Eureka, what an idea!TU IS/iStock/Getty Images PlusCurious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.
Who invented the light bulb? – Preben, age 5, New York City
When people name the most important inventions in history, light bulbs are...
The Rapa Nui people are mostly invisible in the origin story of rapamycin.Posnov/Moment via Getty ImagesAn antibiotic discovered on Easter Island in 1964 sparked a billion-dollar pharmaceutical success story. Yet the history told about this “miracle drug” has completely left out the people and politics that made its discovery possible.
N...
A paw print in baked mud at Joshua Tree National Park, likely from a coyote.Brad Sutton/National Park ServiceYour neighborhood is home to all sorts of amazing animals, from racoons, squirrels and skunks to birds, bugs and snails. Even if you don’t see them, most of these creatures are leaving evidence of their activities all around you.
Paw...
Read more: How to identify animal tracks, burrows and other signs of wildlife in your neighborhood
A monument to survival and perseverance has survived, by happenstance, to share its stories today. Courtesy of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) at Old SalemFrom the ages of 12 to about 22, Harriet Jacobs lived under the watch of her enslaver, a wealthy physician named James Norcom Sr. During that decade, as Jacobs grew from a...
In Serbia, there is a word for a form of stubbornness that sees someone act out of spite or defiance rather than yield to the will of others: “inat.”
It’s something Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is showing remarkable levels of right now.
For almost a year, anti-government protests have roiled the Balkan nation. They...
Biases in designing a study can weaken how well the evidence supports the conclusion.FatCamera/E+ via Getty ImagesAt a Senate hearing on Sept. 9, 2025, on the corruption of science, witnesses presented an unpublished study that made a big assertion.
They claimed that the study, soon to be featured in a highly publicized film called “An...
Tibetan nuns study during the winter examination period at the Dolma Ling Nunnery in Dharamshala, India, in 2022.Rebecca Conway/Getty ImagesIn August 2025, 161 Tibetan Buddhist nuns from religious institutions across India and Nepal – a record number – gathered at the Dolma Ling Nunnery in northern India to take various levels of the...
A makeshift memorial for Charlie Kirk outside the headquarters of Turning Point USA in Phoenix.Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesAn AI-generated image of Charlie Kirk embracing Jesus. Another of Kirk posing with angel wings and halo. Then there’s the one of Kirk standing with George Floyd at the gates of heaven.
When prominent political or cultural...
Read more: Charlie Kirk and the making of an AI-generated martyr
A sunflower sea star may be about to snack on some sea urchins in California.Brent Durand/Moment via Getty ImagesBefore 2013, divers on North America’s west coast rarely saw purple sea urchins. The spiky animals, which are voracious kelp eaters,- were a favorite food of the coast’s iconic sunflower sea stars. The giant sea stars,...
Read more: How sea star wasting disease transformed the West Coast’s ecology and economy
For years, I’ve puzzled over a question that seems to defy common sense: If stock markets are hitting records and tech innovation seems endless, why aren’t companies pouring money back into new projects?
Yes, they’re still investing – but the pace of business spending is slower than you’d expect, especially outside of...
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