The Conversation

AI and new standards promise to make scientific data more useful by making it reusable and accessible

Written by Bradley Wade Bishop, Professor of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee

Data replication is an integral part of the scientific process, which proper research data management can improve. Tom Werner/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Every time a scientist runs an experiment, or a social scientist does a survey, or a humanities scholar analyzes a text, they generate data. Science runs on data – without it, we...

Caroline Herschel was England's first female professional astronomer, but still lacks name recognition two centuries later

Written by Kris Pardo, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

The Herschel Museum in Bath, England, has a new display of a handwritten draft of Caroline Herschel’s memoirs.Internet Archive Book Images via Wikimedia Commons

Caroline Herschel, the first English professional female astronomer, made contributions to astronomy that are still important to the field today. But even many astronomers may not...

Nagorno-Karabakh blockade crisis: Choking of disputed region is a consequence of war and geopolitics

Written by Ronald Suny, Professor of History and Political Science, University of Michigan

A Russian peacekeeper guards the Lachin corridor.TOFIK BABAYEV/AFP via Getty Images

Wars have consequences – and they are drastically different for the winners and losers.

In the South Caucasus, a region far from most Americans’ attention, the democratic republic of Armenia lost a short but devastating war three years ago to Azerbaijan,...

Georgia indictment and post-Civil War history make it clear: Trump's actions have already disqualified him from the presidency

Written by Joseph Ferguson, Co-Director, National Security and Civil Rights Program, Loyola University Chicago

Donald Trump may be barred from holding public office due to a constitutional amendment disqualifying those who have taken part in 'insurrection or rebellion.'Mike Stobe/Getty Images

After three indictments of former President Donald Trump, the fourth one in Georgia came not as a surprise but as a powerful exposition of the scope of Trump’s...

Risk of death related to pregnancy and childbirth more than doubled between 1999 and 2019 in the US, new study finds

Written by Laura Fleszar, Public Health Researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington

Maternal death rates are higher in the U.S. than in other high-income countries.Tetra Images/Getty Images

Black women were more likely to die during pregnancy or soon after in every year from 1999 through 2019, compared with Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and white women. That is a key...

What Florida gets wrong about George Washington and the benefits he received from enslaving Black people

Written by Calvin Schermerhorn, Professor of History, Arizona State University

In this 1853 painting, George Washington stands among Black field workers.Buyenlarge/Getty Images

If there was anyone who knew the rewards of slavery, it was George Washington.

Over a period of about 50 years, the nation’s first president enslaved about 577 Black Americans, starting when he was 11 years old.

One of them was a Black man named...

Can coffee or a nap make up for sleep deprivation? A psychologist explains why there's no substitute for shut-eye

Written by Kimberly Fenn, Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University

A cup of coffee might provide you some pep, but it won't fully make up for lost sleep. nopponpat/iStock via Getty Images Plus

There is no denying the importance of sleep. Everyone feels better after a good night of sleep, and lack of sleep can have profoundly negative effects on both the body and the brain. So what can be done to substitute for a...

New data reveal US space economy's output is shrinking – an economist explains in 3 charts

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Clinical Associate Professor of Markets, Public Policy and Law, Boston University

The 'space economy' isn't just rockets and space suits – satellite data, radio and TV are all part of a broadly-defined space economy.NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP

The space industry has changed dramatically since the Apollo program put men on the moon in the late 1960s.

Today, over 50 years later, private companies are sending tourists to the edge...

Black female prosecutors like Fani Willis face the unequal burden of both racist and sexist attacks

Written by Bev-Freda Jackson, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, American University School of Public Affairs

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in her office in Atlanta, Ga.David Walter Banks/Getty Images

On the day he was indicted on financial fraud charges in a New York City courtroom, former U.S. President Donald Trump launched an attack against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

One of the handful of Black female prosecutors in the...

Threat from climate change to some of India's sacred pilgrimage sites is reshaping religious beliefs

Written by David L. Haberman, Professor Emeritus, Religious Studies, Indiana University

Hindu devotees worship at the Kedarnath Temple in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. Shammi Mehra/AFP via Getty Images

The famous pilgrimage site of Kedarnath, located in the central Himalayas of India, is believed to be a sacred land. It has been referred to as “deva bhumi,” or the “land of the gods,” for centuries.

M...