The Conversation

Oklahoma OKs the nation's first religious charter school – but litigation is likely to follow

Written by Charles J. Russo, Joseph Panzer Chair in Education in the School of Education and Health Sciences and Research Professor of Law, University of Dayton

Courts have wrestled with questions about public funds for students at religious schools for decades.Godong/Stone via Getty Images

U.S. courts have long wrestled with the extent to which government funding can be used at private religious schools. And on June 5, 2023, Oklahoma’s five-person Statewide Virtual Charter School Board pushed this...

Kakhovka dam breach raises risk for Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – receding waters narrow options for cooling

Written by Najmedin Meshkati, Professor of Engineering and International Relations, University of Southern California

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant seen across the Dnieper River, which was receding after a downstream dam was destroyed.Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images

A blast on June 6, 2023, destroyed the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River in eastern Ukraine. The rupture lowered water levels in a reservoir upriver at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in...

Forts Cavazos, Barfoot and Liberty — new names for army bases honor new heroes and lasting values, instead of Confederates who lost a war

Written by Jeff South, Associate professor emeritus, Virginia Commonwealth University

Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg attends a ceremony on April 27, 2023, in which a military base was renamed in his honor. Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

One by one, the names of Confederate generals are being removed from U.S. military bases.

On April 27, 2023, Fort Lee, a military base in Virginia named for a Confederate general, was renamed f...

Brain tumors are cognitive parasites – how brain cancer hijacks neural circuits and causes cognitive decline

Written by Saritha Krishna, Postdoctoral Fellow in Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco

Gliomas can form connections with distant areas of the brain, exploiting them for their own spread and growth.Andriy Onufriyenko/Moment via Getty Images

Researchers have long known that brain tumors, specifically a type of tumor called a glioma, can affect a person’s cognitive and physical function. Patients with glioblastoma, the most fatal...

Mounting research documents the harmful effects of social media use on mental health, including body image and development of eating disorders

Written by Emily Hemendinger, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

The hours spent – and the content viewed – by teens on social media can lead to depression, anxiety and body image issues.Mixmike/E+via Getty Images

Media influences and conventional beauty standards have long plagued society.

This issue took on new urgency in May 2023 when the U.S. surgeon general issued a major public advisory ove...

Mike Pence is jockeying against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination – joining the ranks of just one vice president who, in 1800, also ran against a former boss

Written by Shannon Bow O'Brien, Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin

Former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence appear together in November 2020. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork to declare his candidacy for president on June 5, 2023 – placing him in unusual ranks.

While 18 of the 49 former vice presidents have gone on to run for president,...

The ugly side of beauty: Chemicals in cosmetics threaten college-age women's reproductive health

Written by Leslie Hart, Associate Professor of Public Health, College of Charleston

Many types of makeup contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals.Charles Gullung/The Image Bank via Getty Imagges

Walk through the personal care aisles of your local store and you’ll see dozens of products that promise to soften your skin, make you smell better, extend your lashes, decrease wrinkling, tame your curly hair, or even semi-permanently...

Why insurance companies are pulling out of California and Florida, and how to fix some of the underlying problems

Written by Melanie Gall, Assistant Professor and Co-Director, Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security, Watts College, Arizona State University

Wildfires can destroy hundreds of homes within hours.PH2(AW/SW) Michael J. Pusnik, Jr / Navy Visual News Service / AFP via Getty Images

When the nation’s No. 1 and No. 4 property and casualty insurance companies – State Farm and Allstate – confirmed that they would stop issuing new home insurance policies in California, it may...

Aztec and Maya civilizations are household names – but it's the Olmecs who are the 'mother culture' of ancient Mesoamerica

Written by Karl Taube, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Riverside

Olmec culture deeply shaped later Mesoamerican civilizations like the Aztecs.Danny Lehman/The Image Bank via Getty Images

An extremely important 1-ton sculpture, sometimes referred to by archaeologists as an “Earth Monster” or Monument 9, was repatriated to Mexico from a private collection in Colorado in May 2023, according to an...

This course studies NGOs aiming to help countries recover from mass atrocities and to prevent future violence

Written by David Campbell, Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York

A witness cries while giving testimony in a trial against former Guatemalan dictator Gen. José Efraín Ríos Montt in 2013. Johan Ordonez/AFP via Getty Images)

Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.

Title of course:

“Introduction to...