Picture a teenager scrolling through social media late at night. A headline flashes by—something shocking about a celebrity, a politician, or a health scare. It’s written in bold letters, with an image that looks convincing. Without thinking too much, they hit share. Seconds later, it’s out there, sent to friends and followers, whether it’s true or not. That scene plays out millions of times every day, and it’s exactly what a team of researchers set out to understand. In a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, researchers found that strong reading skills can make…

It was the kind of moment that Washington rarely forgets, not because of any great policy breakthrough, but because it laid bare just how raw and personal the battle over Donald Trump’s legal troubles has become. On a late September morning, inside a crowded Senate hearing room, former special counsel Jack Smith sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee, facing a barrage of accusations from Republican senators who have spent years trying to portray him as a corrupt political weapon. The hearing was titled “Oversight of Jack Smith’s Abuse of Authority and the Targeting of Republicans and Related Matters,” and the…