Ever wondered why boys and girls choose particular toys, particular colors and particular stories? Why is it that girls want to dress in pink and to be princesses, or boys want to be Darth Vader, warriors and space adventurers?

Stories told to children can make a difference.

Scholars have found that stories...

If ever a city was built to be resilient to heavy rains, it is Los Angeles. And yet, El Niño is about to test just how resilient the city is in the short term to flooding, and even more importantly, how resilient it can be to water shortages over the long...

By 2020 157 million people in the US will be living with at least one chronic health condition. As the number of Americans managing diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol increases, the ranks of...

The San Bernardino massacre is unique in several respects, but it does bring into focus an important issue with broad relevance: how do dangerous people obtain guns, and what should the police and courts be doing to make those transactions more difficult?

The shooters – Syed Rizwan Farook and...

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions people make is to lose weight by dieting. The idea is that restricting the pleasures of tasty foods will lead to greater fitness and a finer physique. But if these rewards are so valuable, why is it so hard for us to stick to our...

A major El Niño is under way now. It already has substantially influenced weather patterns around the globe, but could have even bigger impacts this winter. There have been only two...

Editor’s note: We asked a few of our regular writers to weigh in on what will (or should) be the key economic themes and issues of 2016 or offer their predictions. Topping the list are the worsening plight of the middle class, a wager on wages...

The Iowa caucuses mark the official start of the presidential nomination race.

This year the caucuses will be held on the night of February 1, 2016, when Iowa Republicans and Democrats will trek through the snow and cold to 1,681 party precincts located across the state. The polls currently...

Well Santa has come and gone, at least for the largest proportion of the world’s population. And, as we reach the end of the year, it is inevitably time to review recent trends and the prospects for 2016.

By many standards, 2015 has been a terrible year

The war in Syria and Iraq worsened as the...

As we approach 2016, we look back at the big stories of The Conversation’s education coverage over the past 12 months.

2015 was a year of much turmoil: higher education witnessed student activism not quite seen since the free speech movement of the 1960s.

The...