The Conversation

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

Written by Matthew Wynn Sivils, Professor of American Literature, Iowa State University

'The Travellers’ Tour Through the United States' is the earliest known board game to depict a map of North America.Library of Congress

In 2023 alone, the board game industry topped US$16.8 billion and is projected to reach $40.1 billion by 2032.

Classics like “Scrabble” are being refreshed and transformed, while newer inventions...

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

Written by Gregory F. Treverton, Professor of Practice in International Relations, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Palestinians crowd a street as smoke billows from Israeli strikes in Rafah on May 7, 2024. AFP via Getty Images

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. and others have cautioned Israel not to pursue.

President Joe Biden warned Israeli...

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

Written by Fred H. Lawson, Professor of Government Emeritus, Northeastern University

Philippine troops watch as a missile hits a target during a live-fire joint U.S.-Philippines exercise.Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

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 southern tip of the contested island of Taiwan.

The combat drill is part of...

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

Written by Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University

Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

“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 changing climate.

Across the...

How to tell if a conspiracy theory is probably false

Written by H. Colleen Sinclair, Associate Research Professor of Social Psychology, Louisiana State University

Conspiracy theories can muddle people's thinking.Natalie_/iStock / Getty Images Plus

Conspiracy theories are everywhere, and they can involve just about anything.

People believe false conspiracy theories for a wide range of reasons – including the fact that there are real conspiracies, like efforts by the Sackler family to profit by concealing...

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

Written by Ron Barrett, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Macalester College

The changes that came with the transition from foraging to farming paved the way for disease.Nastasic/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

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 has experienced 15 novel Ebola epidemics, the global spread of...

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

Written by Nina Thomas, Assistant Professor of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Lung cancer screening can save lives, but it isn't accessible to everyone at risk of developing the disease.sudok1/iStock via Getty Images Plus

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

But in 2022, less than 6% of people in the U.S. eligible for screening...

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

Written by Sam D. Hayes, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and Law, Trinity College

Overturning decades of tradition, the Supreme Court in 2022 let Alabama use voting districts that violated the law and diluted the voting power of Black citizens.Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images

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

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

Written by Kenneth V. Anthony, Associate Professor of Elementary Education, Mississippi State University

Homeschooled children don't always get a well-rounded curriculum. miniseries via Getty Images

Homeschooling is the fastest-growing education setting in the United States. More than 3 million students were educated at home in the 2021-22 school year, up from 2.5 million in the spring of 2019. Current estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate...

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

Written by Virginia Raguin, Distinguished Professor of Humanities Emerita, Visual Arts, College of the Holy Cross

'Christ of the New Jerusalem' − created in 1915 for the Uranienborg Church, Oslo, by Emanuel Vigeland.Michel M. Raguin, CC BY

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

Vigeland was well aware of a widely popular Bible...