue to provide insights into aspects of the conflict. A satellite image from NASA's Terra spacecraft shows fires burning in the United Arab Emirates on March 16, 2026. Some lower-resolution imagery continues to be available from publicly funded satellites. NASA Worldview The online community of people who do this kind of analysis are used to their information environment constantly shifting according to the whims of companies and algorithms, Godin said. And they're good at finding workarounds: On Tuesday, Bellingcat unveiled an online tool that uses radar data from an old satellite to look for damage from strikes throughout the region. Godin said he continues to keep very busy, and he doesn't expect efforts at censorship to change that. "It's not great that these things are happening," he conceded. "But we're a resilient bunch." NPR's Aya Batrawy and Sarah Knight contributed to this report.

American Diplomacy

https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/10/american-diplomacy-problem-witkoff-kushner-iran/

Marco Polo: The China Mystery Revealed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhtH9Znj9gU Marco Polo: The China Mystery Revealed

Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm -Trạng Trình-Thanh Sơn Đạo Sĩ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otcBSzlEKbo Lịch sử Việt Nam thời Lê-Mạc-Trịnh Nguyễn phân tranh: Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm Trạng Trình và những lời sấm truyền vượt thời gian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW3_7-4d-Sg&list=PLuUspmDP5ByxHxLujxHsDHUUtd6K3jfoy SẤM TRẠNG TRÌNH TOÀN TẬP - Bàn Luận Sấm Trạng Trình Bài thơ "Cử Ngao Đới Sơn" cách đây hơn 500 năm (tk 16) nói về chủ quyền biển đảo của giang sơn Việt Nam.

Dental Care

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/23/1159143783/teeth-an-owners-manual How often should I really brush my teeth? You should brush your teeth twice a day for two minutes a day, according to the American Dental Association. But teeth maintenance is more than just brushing, flossing and tongue scraping, says Dr. Mark Burhenne, a dentist based in Sunnyvale, Calif., and the creator of askthedentist.com, a website that offers advice on professional and at-home dental practices. He says it's a complex equation juggling diet, saliva flow, avoiding dry mouth, maintaining the bacteria and pH in your oral microbiome, and managing your biofilm — an outer coating on your teeth containing bacteria. "In that biofilm are bacteria that pull calcium and phosphate ions from saliva," he says. Those minerals are then pulled "into the tooth and are able to actually fix and patch small cavities" before they get too large and need treatment. "That's [called] the remineralization effect," he adds. Brushing your teeth helps that process, says Burhenne. When we eat — sugary or acidic foods especially — the biofilm layer gets so thick and furry that it can't remineralize your teeth properly. The mechanical movement of the toothbrush is what breaks up the biofilm so that it reforms into its natural thin and slippery state to protect teeth. Brushing also helps remove plaque, which is the accumulation of biofilms containing large masses of microorganisms stuck to your teeth — kind of like algae on rocks. But if that build-up isn't removed frequently, then demineralization can occur, leading to cavities, gingivitis, and periodontitis. Burhenne suggests brushing your teeth first thing in the morning, before eating breakfast. It breaks up the biofilm and gets it ready to remineralize your teeth. If you do happen to eat first, make sure you wait at least 30 minutes before brushing. "If you're brushing after a meal, that produces an acid attack in the mouth," Burhenne says. The acid from the meal softens the enamel, so if you brush too soon you could damage that typically hard, shiny protective layer in its weakened state. "You're scraping away a lot of enamel. So for anyone who is eating junk or candy or having a soda or even coffee or a glass of wine, I would hesitate brushing [right away]." Burhenne says waiting for the outer layer to remineralize prevents you from brushing your softened enamel right after you eat. If you don't wait, it could thin out the top layer of your tooth. Immediately after meals, you can rinse or drink water to flush acids and sugars from the mouth, increase the saliva's pH and help with the remineralization process, according to research from the Journal of Indian Association of Public Health Dentistry. Do I really need to floss? You may not want to hear it, but the answer is yes, according to the ADA — you should be flossing at least once a day. "Flossing gets to all the areas where toothbrushes don't. You can't do one or the other," Burhenne says. Burhenne says there aren't many studies about flossing, but some research has shown that flossing, in addition to brushing, can improve cleaning and disease prevention. Burhenne recommends flossing before brushing to open up areas you may not be able to clean with just the toothbrush, like in between your teeth. Flossing helps remove food debris and plaque before it hardens into tartar — a hard mineral deposit that can only be removed by a professional. Flossing also reduces the likelihood of gum disease and decay, according to the ADA. Burhenne says flossing and brushing techniques can be all over the map, and it's hard to see if you're reaching all of your teeth. "That's why I recommend to my patients to buy a makeup mirror," Burhenne says. "You get these little makeup mirrors that are lit up. You mount them on the wall or you can suction cup them on your mirror and take a look at 5x and 10x with a light inside the mirror, inside your mouth." And if you see blood as you're flossing or brushing, Burhenne says that's usually not from brushing too hard. He says that's an early stage of gum disease — gingivitis. "Gingivitis is classified as a type one category for gum disease," he says. "As you get into the other categories, it gets worse. You get receding gums, you get more bleeding, you get [death] of the tissue, then you get [death] of the bone." How do I whiten my teeth? From specialty toothpaste to DIY hacks to at-home whitening strips, there are all kinds of products and methods to help whiten your teeth. But dental professionals say to be wary. Burhenne says the charcoal and whitening toothpaste you might find at the drugstore are so abrasive, they can make your teeth sensitive and potentially wear your teeth and gum line down. The ADA discourages using home remedies like brushing teeth with lemon juice or rubbing vinegar on your teeth. There are limited studies on the efficacy of these methods, according to the ADA. And when it comes to at-home whitening strips/other products, they can be OK, but do it slowly, says Burhenne. He recommends whitening products with carbamide peroxide concentrations of 10% or less. But the ideal way to whiten your teeth is to ask your dentist for professional advice, he says. "The best way to whiten is slowly with a-low strength gel, not a high-strength gel, and with a tray that ... covers just the teeth and not the gums," Burhenne says. Whitening tray and gel procedures can be done at home, but also by a professional. Remember: The priority should always be making sure your teeth are healthy first over aesthetics, he says. Do I really have to go to the dentist? While proactive care at home can help keep your teeth healthy, yes — you still have to see a dentist, says Murria. The ADA recommends that patients see a dentist at least once or twice a year. Burhenne says visiting twice a year isn't necessarily a hard-set rule, as there are limited studies on what the perfect minimum is. But visits are still important. Dentists and hygienists provide X-rays examining the enamel, dentin layer (the main supporting layer of the tooth, made of tiny tubes under the enamel), and pulp chambers (the soft centers of your teeth). Murria says professionals clean more effectively in areas you may struggle to reach and can help you with more complicated dental problems, like impacted wisdom teeth, receding gums, or cavities. If financial barriers are an issue, both Burhenne and Murria recommend looking for dental schools, federally qualified health centers, and mobile dental clinics in your area for low-cost/no insurance options. More information on affordable options can be found on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website. And if it's been a while since you've been to the dentist or you're feeling intimidated, remember there's no shame in having dental issues, Burhenne says. "Everyone has experienced this when they come in, and their gums bleed a little bit, there's a little build-up of calculus and plaque, and the reason given is you haven't flossed and brushed enough," he says. "I think that's unfair because the equation of the reasons why that would occur ... are complex." There are a lot of factors to juggle in your dental health — but you don't have to do it alone. That's what your dental appointments are for. "It's never as bad as you think it is," Burhenne says. "But the sooner you come in, the better it will be."