The Conversation

Trump’s ‘God Squad’ pits energy vs. endangered species, but it’s a false choice – protecting wildlife can be good for business

Written by Dan Salas, Director of the Sustainable Landscapes Program, University of Illinois Chicago

Boat strikes can harm or kill whales and are one concern about the oil industry's environmental impact.Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

There’s a well-worn debate in U.S. politics that goes something like this: Would you rather have abundant and affordable energy or a clean, healthy planet where wildlife can flourish?

It sounds like an...

COVID-19 variant BA.3.2 is spreading quickly across US – a doctor explains what you need to know

Written by Kyle B. Enfield, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia

The BA.3.2 variant of SARS-COV-2, nicknamed Cicada, is gaining ground across the U.S. and globally. Grafissimo/iStock via Getty Images Plus

A variant of COVID-19 called BA.3.2, which has circulated under the radar since late 2024, is now spreading quickly across the United States.

As a pulmonary and critical care doctor, I see many patients who are...

Ultralightweight sonar plus AI lets tiny drones navigate like bats

Written by Nitin Sanket, Assistant Professor of Robotics Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

This small drone is using sonar, similar to bats' echolocation, to navigate through a grove of trees.Nitin Sanket

To help small aerial robots navigate in the dark and other low-visibility environments, my colleagues and I developed an ultrasound-based perception system inspired by bat echolocation.

Current robots rely heavily on cameras or light...

What Americans can learn from other civil activism movements against authoritarian regimes

Written by John Shattuck, Professor of Practice in Diplomacy, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University

The United States, alongside other countries, has a growing pro-democracy and nonviolent civil movement.Oliver Helbig/Getty Images

On Feb. 24, The Conversation hosted a webinar titled, “What Americans can learn from other nonviolent civil activism movements.”

Executive editor and general manager Beth Daley interviewed John Shattuck,...

War on Iran during nuclear negotiations undermines the US’s ability to talk peace around the world − and the effects won’t end when Trump leaves office

Written by Debak Das, Assistant Professor, University of Denver

On Feb. 7, 2026, Iranian newspapers featured headlines on the resumption of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, following their suspension after Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran in June 2025.Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images

Operation Epic Fury – the latest round of military strikes against Iran – began when Iran...

From ‘Project Hail Mary’ to Artemis II, spaceflight captures audiences when it centers on people because human space travel is hazardous

Written by Scott Solomon, Teaching Professor of BioSciences, Rice University

The Artemis II crew poses during a ground systems test ahead of launch. NASA/Frank Michaux

The central premise of the blockbuster film “Project Hail Mary” is a long-shot mission with a familiar goal: Save humanity from extinction. While the details of the threat facing humanity are new to this story, moviegoers are used to bingeing on...

New study measures titanium in Apollo rock to uncover Moon’s early chemistry

Written by Advik D. Vira, Graduate Student in Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology

The Camelot crater in the Moon's Taurus-Littrow Valley is where the sample containing trivalent titanium was found.NASA/Apollo 17: AS17-145-22159

The Earth and the Moon may look very different today, but they formed under similar conditions in space. In fact, a dominant hypothesis says that the early Earth was hit by a Mars-sized object, and it was...

How a diplomatic snub evokes the complicated US-Brazil relationship in the second Trump era

Written by Anthony W. Pereira, Executive Director of the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane University; King's College London

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Oct. 26, 2025, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Darren Beattie, the recently appointed U.S. State Department senior adviser for Brazil policy, had planned to attend a forum on critical minerals in São Paulo in...

American politicians talk about persecuted Christians abroad – but here’s what happens when those Christians migrate to the US

Written by Candace Lukasik, Assistant Professor of Religion, Mississippi State University

Coptic Easter liturgy, East Brunswick, N.J., April 2017.Candace Lukasik, CC BY-SA

Two months ago, Terez Metry arrived at a Department of Homeland Security office in Nashville with her husband, a U.S. citizen, expecting a routine step in beginning her green card application. The couple had prepared documents for a Form I-130 petition and anticipated...

Why do some people treat the Magic Kingdom and Disney adults like cultural abominations?

Written by Adam Kadlac, Teaching Professor of Philosophy, Wake Forest University

People railing against the phoniness of Disney World may be putting on a show of their own.Ian Langsdon/AFP via Getty Images

If you’ve ever expressed even a passing desire to visit Walt Disney World, you may have had friends who raised their eyebrows, groaned or even sneered.

The heart of their criticism isn’t just that they think Disney...