menu_open

The Conversation

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

I’ve spent decades overseeing relief operations around the world, and here’s what’s going wrong in Gaza

Amid persistent calls from the United States and other countries that Israel needs to make it easier for life-saving aid to reach Palestinians in...

friday 10

The Conversation

Raymond Offenheiser

A jacket, a coin, a letter − relics of Omaha Beach battle tell the story of D-Day 80 years later

Between the villages of Vierville-sur-Mer and Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes in Normandy, France, is a 5-mile stretch of beach that was once called Côte...

friday 20

The Conversation

Frank A. Blazich Jr

Bird flu detected in Colorado dairy cattle − a vet explains the risks of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus

Colorado has highly pathogenic avian influenza – also known as HPAI or bird flu – on a dairy farm, the ninth state with confirmed cases. The...

friday 10

The Conversation

Jason Lombard

Medicine doesn’t just have ‘conscientious objectors’ − there are ‘conscientious providers,’ too

When we think about harm, we typically think of physical or psychological suffering. But ethicists point out that we can also suffer “moral...

friday 20

The Conversation

Raymond G. De Vries

What are roads made of? A pavement materials engineer explains the science behind the asphalt you drive on

While on the road, you’re probably thinking more about your destination than the pavement you’re driving over. But building roads requires a host...

friday 10

The Conversation

Mansour Solaimanian

Algorithms help people see and correct their biases, study shows

Algorithms are a staple of modern life. People rely on algorithmic recommendations to wade through deep catalogs and find the best movies, routes,...

friday 10

The Conversation

Carey K. Morewedge

Engineering mini human hearts to study pregnancy complications and birth defects

How did your heart form? What triggered your first heartbeat? To this day, the mechanisms of human heart development remain elusive. Researchers...

friday 10

The Conversation

Brett Volmert

Sports gambling creates a windfall, but raises questions of integrity – here are three lessons from historic sports-betting scandals

Sports betting is having a big moment across the United States. While gambling on sports has been legal for decades in countries such as the U.K.,...

friday 10

The Conversation

Jared Bahir Browsh

How Jason Kelce built his personal brand and became a Philly legend

Philly icon and former Eagles star Jason Kelce has continued to make headlines since he announced his retirement from the NFL on March 4, 2024. A...

friday 20

The Conversation

Amy Lavin

Sudan’s descent into chaos sets stage for al-Qaida to make a return to historic stronghold

“Sudan’s moment has come; chaos is our chance to sow the seeds of jihad,” warned Abu Hudhaifa al-Sudani, a high-ranking al-Qaida leader, in an...

friday 10

The Conversation

Sara Harmouch

How cannabis and psilocybin might help some of the 50 million Americans who are experiencing chronic pain

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency announced in late April 2024 that it plans to ease federal restrictions on cannabis, reclassifying it from a...

friday 10

The Conversation

Kevin F. Boehnke

5 books to help you better understand today’s campus protests

Every so often, a cause ignites a sustained fury on college campuses across the nation. In 2020, it was Black Lives Matter. In 2011, it was Occupy...

09.05.2024 30

The Conversation

Steve Friess

Little seed, big problem – keep an eye out for foxtail seed pods that can harm your pet this summer

Across much of the United States, spring is in full force. With warmer weather, people are taking their furry family members out on longer walks...

09.05.2024 30

The Conversation

Erik Olstad

Why US offshore wind energy is struggling – the good, the bad and the opportunity

America’s first large-scale offshore wind farms began sending power to the Northeast in early 2024, but a wave of wind farm project cancellations...

09.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Christopher Niezrecki

Section 702 foreign surveillance law lives on, but privacy fight continues

What would you do if you had to vote in Congress on a crucial national security program, when you also knew that the FBI had systematically ignored...

09.05.2024 7

The Conversation

Peter Swire

La Niña is coming, raising the chances of a dangerous Atlantic hurricane season – an atmospheric scientist explains this climate phenomenon

One of the big contributors to the record-breaking global temperatures over the past year – El Niño – is nearly gone, and its opposite, La Niña,...

09.05.2024 10

The Conversation

Pedro Dinezio

Polarization may phase out of American politics as younger generations shift into power

The sharp increase in political polarization in America over the past 50 years has been driven in part by how different generations think about...

09.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Sally Friedman

Brain study identifies a cost of caregiving for new fathers

Parenting makes the heart grow fonder, and the brain grow … smaller? Several studies have revealed that the brain loses volume across the...

09.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Darby Saxbe

Commencement isn’t just about awarding degrees – and cancellations leave students disconnected and disillusioned

Following the wave of protests over the war in the Gaza Strip, several U.S. universities have decided to cancel or ramp down commencement...

09.05.2024 2

The Conversation

Dimitris Xygalatas

Why some people receiving federal benefits don’t consider themselves poor − even though poverty rates have increased since the COVID-19 pandemic

For the past 25 years, my research as a cultural anthropologist has taken me into the homes and neighborhoods of people living in poverty in cities...

09.05.2024 6

The Conversation

Sherri Lawson Clark

I interviewed moms with 5 or more kids − here’s what I learned about the women who are quietly going against the grain

Commentators link America’s declining birth rate to a number of factors: a lack of support for mothers in the workplace, expensive child care,...

09.05.2024 5

The Conversation

Catherine Ruth Pakaluk

Pet-owners : watch out for foxtail seed pods that can harm your dog or cat this summer

Across much of the United States, spring is in full force. With warmer weather, people are taking their furry family members out on longer walks...

09.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Erik Olstad

Why US offshore wind power is struggling – the good, the bad and the opportunity

America’s first large-scale offshore wind farms began sending power to the Northeast in early 2024, but a wave of wind farm project cancellations...

09.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Christopher Niezrecki

A sex scandal that’s boring the public − and a judge forced to keep Trump focused

John E. Jones III is the president of Dickinson College and a retired federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush. David E. Clementson is a...

09.05.2024 10

The Conversation

David E. Clementson

Divesting university endowments: Easier demanded than done

Campus protests expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and objecting to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza include many calls for...

09.05.2024 10

The Conversation

Todd L. Ely

Florida’s school safety dashboard helps parents and teachers address root causes of bullying, fighting and other misbehavior

Florida updated its school safety dashboard in April 2024, and it is now one of the most comprehensive in the nation. F. Chris Curran is an...

08.05.2024 10

The Conversation

F. Chris Curran

Arizona’s now-repealed abortion ban serves as a cautionary tale for reproductive health care across the US

When the Arizona Supreme Court ruled on April 9, 2024, that the state’s Civil War-era law banning nearly all abortions was enforceable, it...

08.05.2024 30

The Conversation

Swapna Reddy

Justice Sotomayor’s health isn’t the real problem for Democrats − winning elections is

It almost sounds like a bad joke: What did the 78-year-old male senator say to the 69-year-old female justice? “RETIRE!” That’s effectively...

08.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Kevin J. Mcmahon

What America’s first board game can teach us about the aspirations of a young nation

Board games are booming: In 2023 alone, the industry topped US$16.8 billion and is projected to reach $40.1 billion by 2032. Classics like...

08.05.2024 40

The Conversation

Matthew Wynn Sivils

What early 2024 polls are revealing about voters of color and the GOP − and it’s not all about Donald Trump

By the end of winter 2024, the return of Donald Trump to the top of the GOP presidential ticket has revealed a surprising trend in the former...

08.05.2024 30

The Conversation

Daniel Martinez Hosang

US drone warfare faces questions of legitimacy, study of military chaplains shows

Are drone strikes legitimate, meaning on sound moral and legal footing? How people perceive the legitimacy of U.S. drone strikes – firing...

08.05.2024 8

The Conversation

Paul Lushenko

Everyday life and its variability influenced human evolution at least as much as rare activities like big-game hunting

Think about taking a walk: where you need to go, how fast you need to move to get there, and whether you need to bring something along to carry the...

08.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Cara Wall-Scheffler

Exoplanet WASP-69b has a cometlike tail – this unique feature is helping scientists like me learn more about how planets evolve

Located 163 light-years from Earth, a Jupiter-sized exoplanet named WASP-69b offers astrophysicists a window into the dynamic processes that shape...

08.05.2024 6

The Conversation

Dakotah Tyler

How 19th-century Spiritualists ‘canceled’ the idea of hell to address social and political concerns

Between Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, drivers pass a billboard on Interstate 71 that has achieved some internet fame. Since 2004, a black sign has...

08.05.2024 6

The Conversation

Lindsay Dicuirci

Playing with the kids is important work for chimpanzee mothers

Wild chimpanzees have been studied for more than 60 years, but they continue to delight and surprise observers, as we found during the summer of...

08.05.2024 30

The Conversation

Zarin Machanda

Artists created images of Christ that focused not on historical accuracy but on reflecting different communities − a scholar of religious history explains

In 1915, Norwegian artist Emanuel Vigeland, one of the most respected Scandinavian artists of his time, created an image of Christ with golden hair...

07.05.2024 1

The Conversation

Virginia Raguin

How to tell if a conspiracy theory is probably false

Conspiracy theories are everywhere, and they can involve just about anything. People believe false conspiracy theories for a wide range of reasons...

07.05.2024 40

The Conversation

H. Colleen Sinclair

Voting in unconstitutional districts: US Supreme Court upended decades of precedent in 2022 by allowing voters to vote with gerrymandered maps instead of fixing the congressional districts first

For the 2022 midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to use congressional districts that violated the law and diluted the voting...

07.05.2024 50

The Conversation

Sam D. Hayes

Lung cancer is the deadliest of all cancers, and screening could save many lives − if more people could access it

Many medical organizations have been recommending lung cancer screening for decades for those at high risk of developing the disease. But in 2022,...

07.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Nina Thomas

Homeschooled kids face unique college challenges − here are 3 ways they can be overcome

Homeschooling is the fastest-growing education setting in the United States. More than 3 million students were educated at home in the 2021-22...

07.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Kenneth V. Anthony

Future pandemics will have the same human causes as ancient outbreaks − lessons from anthropology can help prevent them

The last pandemic was bad, but COVID-19 is only one of many infectious diseases that emerged since the turn of this century. Since 2000, the world...

07.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Ron Barrett

3 reasons the UAW is having success in organizing Southern workers – with two Mercedes plants in Alabama the next face-off

Workers at two Mercedes plants near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will soon vote for the first time on whether they want to join a union. Until recently, it...

07.05.2024 2

The Conversation

Stephen J. Silvia

Could Biden stop Netanyahu’s plans? A national security expert looks at Israel’s attack on Rafah

Israel entered Rafah, a city that marks Gaza’s southern border crossing with Egypt, on May 7, 2024, launching a military offensive that the U.S....

07.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Gregory F. Treverton

As climate change amplifies urban flooding, here’s how communities can become ‘sponge cities’

“When it rains, it pours” once was a metaphor for bad things happening in clusters. Now it’s becoming a statement of fact about rainfall in a...

07.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Franco Montalto

War games risk stirring up troubled waters as Philippines − emboldened by US − squares up to Beijing at sea

U.S. Marines joined Filipino counterparts on May 5, 2024, for a mock battle at a telling location: a small, remote territory just 100 miles off the...

07.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Fred H. Lawson

The number of religious ‘nones’ has soared, but not the number of atheists – and as social scientists, we wanted to know why

The number of individuals in the United States who do not identify as being part of any religion has grown dramatically in recent years, and “the...

06.05.2024 40

The Conversation

Christopher P. Scheitle

Paying caregivers more could boost Nebraska’s economy − new research

Paid caregivers foster independence and improve quality of life for people with all kinds of disabilities, many of whom need help getting dressed,...

06.05.2024 20

The Conversation

Susan Rebecca Reay

Trump promises to deport all undocumented immigrants, resurrecting a 1950s strategy − but it didn’t work then and is less likely to do so now

While campaigning in Iowa last September, former President Donald Trump made a promise to voters if he were elected again: “Following the...

06.05.2024 40

The Conversation

Katrina Burgess

‘Hidden mother’ photos don’t erase moms − rather, they reveal the labor and love that support the child

Collectors relish so-called “hidden mother photographs” as historical oddities. These 19th-century images contain very young children held still...

06.05.2024 10

The Conversation

Andrea Kaston Tange

Unlicensed teachers now dominate new teacher hires in rural Texas schools

The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 eliminated the federal requirement that teachers be highly qualified to teach. This...

06.05.2024 10

The Conversation

James P. Van Overschelde

I analyzed 3,356 signs to see how language use is changing in three Latino neighborhoods in Philly

Signs written in Spanish are becoming less common along North Philadelphia’s Golden Block, or El Bloque de Oro – which runs along North Fifth...

06.05.2024 9

The Conversation

Daniel Guarin

How does the brain think?

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...

06.05.2024 10

The Conversation

Jennifer Robinson

Neediest areas are being shortchanged on government funds − even with programs designed to benefit poor communities

If you live in one of the most economically deprived neighborhoods in your city, you might think the government is directing a smaller share of...

06.05.2024 10

The Conversation

Eric Stokan

What are nanoplastics? An engineer explains concerns about particles too small to see

It’s become common to read that microplastics – little bits of plastic, smaller than a pencil eraser – are turning up everywhere and in...

06.05.2024 30

The Conversation

Mohan Qin

Houston’s flood problems offer lessons for cities trying to adapt to a changing climate

Scenes from the Houston area looked like the aftermath of a hurricane in early May after a series of powerful storms flooded highways and...

06.05.2024 50

The Conversation

Richard B. Rood

Venus is losing water faster than previously thought – here’s what that could mean for the early planet’s habitability

Today, the atmosphere of our neighbor planet Venus is as hot as a pizza oven and drier than the driest desert on Earth – but it wasn’t always that...

06.05.2024 30

The Conversation

Eryn Cangi

What cities everywhere can learn from the Houston area’s severe flooding as they try to adapt to climate change

Scenes from the Houston area looked like the aftermath of a hurricane in early May after a series of powerful storms flooded highways and...

06.05.2024 10

The Conversation

Richard B. Rood

Palestinian writers have long explored the horrors of amputation

Words fail as 2,000-pound bombs shred lives and limbs. The sheer number of children killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza is devastating – at least...

06.05.2024 4

The Conversation

Graham Liddell

4a9f241811f82a946bcc30cba04e0dd3