The Conversation

Taliban 2.0 aren't so different from the first regime, after all

Written by Atal Ahmadzai, Visiting Assistant Professor of International Relations, St. Lawrence University

The Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021, without major opposition. Photo by Mohd Rasfan /AFP via Getty Image

The international community is closely monitoring the Taliban, after the group re-seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

There is legitimate reason for concern. The Taliban are again ruling through fear and draconian...

More than masks and critical race theory – 3 tasks you should be prepared to do before you run for school board

Written by Casey D. Cobb, Neag Professor of Educational Policy, University of Connecticut

School board elections are increasingly contested. Nathan Howard/Getty Images

When people run for school board these days, they often are motivated to campaign on a controverisial topic. That’s according to Ballotpedia, a nonprofit that tracks political elections in the U.S.

In an analysis of school board elections in 463 school districts in...

Sperm donation is largely unregulated, but that could soon change as lawsuits multiply

Written by Naomi Cahn, Professor of Law, University of Virginia

Freezing and storing sperm vials has proved easier than regulating artificial insemination.MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images

When Wendy and Janet Norman decided to have a baby, they went sperm shopping through Xytex Corp., a sperm bank.

The couple chose Donor #9623. Xytex, the Normans later claimed, told them the man spoke multiple...

Why massive new youth sports facilities may not lead to the tourist boom many communities hope for when they build them

Written by Richard Buning, Senior Lecturer in Tourism, School of Business, The University of Queensland

Grand Park, a multi-use sporting facility in Westfield, Ind., was built to lure youth sports competitions and tourists to the region.AP Photo/Michael Conroy

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

Parents who travel with their kids to compete in regional sports tournaments tend to be too focused on the...

Fact-checking may be important, but it won't help Americans learn to disagree better

Written by Taylor Dotson, Associate Professor of Social Science, New Mexico Tech

You're not the only one having trouble discerning the truth.nicoletaionescu/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Entering the new year, Americans are increasingly divided. They clash not only over differing opinions on COVID-19 risk or abortion, but basic facts like election counts and whether vaccines work. Surveying rising political antagonism, journalist...

These machines scrub greenhouse gases from the air – an inventor of direct air capture technology shows how it works

Written by Klaus Lackner, Professor of Engineering and Director of the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, Arizona State University

One 'mechanical tree' is about 1,000 times faster at removing carbon dioxide from air than a natural tree. The first is to start operating in Arizona in 2022.Illustration via Arizona State University

Two centuries of burning fossil fuels has put more carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere than nature can remove. As that CO2...

How 'mechanical trees' pull carbon dioxide from the air and lock it away – an inventor of direct air capture tech explains

Written by Klaus Lackner, Professor of Engineering and Director of the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, Arizona State University

One 'mechanical tree' is about 1,000 times faster at removing carbon dioxide from air than a natural tree. The first is to start operating in Arizona in 2022.Illustration via Arizona State University

Two centuries of burning fossil fuels has put more carbon dioxide, a powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere than nature can remove. As that CO2...

Why do plants grow straight?

Written by Beronda L. Montgomery, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology & Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and Assistant Vice President of Research & Innovation, Michigan State University

_Allium schoenoprasum_, better known as chives.Andreas Rockstein/Flickr, CC BY-SA

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 curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Why do plants grow straight? – Sara H., age 5, New Paltz, New York

Have you ever been at a sporting event...

Building machines that work for everyone – how diversity of test subjects is a technology blind spot, and what to do about it

Written by Tahira Reid, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University

Without a diverse range of test subjects, some new technologies could fail to work as intended for many people.John Paul Van Wert/Rank Studios/Flickr, CC BY-SA

People interact with machines in countless ways every day. In some cases, they actively control a device, like driving a car or using an app on a smartphone. Sometimes people passively...

Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.: 5 things I've learned curating the MLK Collection at Morehouse College

Written by Vicki Crawford, Professor of Africana Studies, Morehouse College

Martin Luther King Jr. waves with his children, Yolanda and Martin Luther III, from the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images

For the past 11 years, civil rights historian Vicki Crawford has worked as the director of the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection, where she oversees the archive consisting...