The Conversation

Teens of any age who drink alcohol with their parents’ permission drink more as young adults, new research shows

Written by Bernard Pereda, Doctoral Student in Psychoolgy, University at Buffalo

Parents play an important role in teaching their children about alcohol.StockPlanets/E+ via Getty Images

Children and teenagers of any age who sip or taste alcohol with their parents’ permission are more likely to engage in risky drinking in young adulthood. That was the finding of a new study my colleagues and I published in the journal...

How 3D printing is personalizing health care

Written by Anne Schmitz, Associate Professor of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Stout

A girl, wearing her prosthetic hands, walks to school in Uruguay.AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico

Three-dimensional printing is transforming medical care, letting the health care field shift from mass-produced solutions to customized treatments tailored to each patient’s needs. For instance, researchers are developing 3D-printed prosthetic hands s...

Ancient pollen reveals stories about Earth’s history, from the asteroid strike that killed the dinosaurs to the Mayan collapse

Written by Francisca Oboh Ikuenobe, Professor of Geology and Geophysics, Missouri University of Science and Technology

An electron microscope image, colorized, shows different structures of pollen grains, including sunflower, morning glory and primrose. Dartmouth Electron Microscope Facility

If you are sneezing this spring, you are not alone. Every year, plants release billions of pollen grains into the air, specks of male reproductive material that many of us...

Governors are leading the fight against climate change and deforestation around the world, filling a void left by presidents

Written by Mary Nichols, Distinguished Counsel for the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, University of California, Los Angeles

Forests like the Amazon play vital roles in balancing the environment, from storing carbon to releasing oxygen. Silvestre Garcia-IntuitivoFilms/Stone/Getty Images

When the annual U.N. climate conference descends on the small Brazilian rainforest city of Belém in November 2025, it will be tempting to focus on the drama and disunity among...

Cutting HIV aid means undercutting US foreign and economic interests − Nigeria shows the human costs

Written by Kathryn Rhine, Associate Professor of General Internal Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

A large number of children are born with HIV in Nigeria.Kristian Buus/Corbis News via Getty Images

A little over two decades ago, addressing Nigeria’s HIV crisis topped U.S. President George W. Bush’s priorities. Africa’s most populous nation had 3.5 million HIV cases, and the disease threatened to destabilize the region and ultima...

Tomato trade dispute between the US and Mexico is boiling over again – with 21% tariffs due in July

Written by Andrew Muhammad, Professor of Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of Tennessee

The country of origin – Mexico – is noted on the label of a package of Campari tomatoes for sale in the produce section of a Safeway grocery store on March 4, 2025, in Denver.AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Although technically they’re a fruit, tomatoes are one of the most-consumed vegetables, according to the U.S. Department of...

Leaders can promote gender equity without deepening polarization − here’s how

Written by Colleen Tolan, Postdoctoral Researcher for the Center for Women in Business, Rutgers University

Dialogue can make a difference.Pixelfit/E+/Getty Images

Americans largely agree that women have made significant gains in the workplace over the past two decades. But what about men? While many Americans believe women are thriving, over half believe men’s progress has stalled or even reversed.

To make matters more complex, recent research has...

Trump’s lifting of Syria sanctions is a win for Turkey, too – pointing to outsized role middle powers can play in regional affairs

Written by Hyeran Jo, Associate Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa meet in Turkey on April 11, 2025. TUR Presidency/ Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images

President Donald Trump announced while in Saudi Arabia on May 14, 2025, that the United States would lift sanctions on Syria. The turnaround was a huge victory for the...

Space tourism’s growth blurs the line between scientific and symbolic achievement – a tourism scholar explains how

Written by Betsy Pudliner, Associate Professor of Hospitality and Technology Innovation, University of Wisconsin-Stout

Blue Origin's NS-31 flight lifted off on April 14, 2025.Justin Hamel/Getty Images

On April 14, 2025, Blue Origin launched six women – Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, Gayle King, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn and Lauren Sánchez – on a suborbital journey to the edge of space.

The headlines called it a historic moment for women in space...

Believe it or not, there was a time when the US government built beautiful homes for working-class Americans to deal with a housing crisis

Written by Eran Ben-Joseph, Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

The U.S. Housing Corporation built nearly 300 homes in Bremerton, Wash., during World War I.National Archives

In 1918, as World War I intensified overseas, the U.S. government embarked on a radical experiment: It quietly became the nation’s largest housing developer, designing and constructing more than 80 new communities across 26 states in...