The Conversation

Arctic rivers face big changes with a warming climate, permafrost thaw and an accelerating water cycle − the effects will have global consequences

Written by Michael A. Rawlins, Associate Director, Climate System Research Center and Associate Professor of Climatology, UMass Amherst

Water from the Mackenzie River, seen from a satellite, carries silt and nutrients from land to the Arctic Ocean.Jesse Allen/NASA Earth Observatory

As the Arctic warms, its mighty rivers are changing in ways that could have vast consequences – not only for the Arctic region but for the world.

Rivers represent the land branch of the...

Donations by top 50 US donors fell again in 2023, sliding to $12B − Mike Bloomberg, Phil and Penny Knight, and Michael and Susan Dell led the list of biggest givers

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

Penny Knight and Phil Knight were the second-largest givers of 2023.Michael Hickey/Getty Images

The top 50 American individuals and couples who gave or pledged the most to charity in 2023 committed US$12 billion to foundations, universities, hospitals and more. That total was 28% below an inflation-adjusted $16.5 billion in 2022, according to the Ch...

Michigan Gov. Whitmer proposes a caregiver tax credit − an idea many Americans support

Written by Sarah E. Patterson, Research Investigator at the Survey Research Center at the Institute of Social Research, University of Michigan

As the population of older adults in the U.S. grows, more people need care.seb_ra/via Getty Images

People caring for elderly or disabled relatives need a break – and, in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has a proposal to give them one.

Whitmer’s recently proposed US$5,000 tax credit, the Caring for MI Family Tax Credit, is part of a...

Hispanic health disparities in the US trace back to the Spanish Inquisition

Written by Margaret Boyle, Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Director of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies Program, Bowdoin College

Class, gender and religion influenced health care in early modern Spain and Latin America.Diego Velázquez/The National Gallery, CC BY-NC

Many of the significant health disparities and inequities Hispanic communities in the United States face are tied to a long history of health injustice in the Hispanic world.

The health landscape of early...

Lithium-ion batteries don’t work well in the cold − a battery researcher explains the chemistry at low temperatures

Written by Wesley Chang, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Drexel University

Why do batteries lose charge more quickly when it's cold? Halfpoint Images/Moment

Rechargeable batteries are great for storing energy and powering electronics from smartphones to electric vehicles. In cold environments, however, they can be more difficult to charge and may even catch on fire.

I’m a mechanical engineering professor who’s...

How age-friendly universities can improve the second half of life

Written by David R. Buys, Associate Professor of Health, Mississippi State University

Opportunities to learn alongside people of different ages can benefit the entire community.monkeybusinessimages via Getty Images

By 2030, more than 1.4 billion people across the globe will be at least 60 years old. This number will shoot up to 2.1 billion by 2050. At this point, there will be more people age 60 or older than people between 10 and 24...

Can witches fly? A historian unpacks the medieval invention − and skepticism − of the witch on a broomstick

Written by Michael D. Bailey, Professor of History, Iowa State University

One of the earliest depictions of flying witches is in a 15th-century text entitled "Le champion des dames," or "The Defender of Ladies."Martin Le Franc/W. Schild. Die Maleficia der Hexenleut' via Wikimedia Commons

The image of a witch flying on a broomstick is iconic, but it is not nearly as old as the idea of witchcraft itself, which dates to the...

Scorsese’s gods of the streets: From ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ to ‘Silence,’ faith is rarely far off in his films

Written by Anthony Smith, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Dayton

Even in films where religion isn't front and center, Martin Scorsese's attention to ritual and devotion comes through. Apple TV+

A widely circulated still from the set of Martin Scorsese’s latest film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” shows the director sitting in a church pew. Next to him is Lily Gladstone, who plays the role of...

Robber flies track their beetle prey using tiny microbursts of movement

Written by Siddhant Pusdekar, Graduate Researcher in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota

Robber flies visually track their prey before spearing it with their proboscis.Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido, CC BY-ND

April in the Florida Panhandle. It was hot, humid, and a thunderstorm was lurking. But as a fresh graduate student, I was relieved for the escape from my first brutal Minnesota winter. I was accompanying my adviser, Paloma...

Bradley Cooper, Cillian Murphy and the myths of Method acting

Written by Scott Malia, Associate Professor of Theatre, College of the Holy Cross

Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as Bernstein's wife, Felicia Montealegre, in 'Maestro.'Jason McDonald/Netflix

Should actors and actresses who go to extremes to prepare for their roles get more love from Oscars voters?

This year, best actor nominees Cillian Murphy, who played nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in “Op...