The Conversation

Friendships aren’t just about keeping score – new psychology research looks at why we help our friends when they need it

Written by Jessica D. Ayers, Assistant Professor of Psychological Science, Boise State University

Friendship isn't about a running tally of who's doing more.miodrag ignjatovic/E+ via Getty Images

Despite how natural friendship can feel, people rarely stop to analyze it. How do you know when someone will make a good friend? When is it time to move on from a friendship? Oftentimes, people rely on gut intuitions to answer these kinds of questions.

I...

Flu season has arrived – and so have updated flu vaccines

Written by Libby Richards, Professor of Nursing, Purdue University

The flu vaccine is updated every year to include the strains known to be circulating. Cecilie_Arcurs/E+ via Getty Images

As the autumn’s cool weather settles in, so does flu season – bringing with it the familiar experiences of sniffles, fever and cough.

Every year, influenza – the flu – affects millions of people. Most will...

Can you really be addicted to food? Researchers are uncovering convincing similarities to drug addiction

Written by Claire Wilcox, Adjunct Faculty in Psychiatry, University of New Mexico

Research has found that high-sugar, ultraprocessed foods can be addictive for some people.Doucefleur/iStock via Getty Images Plus

People often joke that their favorite snack is “like crack” or call themselves “chocoholics” in jest.

But can someone really be addicted to food in the same way they could be hooked on substances...

For war-weary Syria, potential benefits of security pact with Israel comes with big risks

Written by Mireille Rebeiz, Chair of Middle East Studies, Dickinson College

The Syrian Defense Ministry was heavily damaged after airstrikes in Damascus on July 16, 2025. AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed

On Sept. 21, 2025, a senior U.S official boasted that an Israeli-Syrian security agreement to resolve months of conflict was “99% complete” and would be announced within two weeks.

Those two weeks have now passed. And...

A Denver MD has spent 2 decades working with hospitalized patients experiencing homelessness − here’s what she fears and what gives her hope

Written by Sarah Stella, Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

People experiencing homelessness are more likely to end up in the emergency room.Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images

On a recent early fall morning, hope was in short supply.

My first patient was a regular. Mr. D was a man in his 50s with diabetes. He had been living on Denver’s streets for most of the past five years, two...

In 1776, Thomas Paine made the best case for fighting kings − and for being skeptical

Written by Matthew Redmond, Lecturer, Université de Lille

Were these protesters in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 16, 2025, inspired by Thomas Paine?Alex Brandon/AP

In one of his stand-up sets, comedian David Cross rejects all political commentary that tries to answer the question, “What would America’s Founding Fathers think if they were alive today?”

For Cross, it is pointless to speculate...

Refinery fires, other chemical disasters may no longer get safety investigations

Written by Philip Steenstra, Ph.D. Candidate in Toxicology, University of Michigan

A Chevron refinery in El Segundo, Calif., burns on Oct. 3, 2025.Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

When fire erupted at the Intercontinental Terminals Co. bulk liquid petroleum storage terminal, large plumes of dark smoke billowed into the clear skies over Deer Park, Texas. Despite the efforts of site staff and local firefighters, m...

Gaza peace plan risks borrowing more from Tony Blair’s failures in the Middle East than his success in Northern Ireland

Written by Dana El Kurd, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Richmond

As negotiators meet in Egypt to discuss a Trump-backed peace proposal, displaced Gazans make a daily trek to find drinking water.AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana

Tony Blair, the man being tapped by U.S. President Donald Trump to help oversee governance of a postwar Gaza, has ample experience with peace processes.

As British prime minister, Blair helped...

Metal-organic frameworks: Nobel-winning tiny ‘sponge crystals’ with an astonishing amount of inner space

Written by Stavroula Alina Kampouri, Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Chemistry, Rice University

Three chemists will share the Nobel Prize for their work on metal-organic frameworks. Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images

The 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Richard Robson, Susumu Kitagawa and Omar Yaghi on Oct. 8, 2025, for the development of metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, which are tunable crystal structures with extremely...

Nobel Prize in physics awarded for ultracold electronics research that launched a quantum technology

Written by Eli Levenson-Falk, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Electrical and Computer Engineering, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

The quantum behavior of superconducting circuits like the small white square above was a major discovery.K. Cicak and R. Simmonds/NIST

Quantum mechanics describes the weird behavior of microscopic particles. Using quantum systems to perform computation promises to allow researchers to solve problems in areas from chemistry to cryptography that...