favorites

Pimple patches have hidden our blemishes for hundreds of years – historian explains

You may have noticed people out and about with little stickers on their faces. Perhaps you’ve seen moons, stars, clouds or even smiley faces...

previous day 5

Sara Read

Positive psychology experts don’t follow their own advice. What they actually do may be the key to wellbeing

Positive psychology forms the backbone of wellbeing programmes around the world. Many people aiming to improve their mental health and live a good...

previous day 6

Jolanta Burke

How shipwrecks become ‘islands of life’ in barren seas

When a ship sinks, it is often in tragic circumstances. Beneath the waves, however, a different story unfolds: shipwrecks become the foundations of...

previous day 6

Nicholas Ray

Celebrating 150 years of Liberty’s DNA – fusing design, nature and art

The world-famous Liberty department store in London celebrated its 150th anniversary this year. Describing itself as “an extraordinary laboratory...

previous day 5

Tamsin Mclaren

How to deal with worry this Christmas

Christmas can be hard. For some people, it increases loneliness, grief, hopelessness and family tension, and the festive season has a way of...

previous day 6

Robin Bailey

Did Charles Dickens see A Christmas Carol as an anti-slavery story?

A Christmas Carol is usually read as a Victorian morality tale about capitalism and compassion. Yet an autographed script written by Charles...

previous day 6

Lucy Whitehead

Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus is an attractive target in the search for life – new research

A small, icy moon of Saturn called Enceladus is one of the prime targets in the search for life elsewhere in the solar system. A new study...

previous day 2

Flynn Ames

Why you should spend more time with a dog this Christmas

As daylight shortens and routines slow down, many people experience a dip in mood and motivation. The run-up to Christmas is marketed as joyful,...

previous day 2

Panagiota Tragantzopoulou

English classes are being targeted by anti-immigration protesters – but they’ve been politicised for years

Just as the protests outside asylum hotels of summer 2025 faded from headlines, some anti-immigration groups turned their attention to another...

previous day 3

Katy Highet

EU agrees €90 billion loan to Ukraine, but squabbles over frozen Russian assets expose the bloc’s deep divisions

By agreeing to provide a loan of €90 billion (£79 billion) for the years 2026-2027, EU leaders have set the direction for the future of support for...

previous day 10

Richard Whitman

Dispatches from a year of global conflict and uncertainty

This newsletter was first published in The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email. Sign up to receive weekly analysis of the latest...

previous day 7

Jonathan Este

What the year in polls tells us about Reform’s growth – and Labour and Tory losses

In the year and a half since Labour won a landslide in the 2024 general election, over 400 polls have been published. Combined, these polls tell a...

previous day 8

Paul Whiteley

Violence against women and girls: four key takeaways from a strategy that aims to change society

As the UK government launches its violence against women and girls strategy, the situation it is seeking to remedy makes for hard reading. One in...

previous day 5

Sophie King-Hill

How climate campaigns can cut through ad fatigue

Since November 2025, commuters at Southwark tube station in London have been passing walls lined with vintage-style posters parodying oil and gas...

previous day 5

Sayed Elhoushy

Young people’s social worlds are ‘thinning’ – here’s how that’s affecting wellbeing

Between 2014 and 2024, the proportion of people aged 16–24 in England experiencing mental health issues rose from 19% to 26%. This means over 1.6...

previous day 5

Eamon Mccrory

Medieval Londoners’ cheaply imported mass-produced Christmas gifts look surprisingly familiar

We often imagine medieval life as dull, dirty and short, with little in the way of material comfort or decoration. However, medieval Londoners were...

previous day 5

Justin Colson

Why shoppers buy fast fashion even if they disagree with it

Every December, many shoppers plan to buy fewer things and choose more sustainable options. Yet as the month goes on, spending rises and fast...

previous day 5

Yang Ding

Christmas Comes to Moominvalley: a magical show that honours Tove Jansson and her creations

Christmas can be a bit of a performance. It often involves harassed people doing a lot. But for many of us, alongside all the stressful...

thursday 20

Kiera Vaclavik

People with personality disorders often use language differently – our research reveals how

Is it possible to spot personality dysfunction from someone’s everyday word use? My colleagues and I have conducted research that suggests you can,...

thursday 20

Charlotte Entwistle

Bird flu warnings are being ignored. I’ve seen this pattern before

There’s an unwritten rule in publishing, or so I’ve been told: don’t write about COVID. Our collective attention span has been saturated by those...

thursday 10

Nikki Ikani

Jane Austen celebrated Christmas with dancing, dinner parties and dangerous games

Would you dare to play Snapdragon and pluck a flaming raisin from a fiery bowl of brandy? Or don the costume of a comedic character on Twelfth...

thursday 2

Meg Kobza

Earth’s frozen regions are sending a clear warning about climate change – but politicians are ignoring it

“We cannot negotiate with the melting point of ice.” That’s the message from more than 50 leading scientists who study the Earth’s frozen regions,...

thursday 3

Chris Stokes

Why public views of terrorism don’t match the evidence, and what the government needs to do to keep people safe

The mass shooting during Hanukkah in Bondi Beach is a horrific reminder that contemporary terrorism can affect the places where we meet others,...

thursday 2

Sara Fregonese

How Venezuela has been preparing for a US invasion for more than two decades

In the latest escalation of tensions between the US and Venezuela, on December 17 US President Donald Trump ordered a “complete blockade” of...

thursday 1

Gemma Ware

Christmas food poisoning and how to avoid it – by a microbiologist

Food poisoning affects millions of people in the UK every year, and the risk rises during the Christmas period. Large family meals, raw poultry,...

thursday 8

Primrose Freestone

The truth about ‘miracle’ heaters and wood stoves

This roundup of The Conversation’s climate coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter, Imagine. Each year,...

thursday 5

Will De Freitas

South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam show that economic statecraft is not just the preserve of great powers

Make American shipbuilding great again (Masga) may sound like an effort by the US to bolster its economic strength and project power...

thursday 7

Robyn Klingler-Vidra

To feel lonely is to be human: here’s how to handle it at Christmas

Christmas is often considered a time of connection, warmth and belonging. That’s the script, anyway. But for many people, the reality feels...

thursday 6

Paul Jones

Many shoppers take a strange comfort of buying now and paying later – but it can come with a sting after Christmas

It’s that time of year again, and retailers are pulling out all the stops to get us spending – from Black Friday to new year’s sales. The average...

thursday 1

Anita Lifen Zhao

Study shows views of British empire shape voting behaviour – but in subtle ways

If you wander through Glasgow Green, you’ll encounter the Doulton fountain, a gaudy terracotta tribute to empire that features “native” and...

thursday 2

Christopher Claassen

How Europe’s new carbon tax on imported goods will change global trade – and our shopping habits

For people living in the EU, the price of their next car, home renovation and even local produce may soon reflect a climate policy that many have...

thursday 3

Simona Sagone

The 12 ways Christmas wrecks your sleep – and how to fix it

Christmas is supposed to be restful, yet somehow it ends up being one of the worst times of year for sleep. Between late nights, travel, one too...

thursday 1

Clare Anderson

How open-water swimming can transform midlife wellbeing – new research

Across the UK, a quiet shift in midlife exercise is underway. A decade ago, the cultural image of midlife fitness was the Lycra-clad cyclist...

17.12.2025 10

James Beale

How figures like Joey Barton could fuel a culture of online hostility toward female athletes – new research

A criminal court recently pored over the social media posts of the ex-footballer Joey Barton and found them to be “grossly offensive”. So much so...

17.12.2025 10

Wasim Ahmed

Digital detox: how to switch off without paying the price – new research

Switching off can be surprisingly expensive. Much like the smoking cessation boom of the 1990s, the digital detox business – spanning hardware,...

17.12.2025 9

Quynh Hoang

The Housemaid: this dark, sexy thriller is a seriously satisfying watch

Based on the bestselling novel by Freida McFadden, The Housemaid is a dark, sexy and satisfying thriller with plenty of twists to enjoy along the...

17.12.2025 8

Harriet Fletcher

Five family Christmas games that reveal how we think, communicate and connect

For many families at Christmas, the one time of year when everyone finally ends up in the same room, suggesting a game is often the best strategic...

17.12.2025 6

Paul Jones

China and Mongolia are battling to control massive dust storms

Dust storms regularly affect northern China, including its capital Beijing. In recent years, Chinese scientists and officials have traced the...

17.12.2025 1

Thomas White

Home Alone’s ‘Wet Bandits’ are medical miracles

The festive movie season is upon us, and one of my perennial favourites is Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. I will die on this hill: it is better...

17.12.2025 4

Adam Taylor

How a healthy gut could help your baby sleep better

When babies struggle with poor sleep, parents often suffer right alongside them. Growing evidence shows that a baby’s gut health plays a key role...

17.12.2025 4

Manal Mohammed

UK to re-join Erasmus+ – here are six benefits of the European exchange scheme

The government has announced that the UK will be re-joining the Erasmus programme. Young people will be able to participate in the scheme again...

17.12.2025 2

Sascha Stollhans

AI tools are being used to subject women in public life to online violence

The era of AI-assisted online violence is no longer looming. It has arrived. And it is reshaping the threat landscape for women who work in the...

17.12.2025 2

Julie Posetti

Can ‘miracle’ heaters really warm your home for pennies? The physics says no

The internet is awash with adverts for various portable heaters, with claims that they will heat your house for pennies. Some are marketed as the “...

17.12.2025 2

Dylan Ryan

Russia’s war economy is not collapsing, but neither is it stable

Russia’s wartime economy is getting weaker as the war in Ukraine approaches its fourth anniversary, according to a recent report by PeaceRep, a...

17.12.2025 2

Yerzhan Tokbolat

Which countries people are fleeing from – and why

The US government halted all applications for green cards, citizenship and asylum from 19 mostly African and Middle Eastern countries on December...

17.12.2025 2

Sanwal Hussain

Bright, flickering and flashing lights really can be bad for you – here’s how to have a visually comfortable Christmas

It is the time of year when decorations appear everywhere and everyone has a preferred style, from bright flashing lights to something more...

17.12.2025 2

Catherine Manning

Why do so many love a good ghost story at Christmas? A psychologist explains

Christmas is usually seen as a time of light, warmth, and happiness. However, in Europe there is a long tradition of people embracing the darker...

17.12.2025 2

Juliet Wakefield

Child poverty: how bad is it in the UK?

The UK government recently unveiled its child poverty strategy, with the removal of the two-child limit on benefits payments as the centrepiece....

17.12.2025 5

Regina Murphy Keith

Christmas at the end of the world: the curious allure of festive apocalypse films and TV

Navigating the chaos of Christmas celebrations can feel a bit like fighting through the battle of Armageddon. Yet while it might be tempting to...

16.12.2025 6

Andrew Crome

The twelve viruses of Christmas, and how to make your own – out of paper

Viruses, as we all know, are invisibly small things that make us sick. But is that the whole story? Zoom in close enough and you’ll discover the...

16.12.2025 3

Categories

Sources

Newspaper Columnists

Pimple patches have hidden our blemishes for hundreds of years – historian explains

Sara Read

Positive psychology experts don’t follow their own advice. What they actually do may be the key to wellbeing

Jolanta Burke

How shipwrecks become ‘islands of life’ in barren seas

Nicholas Ray

Celebrating 150 years of Liberty’s DNA – fusing design, nature and art

Tamsin Mclaren

How to deal with worry this Christmas

Robin Bailey

Did Charles Dickens see A Christmas Carol as an anti-slavery story?

Lucy Whitehead

Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus is an attractive target in the search for life – new research

Flynn Ames

Why you should spend more time with a dog this Christmas

Panagiota Tragantzopoulou

English classes are being targeted by anti-immigration protesters – but they’ve been politicised for years

Katy Highet

EU agrees €90 billion loan to Ukraine, but squabbles over frozen Russian assets expose the bloc’s deep divisions

Richard Whitman

Dispatches from a year of global conflict and uncertainty

Jonathan Este

What the year in polls tells us about Reform’s growth – and Labour and Tory losses

Paul Whiteley

Violence against women and girls: four key takeaways from a strategy that aims to change society

Sophie King-Hill

How climate campaigns can cut through ad fatigue

Sayed Elhoushy

Young people’s social worlds are ‘thinning’ – here’s how that’s affecting wellbeing

Eamon Mccrory

Medieval Londoners’ cheaply imported mass-produced Christmas gifts look surprisingly familiar

Justin Colson

Why shoppers buy fast fashion even if they disagree with it

Yang Ding

Christmas Comes to Moominvalley: a magical show that honours Tove Jansson and her creations

Kiera Vaclavik

People with personality disorders often use language differently – our research reveals how

Charlotte Entwistle

Bird flu warnings are being ignored. I’ve seen this pattern before

Nikki Ikani

Jane Austen celebrated Christmas with dancing, dinner parties and dangerous games

Meg Kobza

Earth’s frozen regions are sending a clear warning about climate change – but politicians are ignoring it

Chris Stokes

Why public views of terrorism don’t match the evidence, and what the government needs to do to keep people safe

Sara Fregonese

How Venezuela has been preparing for a US invasion for more than two decades

Gemma Ware

Christmas food poisoning and how to avoid it – by a microbiologist

Primrose Freestone

The truth about ‘miracle’ heaters and wood stoves

Will De Freitas

South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam show that economic statecraft is not just the preserve of great powers

Robyn Klingler-Vidra

To feel lonely is to be human: here’s how to handle it at Christmas

Paul Jones

Many shoppers take a strange comfort of buying now and paying later – but it can come with a sting after Christmas

Anita Lifen Zhao

Study shows views of British empire shape voting behaviour – but in subtle ways

Christopher Claassen

How Europe’s new carbon tax on imported goods will change global trade – and our shopping habits

Simona Sagone

​The ​1​2 ways Christmas wrecks your sleep​ – and how to fix it

Clare Anderson

How open-water swimming can transform midlife wellbeing – new research

James Beale

How figures like Joey Barton could fuel a culture of online hostility toward female athletes – new research

Wasim Ahmed

Digital detox: how to switch off without paying the price – new research

Quynh Hoang

The Housemaid: this dark, sexy thriller is a seriously satisfying watch

Harriet Fletcher

Five family Christmas games that reveal how we think, communicate and connect

Paul Jones

China and Mongolia are battling to control massive dust storms

Thomas White

Home Alone’s ‘Wet Bandits’ are medical miracles

The 12 ways Christmas wrecks your sleep – and how to fix it