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Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino spoke at Columbia University's World Leaders Forum, addressing tensions over the Panama Canal's sovereignty, migration through the Darién Gap, and climate change threats to his country. His appearance comes amid scrutiny of Panama's role in regional migration policy and pressure from the United States over canal access.

Roughly 85% of the matter in the universe has never been directly detected, as it does not interact with standard instruments. UCLA astrophysicist Alvine Kamaha and the LUX-ZEPLIN collaboration are working nearly a mile (1.6 km) underground in South Dakota, tracking rare particle interactions in an effort to identify dark matter and shed light on one of physics' biggest open questions.

Physicists at the University of Illinois Chicago report detecting a ripple dating back to the universe's earliest moments, according to a university news release. The announcement suggests a signal connected to the first instants after the Big Bang, though details of the measurement and its significance remain sparse. The finding, if confirmed, would offer a rare window into the primordial universe and is drawing attention in physics circles.

A Harvard study reportedly found that an AI tutor outperformed traditional in-class teaching in physics. According to the report, students learning physics with an AI tutor achieved better results than those taught through standard classroom instruction. The finding is being circulated as fresh evidence that artificial intelligence tools can match or exceed conventional teaching methods in science education, fueling debate about the future role of AI in universities and schools.

Policymakers are increasingly drawing on the humanities to help advance sustainability goals, according to reporting from Arizona State University. The approach aims to bridge the gap between technical climate policy and the cultural, ethical and social understanding needed to make sustainability efforts work in practice.

Researchers at a particle collider have reported a surprising result in experiments involving primordial matter—the hot, dense state thought to have filled the early universe, recreated in collisions inside the machine. The finding, covered by Scientific American, is drawing attention from physicists and science readers, who are discussing what it could reveal about the fundamental behaviour of matter shortly after the Big Bang.

A researcher at the University of Central Florida reports experimental evidence of a new type of magnetism, according to a news release. The discovery could expand scientific understanding of magnetic materials beyond known categories such as ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism. Details of the underlying mechanism and potential technological applications have not been widely reported yet.

A Cornell University study argues that trust is the key missing element preventing wider adoption of artificial intelligence in food safety. Researchers found that even when AI tools can improve monitoring and detection of food risks, industry and consumer confidence in the technology lags behind its technical capabilities.

A project backed by Honda is focusing on the relationship of trust between humans and robots, according to an announcement from Cal State Fullerton. The research initiative examines how people come to rely on robotic systems as robots become more common in daily life and work. The university highlighted the partnership as an example of industry collaboration supporting academic research into human-robot interaction.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge report that sex differences in attention can be detected in newborns, suggesting the differences emerge far earlier in development than previously thought. The finding is drawing attention online, with readers debating what it means for the long-running discussion over how biological and environmental factors shape cognitive differences between males and females.

Columbia University has announced the launch of a Distinguished Fellows Program. Details about the program's structure, participants, or funding were not immediately available. As a new initiative from one of the United States' leading universities, the announcement is drawing attention from academic and higher education observers.

Oregon's public universities and their classified workers have narrowly avoided a strike, reaching an agreement just before the planned job action, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Classified staff — the non-faculty employees who keep campuses running — had been in contentious contract negotiations, and a walkout would have disrupted operations across the state's seven public universities.

Dartmouth College has reached a $750,000 settlement following a data breach that exposed personal information of approximately 96,000 members of the Dartmouth community. The agreement resolves claims connected to the incident, which affected students, staff and other affiliates whose data was compromised. Details of the breach's cause and how settlement funds will be distributed have not been fully outlined in the initial reports.

A professor at Franciscan University of Steubenville argues in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that artificial intelligence could push higher education back toward its Socratic roots. His argument is that as AI takes over the transmission of information, universities will place renewed value on dialogue, questioning and face-to-face mentorship rather than lectures and content delivery. The piece adds a distinctive voice to the ongoing debate about AI's impact on classrooms and the purpose of a university degree.

Postdoctoral workers at Columbia University have staged a practice picket as they prepare for a potential strike. The union's demonstration signals escalating labor tensions between the postdoc workforce and the university, with members rehearsing picket lines ahead of what could become formal strike action if contract negotiations fail.

Yale University researchers are examining the hidden labor economy behind artificial intelligence, spotlighting the largely invisible workforce that annotates data, moderates content and trains AI systems, often for low pay in developing countries. The work raises questions about fair wages and working conditions in a tech industry that promotes automation while quietly depending on human labor.