There is a unique power contained in a room where a woman is giving birth. There is power in the women surrounding her. It's a time of transformation, an alchemy unlike any other. No wonder, in so many places in the world, that power would be regarded as suspicious. Midwives and witches — they've always had a lot in common.

The Federal Trade Commission’s long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Amazon is the most aggressive move it has taken yet to tame the market power of a company that’s become synonymous with online shopping and fast deliveries. Overall, there has not been a lot of monopolization cases that have ended in a court ordering a company to divest itself, said Sean Sullivan, a professor at the University of Iowa College of Law who teaches antitrust law.

Climate change is robbing some hydro dams of water while oversupplying others—forcing managers to employ new forecasting technology and clever strategies to capitalize on what they have. Historically, dam operators under the Army Corps umbrella had to ignore weather forecasts and respond only to rain and snow that was already on the ground. This rule traces back to the notorious capriciousness of traditional forecasts: If an operator takes a bad gamble on a forecasted weather event, the results can be dangerous. But in practice, this forces operators to react later than their gut tells them to, says Riley Post, a University of Iowa researcher who spent over a decade as a hydraulic engineer for the Corps. They might, for example, be expected to hold water in a nearly full reservoir even as heavy rains approach.

A tropical disease, once only seen in returning travelers, is gaining a "firm foothold" in the southern United States, scientists warn. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a potentially disfiguring skin disease that is being spread by the bites of infected sand flies. There is also growing evidence that a life-threatening form of the disease, called visceral leishmaniasis, could also begin to infect U.S. sand fly populations. Visceral leishmaniasis can affect the internal organs, and results in between 20,000 and 30,000 humans deaths every year and it is also spread by sand flies. The parasite, another species of Leishmania, is thought to be coming into the U.S. in increasing numbers through the importation of dogs from regions where the disease is common, says Christine Petersen, director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases at the University of Iowa.

Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Paul… Caitlin Clark? The Iowa basketball star became the first collegiate athlete and the only woman to sign an endorsement deal with State Farm Insurance. The NIL deal was announced Oct. 10, but specific dollar figures have not been revealed.

In what’s called the best tradition in college sports, NBC’s Harry Smith shares the history of people in the Kinnick Stadium waving to patients at Stead Family Children's Hospital overlooking the field — and meets a player in a full-circle moment.

Finkbine golf course sits on the western edge of the University of Iowa campus, a few hundred yards from Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tee up a golf ball—and get a few pavement-aided bounces through the parking lot—and one might be able to reach the school’s basketball arena with a big drive. But on days when Caitlin Clark is really cooking, it seems like she could connect the two spots with one of her jaw-dropping jump shots.

To further connections between curricular and experiential learning, the University of Iowa created a program to hold regular conversations between student employees and their on-campus supervisors, deepening their on-the-job learning and relationships on campus.

Perhaps no Korean dish represents the value of honey more than the ancient dessert yakgwa, a deep-fried honey cookie soaked in syrup. Yakgwa (“yak” means medicine and “gwa” means confection) is more than a vessel for coveted sweetness. It connects generations and tells the story of Korea’s reverence for tradition and optimism for the future.