The Conversation

When communities face drinking-water crises, bottled water is a 'temporary' solution that often lasts years − and worsens inequality

Written by Daniel Jaffee, Associate Professor of Sociology, Portland State University

An emergency bottled-water distribution site in Flint, Mich., in early 2016.Sarah Rice/Getty Images

A massive intrusion of salt water into the Mississippi River has left the tap water in several Louisiana communities unsafe to drink and could threaten the New Orleans metropolitan area. The most visible emergency response is the provision of bottled...

Polls have value, even when they are wrong

Written by Kirby Goidel, Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University

Leadership and likability questions help pollsters predict who might win.Osaka Wayne Studios/Moment via Getty Images

An ABC News/Washington Post poll in September 2023 generated outrage among Democrats. The headline on the story, “Trump edges out Biden 51-42 in head-to-head matchup: POLL,” appeared designed to attract clicks rather than...

Antisemitism has moved from the right to the left in the US − and falls back on long-standing stereotypes

Written by Arie Perliger, Director of Security Studies and Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, UMass Lowell

An Oct. 19, 2023, rally in New York City's Times Square demanding the freeing of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The U.S. is currently experiencing one of the most significant waves of antisemitism that it has ever seen. Jewish communities are shaken and traumatized.

Jewish and civil rights organizations...

What are roundabouts? A transportation engineer explains the safety benefits of these circular intersections

Written by Deogratias Eustace, Professor of Civil, Environmental and Engineering Mechanics, University of Dayton

A large roundabout in China.Jiojio/Moment via Getty Images

If you live on the East Coast, you may have driven through roundabouts in your neighborhood countless times. Or maybe, if you’re in some parts farther west, you’ve never encountered one of these intersections. But roundabouts, while a relatively new traffic control measure, are c...

Being humble about what you know is just one part of what makes you a good thinker

Written by Eranda Jayawickreme, Professor of Psychology & Senior Research Fellow, Program for Leadership and Character, Wake Forest University

Good thinking is built from many ingredients.skynesher/E+ via Getty Images

What does it mean to be a good thinker? Recent research suggests that acknowledging you can be wrong plays a vital role.

I had these studies in mind a few months ago when I was chatting with a history professor about a class she was teaching to first-year students here at...

From morgue to medical school: Cadavers of the poor, Black and vulnerable can be dissected without consent

Written by Eli Shupe, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, University of Texas at Arlington

Medical students look at cadaver parts being used for demonstration.Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images

Every year, first-year medical students approach their human cadavers with a mixture of awe and trepidation. They will come to know their assigned cadaver intimately. During the course of their studies, they will carefully pull back layers...

Israeli invasion of Gaza likely to resemble past difficult battles in Iraq and Syria

Written by Javed Ali, Associate Professor of Practice of Public Policy, University of Michigan

Armored Israeli military vehicles maneuver near Israel's border with Gaza.Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images

Israel appears to be preparing for the next phase of its military operation: a ground campaign to “crush and destroy” Hamas, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put it.

Israel has signaled that it might be willing to...

TCUS senior editor Kalpana Jain explores Indigenous communities in Indonesia − and learns about their struggles to reclaim land

Written by Kalpana Jain, Senior Religion + Ethics Editor/ Director of the Global Religion Journalism Initiative

Traditional grain houses inside a village chief's residential complex in West Java, Indonesia.Kalpana Jain

Kalpana Jain, senior religion and ethics editor at The Conversation, spent part of 2023 on a trip spanning over 20,000 miles, covering seven cities in three countries, as an East-West Center 2023 Senior Journalists Fellow to pursue issues...

Are ghosts real? A social psychologist examines the evidence

Written by Barry Markovsky, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of South Carolina

Remember the old saying: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.David Wall/Moment via Getty Images

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.

Is it possible for there to be ghosts? – Madelyn, age 11, Fort Lupton,...

Let the community work it out: Throwback to early internet days could fix social media's crisis of legitimacy

Written by Ethan Zuckerman, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Communication, and Information, UMass Amherst

Content moderators like these workers make decisions about online communities based on company dictates.Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Washington Post via Getty Images

In the 2018 documentary “The Cleaners,” a young man in Manila, Philippines, explains his work as a content moderator: “We see the pictures on the screen. You then go...