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High school boys are now twice as likely to identify as conservative than liberal. Girls, on the other hand, are almost three times as likely to identify as liberal than conservative. This stark gender dividefound in a 2022 University of Michigan survey of high school seniorshas sparked concern from across the political spectrum. A trend of boys becoming more conservative seems to show everything from proof that young men are becoming fascists to the likely fall in marriage rates.

But what if the survey doesn’t spell quite as much doom as it seems to?

Many commenting on the survey failed to notice thatmajorities of both genders responded without identifying a partisan political identity. The source of concern is concentrated among the paltry 23 percent of boys who identified as conservative and 30 percent of girls who identified as liberalleaving just 13 percent of boys identifying as liberal, and 12 percent of girls as conservative. But 64 percent of boys and 58 percent of girls didn’t identify as conservative or liberalinstead, they identified as “moderate,” “none of the above,” or “I don’t know.”

Yes, more boys than girls identify as conservativeabout twice as much, according to the surveyand girls identify as liberal at a rate 17 percentage points higher than their male classmates. But this divide only pertains to a minority of young people.

The survey found that most high school seniors simply don’t have a strong partisan political identitythe majority of them were either unsure of their beliefs or their opinions were more complicated than a two-dimensional left-right dichotomy.

However, this hasn’t kept some from drawing overwrought conclusions from the data.

“Among liberals, the future is female,” wrote psychology professor Jean Twenge of the survey in her book Generations . “And among conservatives, the future is male.”

A Fox News article even insisted that “girls trend overwhelmingly liberal,” despite only one in threeof them identifying as such.

The fervor over the survey’s results seems to play into a larger panic around social media’s apparently pernicious influence on young people. From the left, too much Joe Rogan and Andrew Tate is pushing boys into a cycle of alt-right radicalization. And right-wing commentators argue that social media is causing girls to become depressed liberals.

But in reality, these surveyed high school seniors don’t seem to care all that much about partisan politics, and those that do just happen to have a split along gendered lines. We shouldn’t fret over supposedly polarized young people, particularly when they seem to slightly disfavor your political side. And we certainly shouldn’t suggest, as many have, that government regulation of social media or online speech would do any good for them.

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Science

Asteroids vs Comets vs Meteors vs Meteorites: What Are They and How Are They Different From Each Other?

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September 6, 2025

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Asteroids, comets, meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites may seem similar, but each plays a unique role in the Solar System. Asteroids are rocky remnants, comets are icy wanderers, meteors are shooting stars, and meteorites are fragments that survive the plunge to Earth.

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World

Cable snapped in deadly Lisbon funicular crash, report finds

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September 6, 2025

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Cable snapped in deadly Lisbon funicular crash, report finds

A report into the deadly Lisbon Gloria funicular crash has said the cable linking the two carriages snapped.

The carriages of the city’s iconic Gloria funicular had travelled no more than six metres when they “suddenly lost the balancing force of the connecting cable”.

The vehicle’s brake‑guard immediately “activated the pneumatic brake as well as the manual brake”, the Office for the Prevention and Investigation of Aircraft Accidents and Railway Accidents said.

Flowers for the victims in Lisbon. Pic: AP
Image:
Flowers for the victims in Lisbon. Pic: AP

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

But the measures “had no effect in reducing the vehicle’s speed”, as it accelerated and crashed at around 60kmh (37mph), and the disaster unfolded in less than 50 seconds.

Questions have been asked about the maintenance of the equipment, but the report said that, based on the evidence seen so far, it was up to date.

A scheduled visual inspection had been carried out on the morning of the accident, but the area where the cable broke “is not visible without dismantling.”

The Gloria funicular is a national monument that dates from 1914 and is very popular with tourists visiting the Portuguese capital.

The Gloria funicular connects Lisbon's Restauradores Square to the Bairro Alto viewpoint
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The Gloria funicular connects Lisbon’s Restauradores Square to the Bairro Alto viewpoint

It operates between Restauradores Square in downtown Lisbon and the Bairro Alto neighbourhood.

The journey is just 276m (905ft) and takes just over a minute, but it operates up a steep hill, with two carriages travelling in opposite directions.

How the disaster unfolded

At around 6pm on Wednesday, Cabin No.2, at the bottom of the funicular, “jerked backward sharply”, the report said.

“After moving roughly 10 metres, its movement stopped as it partially left the tracks and its trolley became buried at the lower end of the cable channel.”

Cabin No.1, at the top, “continued descending and accelerated” before derailing and smashing “sideways into the wall of a building on the left side, destroying the wooden box [from which the carriage is constructed]”.

It crashed into a cast‑iron streetlamp and a support pole, causing “significant damage” before hitting “the corner of another building”.

Cable failed at top

Analysis of the wreckage showed the cable connecting the cabins failed where it was attached inside the upper trolley of cabin No.1 at the top.

The cable’s specified useful life is 600 days and at the time of the accident, it had been used for 337 days, leaving another 263 days before needing to be replaced.

The operating company regards this life expectancy as having “a significant safety margin”.

The exact number of people aboard each cabin when it crashed has not been confirmed.

Britons killed in disaster

Kayleigh Smith, 36, and William Nelson, 44, died alongside 14 others in Wednesday’s incident, including another British victim who has not yet been named.

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Five Portuguese citizens died when the packed carriage plummeted out of control – four of them workers at a charity on the hill – but most victims were foreigners.

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Sports

FSU players honor Pritchard with dad on hand

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September 6, 2025

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FSU players honor Pritchard with dad on hand

  • Andrea AdelsonSep 6, 2025, 01:51 PM ET

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    • ACC reporter.
    • Joined ESPN.com in 2010.
    • Graduate of the University of Florida.

The father of Florida State linebacker Ethan Pritchard was on the sideline Saturday for the Seminoles’ game against East Texas A&M.

Earl Pritchard and another family member were on the sideline wearing his son’s No. 35 jersey. Ethan Pritchard remains hospitalized in Tallahassee after surviving a gunshot wound to the head last weekend.

Florida State safety Earl Little Jr. brought out a No. 35 jersey to midfield for the coin toss, and Florida State players wore No. 35 wristbands to honor their teammate.

Defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr. wore a T-shirt with Pritchard’s face on it during pregame warmups.

According to Earl Pritchard, Ethan Pritchard was driving his aunt home when he was shot in the back of the head in Havana, Florida, 16 miles from Tallahassee, on Sunday night.

The Seminoles routed East Texas A&M 77-3 on Saturday, after which coach Mike Norvell presented Earl Pritchard with the game ball, and asked him to break the rock – a tradition generally given to the player of the game after each Seminoles victory.

Norvell grew emotional as he discussed Pritchard during his postgame media availability.

“The way that he plays the game … he loves it, he absolutely loves it. To know that right now that’s taken away from him in a senseless act, you don’t always know why you have to go through things in life but I do believe God has his hand over Ethan and this football team,” Norvell said.

“To have Earl here today – He’s a wonderful man, and being with him I know it’s so very hard. I know it’s hard for anybody to have to go through, but he told me early in this week, ‘I know where my boy wants to be so I’m going to go stand in his place for him.'”

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