The Conversation

Making the moral of the story stick − a media psychologist explains the research behind ‘Sesame Street,’ ‘Arthur’ and other children’s TV

Written by Drew Cingel, Associate Professor of Communication, University of California, Davis

Children's TV shows are typically designed to improve their viewers' cognitive, social and moral development.U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Scott Saldukas/Released via Flickr

To adult viewers, educational media content for children, such as “Sesame Street” or “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” may seem rather...

The Russia-Ukraine War has caused a staggering amount of cultural destruction – both seen and unseen

Written by Ian Kuijt, Professor of Anthropology, University of Notre Dame

The ruins of a church in Bohorodychne, Donetsk district, Ukraine, on Jan. 27, 2024.Ignacio Marin/Anadolu via Getty Images

War doesn’t just destroy lives. It also tears at the fabric of culture.

And in the case of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now about to enter its third year, the remarkable destruction of Ukrainian history...

Louisiana governor makes it easier for companies to receive lucrative tax breaks that take money away from cash-strapped schools

Written by Christine Wen, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning, Texas A&M University

ExxonMobil has been granted nearly $580 million in tax abatements in Louisiana since 2000.Barry Lewis/Getty Images

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed an executive order on Feb. 21, 2024, removing school boards’ veto power over corporate property tax breaks that take money away from schools. It also did away with a requirement that projects...

How governments handle data matters for inclusion

Written by Suzanne J. Piotrowski, Professor of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University - Newark

Do you feel included in how government handles and uses data?AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

Governments increasingly rely on large amounts of data to provide services ranging from mobility and air quality to child welfare and policing programs. While governments have always relied on data, their increasing use of algorithms and artificial intelligence ha...

War in Ukraine at 2 years: Destruction seen from space – via radar

Written by Sylvain Barbot, Associate Professor of Earth Sciences, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Satellite radar data shows the complete destruction of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.Xu et al. (2024), CC BY-NC-ND

As soldiers and citizens provide information from the front lines and affected areas of the war in Ukraine – two years old as of Feb. 24, 2024 – in quasi-real time, an active open-source intelligence community has formed to...

Arsenic in landfills is still leaching into groundwater − 20 years after colleagues and I learned how the ‘king of poisons’ could escape trash dumps

Written by Gumersindo Feijoo Costa, Catedrático de Ingeniería Química, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

A person takes a sample of water for testing.Irina Kozorog / Shutterstock

Arsenic has long been considered “the king of poisons.” Films such as “Arsenic and Old Lace” by Frank Capra and “The Name of the Rose” by Jean-Jacques Annaud illustrate the deadly effect that a high dose has on people.

But when someone...

Trump is no Navalny, and prosecution in a democracy is a lot different than persecution in Putin’s Russia

Written by James D. Long, Professor of Political Science and Co-founder of the Political Economy Forum, University of Washington

A memorial to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny laid in Saint Petersburg on February 16, 2024. Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images

The death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, announced on Feb. 16, 2024, lays bare to the world the costs of political persecutions. Although his cause of death remains unknown, the 47-year-old died while...

How you can tell propaganda from journalism − let’s look at Tucker Carlson’s visit to Russia

Written by Michael J. Socolow, Professor of Communication and Journalism, University of Maine

Tucker Carlson at a Moscow grocery store, praising the bread.Screenshot, Tucker Carlson Network

Tucker Carlson, the conservative former cable TV news pundit, recently traveled to Moscow to interview Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for his Tucker Carlson Network, known as TCN.

The two-hour interview itself proved dull. Even Putin found...

With Beyoncé’s foray into country music, the genre may finally break free from the stereotypes that have long dogged it

Written by William Nash, Professor of American Studies and English and American Literatures, Middlebury

Beyoncé and her husband, Jay-Z, at the 66th Grammy Awards on Feb. 4, 2024, in Los Angeles.Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

On Super Bowl Sunday, Beyoncé released two country songs – “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em” – that elicited a mix of admiration and indignation.

This is not her first foray into...

Donors gave $58 billion to higher ed in the 2023 academic year, with mega gifts up despite overall decline

Written by Genevieve Shaker, Associate Professor of Philanthropic Studies, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University

Jim Simons and his wife, Marilyn Hawrys Simons, made a historic gift to Stony Brook University in 2023.Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Charitable giving to colleges and universities fell 5% in inflation-adjusted terms to US$58 billion in the 2023 academic year, according to the latest Voluntary Support of Education survey from the Council for Advancement...