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‘Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence’ − an astronomer explains how much evidence scientists need to claim discoveries like extraterrestrial life

The detection of life beyond Earth would be one of the most profound discoveries in the history of science. The Milky Way galaxy alone hosts...

yesterday 1

The Conversation

Chris Impey

In talking with Tehran, Trump is reversing course on Iran – could a new nuclear deal be next?

Negotiators from Iran and the United States are set to meet again in Oman on April 26, prompting hopes the two countries might be moving, albeit...

yesterday 1

The Conversation

Jeffrey Fields

Trump’s ‘Garden of American Heroes’ is a monument to celebrity and achievement – paid for with humanities funding that benefits everyday Americans

Donald Trump first came up with his plan for a “National Garden of American Heroes” at the end of his first term, before President Joe Biden...

yesterday 1

The Conversation

Jennifer Tucker

Colors are objective, according to two philosophers − even though the blue you see doesn’t match what I see

Is your green my green? Probably not. What appears as pure green to me will likely look a bit yellowish or blueish to you. This is because visual...

yesterday 1

The Conversation

Elay Shech

Florida, once considered a swing state, is firmly Republican – a social anthropologist explains what caused this shift

Florida has undergone a dramatic political transformation over the past decade from a swing state to Republican stronghold. Florida’s recent...

yesterday 1

The Conversation

Alexander Lowie

Japanese women have long sacrificed their surnames in marriage − politics and demographics might change that

For centuries, women entering marriage in Japan have been bound by the Confucian notion of personal sacrifice for the good of the family – and that...

yesterday 1

The Conversation

Linda E. White

Hotter and drier climate in Colorado’s San Luis Valley contributes to kidney disease in agriculture workers, new study shows

Heat and humidity contributed to kidney damage and disease in the San Luis Valley in Colorado between 1984 and 1998, according to our recently...

yesterday 1

The Conversation

Katherine Ann James

These 4 tips can make screen time good for your kids and even help them learn to talk

Screen time permeates the lives of toddlers and preschoolers. For many young children, their exposure includes both direct viewing, such as watching...

yesterday 1

The Conversation

Erika Squires

Why predicting battery performance is like forecasting traffic − and how researchers are making progress

Lithium-ion batteries are quietly powering large parts of the world, including electric vehicles and smartphones. They have revolutionized how...

yesterday 1

The Conversation

Emmanuel Olugbade

‘I were but little happy, if I could say how much’: Shakespeare’s insights on happiness have held up for more than 400 years

What is “happiness” – and who gets to be happy? Since 2012, the World Happiness Report has measured and compared data from 167 countries. The...

yesterday 1

The Conversation

Cora Fox

Tensions over Kashmir and a warming planet have placed the Indus Waters Treaty on life support

In 1995, World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageldin warned that whereas the conflicts of the previous 100 years had been over oil, “the wars of...

yesterday 1

The Conversation

Fazlul Haq

Trump’s aggressive actions against free speech speak a lot louder than his words defending it

Harvard University took the extraordinary step of suing the Trump administration on April 21, 2025, claiming that the pressure campaign mounted on...

previous day 10

The Conversation

Daniel Hall

Memes and conflict: Study shows surge of imagery and fakes can precede international and political violence

Imagine a country with deep political divisions, where different groups don’t trust each other and violence seems likely. Now, imagine a flood of...

previous day 20

The Conversation

Tim Weninger

How do children learn to read? This literacy expert says ‘there are as many ways as there are students’

Five years after the pandemic forced children into remote instruction, two-thirds of U.S. fourth graders still cannot read at grade level. Reading...

previous day 10

The Conversation

K. Dara Hill

US colleges and universities have billions stashed away in endowments − a higher ed finance expert explains what they are

With the Trump administration seeking to cut federal funding for colleges and universities, you might be wondering whether the endowments of these...

previous day 3

The Conversation

Todd L. Ely

The hidden history of Philadelphia’s window-box gardens and their role in urban reform

It’s that time of year when Philadelphia row home owners with a green thumb fastidiously attend to their window boxes – selecting new plants to...

previous day 3

The Conversation

Sonja Dümpelmann

Pope Francis’ death right after Easter sounds miraculous – but patients and caregivers often work together to delay dying

On the morning of Easter Monday, after his final public address the day prior, Pope Francis died at age 88, closing 12 years of leading the...

previous day 2

The Conversation

Michelle Riba

Gratitude comes with benefits − a social psychologist explains how to practice it when times are stressful

A lot has been written about gratitude over the past two decades and how we ought to be feeling it. There is advice for journaling and a plethora...

previous day 2

The Conversation

Monica Y. Bartlett

Alaska, rich in petroleum, faces an energy shortage

In the state with the fourth-largest proven reserves of oil and gas in the U.S., there is a looming energy shortage. Above the Arctic Circle, oil...

previous day 3

The Conversation

Brett Watson

From help to harm: How the government is quietly repurposing everyone’s data for surveillance

A whistleblower at the National Labor Relations Board reported an unusual spike in potentially sensitive data flowing out of the agency’s network...

wednesday 30

The Conversation

Nicole M. Bennett

Justice Department lawyers work for justice and the Constitution – not the White House

In the 1970s, President Richard Nixon tried to fire the Department of Justice prosecutor leading an investigation into the president’s involvement...

wednesday 20

The Conversation

Cassandra Burke Robertson

Trump is stripping protections from marine protected areas – why that’s a problem for fishing’s future, and for whales, corals and other ocean life

The single greatest threat to the diversity of life in our oceans over the past 50 years, more than climate change or plastic pollution, has been...

wednesday 10

The Conversation

David Shiffman

US universities lose millions of dollars chasing patents, research shows

Every year, American universities spend millions of dollars patenting inventions developed on their campuses. Big names such as Stanford and the...

wednesday 7

The Conversation

Joshua M. Pearce

Trump administration pauses new mine safety regulation − here’s how those rules benefit companies as well as workers

President Donald Trump’s administration has announced its intention to pause or reverse regulations on mine safety, saying it wants to loosen rules...

wednesday 8

The Conversation

Jeremy M. Gernand

Controlled burns reduce wildfire risk, but they require trained staff and funding − this could be a rough year

Red skies in August, longer fire seasons and checking air quality before taking my toddler to the park. This has become the new norm in the western...

wednesday 6

The Conversation

Laura Dee

From Doing Business to B-READY : World Bank’s new rankings represent a rebrand, not a revamp

In 2021, the World Bank shut down one of its flagship projects: the Doing Business index, a global ranking system that measured how easy it was to...

wednesday 5

The Conversation

Fernanda G Nicola

Is China the new cool? How Beijing is using pop culture to win the soft power war

IShowSpeed, a 20-year-old American YouTuber and internet star, recently livestreamed hourslong tours of Chinese cities including Beijing and...

wednesday 3

The Conversation

Shaoyu Yuan

A warning for Democrats from the Gilded Age and the 1896 election

More than five months after President Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, Democrats are still trying to understand why they lost the election and...

22.04.2025 20

The Conversation

Adam M. Silver

Stripping federal protection for clean water harms just about everyone, especially already vulnerable communities

Before Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, U.S. factories and cities could pipe their pollution directly into waterways. Rivers, including...

22.04.2025 20

The Conversation

Jeremy Orr

Make Russia Medieval Again! How Putin is seeking to remold society, with a little help from Ivan the Terrible

Beginning in September 2025, Russian middle and high school students will be handed a new textbook titled “My Family.” Published in March 2025, the...

22.04.2025 10

The Conversation

Dina Khapaeva

Reducing diversity, equity and inclusion to a catchphrase undermines its true purpose

Diversity, equity and inclusion, which has become the catchphrase DEI, represents a commitment to fairness and to tackling racism and exclusionary...

22.04.2025 10

The Conversation

Detris Honora Adelabu

Perfect brownies baked at high altitude are possible thanks to Colorado’s home economics pioneer Inga Allison

Many bakers working at high altitudes have carefully followed a standard recipe only to reach into the oven to find a sunken cake, flat cookies or...

22.04.2025 7

The Conversation

Tobi Jacobi

Habeas corpus: A thousand-year -old legal principle for defending rights that’s getting a workout under the Trump administration

In some parts of the world, a person may be secreted away or imprisoned by the government without any advanced notification of wrongdoing or chance...

22.04.2025 5

The Conversation

Andrea Seielstad

Some politicians who share harmful information are rewarded with more clicks, study finds

What happens when politicians post false or toxic messages online? My team and I found evidence that suggests U.S. state legislators can increase...

22.04.2025 2

The Conversation

Yu-Ru Lin

I study local government and Hurricane Helene forced me from my home − here’s how rural towns and counties in North Carolina and beyond cooperate to rebuild

Last year was a record year for disasters in the United States. A new report from the British charity International Institute for Environment and...

22.04.2025 3

The Conversation

Jay Rickabaugh

Francis, a pope of many firsts: 5 essential reads

Pope Francis, whose papacy blended tradition with pushes for inclusion and reform, died on April, 21, 2025 – Easter Monday – at the age of 88....

21.04.2025 1

The Conversation

Molly Jackson

Endowments aren’t blank checks – but universities can rely on them more heavily in turbulent times

The Trump administration is demanding that at least 60 U.S. colleges and universities change their policies or lose out on billions of dollars in...

21.04.2025 8

The Conversation

Ellen P. Aprill

Lawful permanent residents like Mahmoud Khalil have a right to freedom of speech – but does that protect them from deportation?

The Trump administration has revoked the visas of more than 1,000 foreign university students since January 2025. Many of the individual cases that...

21.04.2025 1

The Conversation

Erin Corcoran

Why don’t humans have hair all over their bodies? A biologist explains our lack of fur

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to...

21.04.2025 1

The Conversation

Maria Chikina

What will happen at the funeral of Pope Francis

The 88-year-old pontiff had been well aware of his fragile state and advanced age. As early as 2015, Pope Francis had expressed the desire to be...

21.04.2025 10

The Conversation

Joanne M. Pierce

How the next pope will be elected – what goes on at the conclave

With the death of Pope Francis, attention now turns to the selection of his successor. The next pope will be chosen in what is called a...

21.04.2025 3

The Conversation

Mathew Schmalz

Federal laws don’t ban rollbacks of environmental protection, but they don’t make it easy

President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin have announced their intent to reconsider dozens of current...

21.04.2025 1

The Conversation

Stan Meiburg

Exposure to perceptible temperature rise increases concern about climate change, higher education adds to understanding

Years ago, after taking an Earth science class, I found myself looking at the world differently. It was the 1990s, and lakes in Wisconsin where I...

21.04.2025 1

The Conversation

R. Alexander Bentley