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Gen Z is prepared and excited to learn

Columns

The 2026 autumn semester has quickly entered full swing, and I am eager to see how my English composition students at Ohio State University’s Lima campus approach their research for their first essay. We have not yet had our library research sessions, but some have expressed strong interest in writing about the importance of literacy for their generation, with artificial intelligence posing new academic challenges for them and their younger peers in high school. I was very pleased to read in their first-day writing assignments how strongly these students feel about doing their own work ...

Tiffany isn’t the only name in stained glass lamps

Columns

For many of us, we’re not quite far enough into fall for the ground to be covered in golden leaves. If you love the look, though, you can find plenty of fall foliage in antique decorative arts. Take a look at the Autumn Leaf table lamp made by the Suess Ornamental Glass Co. about 1910. ...

Dear Annie: Husband crosses the line online

Columns

Dear Annie: My husband has recently become obsessed with Twitter. He spends hours a day on his computer away from his family. I’ve supported this unusual hobby until recently. I noticed he and another female Tweeter calling each other “besties,” and they have cute nicknames for each other. I confronted my husband about it, and he told me that it was just for the “audience” and that I’m being jealous. After more digging, I found some personal messages between them where he tells her how amazing she is and how he can’t wait to grow with her. Not only that, but he also ...

Dear Annie: Family chat or political forum?

Columns

Dear Annie: My entire extended family is in a group chat together. Sometimes it’s fun, and sometimes it’s useful, but most of the time it’s just noisy. The worst offender is my cousin “Daniel.” At least once a week, he sends political rants, tweets and reels to the chat. It’s wearing on everyone, especially my mom’s side of the family, which sits on the completely opposite end of the political spectrum from him. I don’t know whether to mute it, leave outright or say something. It honestly feels like Daniel enjoys stirring the pot in what used to be a perfectly harmless ...

Americans are right: inflation is not just the Fed’s problem

Columns

Inflation hasn’t gone away — it’s going up. With the midterm elections seven weeks off, that’s a problem for the president and Congress. Voters hate inflation. They don’t much like the cure either, and the cure has two parts. The Federal Reserve raising interest rates, like it just did, is one. The second part is overlooked and in the hands of Congress. Indeed, the Fed can’t bring inflation down for good unless lawmakers show they will back the debt with future fiscal surpluses. That means becoming serious about overspending. The Consumer Price Index shows prices rising by ...

Know the difference between a pacemaker and a defibrillator

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: What’s the difference between a pacemaker and a defibrillator? — T.S.B. ANSWER: Both are implantable devices to treat electrical problems of the heart. A pacemaker is a much older device; the first implantable pacemaker was made in 1958. The heart has an electrical system, which coordinates the mechanical activity of the heart so that blood is pumped out efficiently. Each cardiac muscle cell has an intrinsic rhythm, but specialized cells in the right atrium normally act as a pacemaker to the heart. They respond to nerve stimulation from the sympathetic and vagus ...