Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Student Slant! The column is going to be a biweekly look at the three-ish recent news stories that matter most to students like you. As a student myself — and as The SUNN Post’s Senior Student Editor — I approach every headline I read with the same questions: How will people our age be impacted? What do high schoolers and college-aged people actually need to know about the latest happenings in the White House, Silicon Valley, or the Twittersphere?
That’s where the Student Slant comes in. We’ll be here every other week to unpack the most recent and relevant headlines in segments so quick you can read them on your way to class.
The Headline
After Trump’s threats to destroy “a whole civilization,” there’s a ceasefire in Iran.
The Rundown
Tuesday morning, President Trump posted a threat to Truth Social in the midst of negotiations with Iran’s government leaders: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he wrote.
But at the eleventh hour, the U.S. instead agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran. So far, the truce is looking fragile, in part because Israel is continuing strikes on Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. So while Trump has backed off his mass extinction rhetoric, peace in Iran still seems pretty far out of grasp.
The Student Slant
At this point, one thing is clear: The conflict has caused profound disruption and danger to the education and lives of Iranian students. It will also have concrete impacts on life in the U.S.: The situation has already begun to disrupt global supply chains and has driven gas prices to their highest point since 2022, threatening to push our country into a recession.
The Headline
People are excited about space exploration again.
The Rundown
Artemis II — the first lunar space flight in more than five decades — launched last Wednesday, and has enraptured viewers worldwide. It’s the second of five planned Artemis missions, which are meant to “explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.”
It’s not the only blockbuster space event in recent weeks. Critically acclaimed book-to-screen adaptation Project Hail Mary, which follows a middle school science teacher-turned-astronaut on a solo mission to save Earth, has generated over $420 million at the global box office.
The Student Slant
For most students today — myself included — Artemis is the first major space launch that we’ll remember. And all this buzz could shape the future of the field: The more students see news about launches like Artemis and movies like Project Hail Mary, the more students become excited about careers in aerospace engineering and astrophysics.
The Headline
A.I. innovation powers on as Anthropic warns new model could wreak havoc.
The Rundown
Anthropic — the A.I. powerhouse behind Claude — has developed a model it believes is too powerful for public release. Anthropic began in 2021, after siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei defected from executive positions at OpenAI. They cofounded the group with 15 other OpenAI executives, united in part by a concern about the lack of guardrails at OpenAI.
The new model, called Mythos, is particularly adept at identifying vulnerabilities in cybersecurities systems, and would be dangerous in the wrong hands. Anthropic plans to release Claude Mythos Preview to a set of technology companies, but not the public.
The Student Slant
A.I. is always a hot topic in classrooms; the smarter it gets, the more complicated those negotiations become. It seems like basic A.I. skills are going to become a prerequisite for practically all careers in the coming decade — still, many people (imagine me frantically waving my hand in the air) are concerned about the existential threat the technology poses. Staying apprised of the latest news prepares students to contribute to those conversations and to brace for impact.
The Headline
The Great NeeDoh Shortage is upon us.
The Rundown
As the Atlantic reported late last week, demand has officially outpaced supply for the squishy neon toys that have been flying off shelves and flooding classrooms, dorms, and social media feeds. Paul Weingard, CEO of Schylling, NeeDoh’s manufacturer, said the shortage — which has sparked conversation on TikTok and Reddit — will likely be resolved by summer or, at the latest, fall.
The Student Slant
Beyond the fact that you should play with a Needoh if you haven’t yet — assuming you can get your hands on one — the Great NeeDoh Shortage can tell us a lot about the social media trend cycle and the potential of social media marketing. Online interest really does translate to in-person sales, and users who take to stores in search of viral products won’t settle for off brands.
