The Conversation

Election officials are hard at work to deliver fair, secure and accurate elections – despite a constant flow of attacks

Written by Mitchell Brown, Professor of Political Science, Auburn University

Voting machines are tested at the Wake County Board of Elections on Sept. 17, 2024, in Raleigh, N.C. Allison Joyce/Getty Images

The 2024 election is rife with controversy, from the politics of the campaigns to the politics surrounding the administration of elections. Accusations of wrongdoing and ineptitude continue to plague election officials,...

‘Childless cat ladies’ have long contributed to the welfare of American children − and the nation

Written by Anya Jabour, Regents Professor of History, University of Montana

Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams, who never had children of her own, concentrated much of her activism on enriching the lives of American youth.Chicago History Museum/Getty Images

Parenting, single people and the U.S. birth rate have assumed a greater place in the 2024 presidential campaign than any race in recent memory.

Republican vice...

Wild animals can experience trauma and adversity too − as ecologists, we came up with an index to track how it affects them

Written by Xochitl Ortiz Ross, Ph.D. Candidate in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles

Marmots were the perfect test species for a wildlife adversity index. Xochitl Ortiz Ross

Psychologists know that childhood trauma, or the experience of harmful or adverse events, can have lasting repercussions on the health and well-being of people well into adulthood. But while the consequences of early adversity have been well researched in humans...

More kids than ever need special education, but burnout has caused a teacher shortage

Written by Kimber Wilkerson, Professor of Special Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Many special education teachers quit after less than five years on the job.10'000 Hours/Digital Vision via Getty Images

A growing number of students in public schools – right now, about 15% of them – are eligible for special education services. These services include specially designed instruction for students with autism, learning or...

Tracking vampire worms with machine learning − using AI to diagnose schistosomiasis before the parasites causing it hatch in your blood

Written by Trirupa Chakraborty, Ph.D. Candidate in Integrative Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh

Blood samples of patients infected with a parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis contain hidden information that marks different stages of the disease. In our recently published research, our team used machine learning to uncover that hidden information and improve early detection and diagnosis of infection.

The parasite that causes...

Could fungi actually cause a zombie apocalypse?

Written by Matt Kasson, Associate Professor of Mycology and Plant Pathology, West Virginia University

A zombie cicada fungus, _Massospora cicadina_, has consumed the rear end of this periodical cicada, replacing it with a 'plug' of chalky spores.Matt Kasson, CC BY-ND

Curious 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.

Is a zombie apocalypse...

Some people love to scare themselves in an already scary world − here’s the psychology of why

Written by Sarah Kollat, Teaching Professor of Psychology, Penn State

A controlled scary experience can leave you exhilarated and relaxed afterward.gremlin/E+ via Getty Images

Fall for me as a teenager meant football games, homecoming dresses – and haunted houses. My friends organized group trips to the local fairground, where barn sheds were turned into halls of horror, and masked men nipped at our ankles with...

During the American Revolution, Brits weren’t just facing off against white Protestant Christians − US patriots are diverse and have been since Day 1

Written by Adam Jortner, Goodwin Philpott Eminent Professor of Religion, Auburn University

A detail from the Washington Monument in Philadelphia, sculpted by Rudolf Siemering.PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

In 1770, Barnard Gratz of Philadelphia wrote to a friend complaining about a recent speech by King George III. Gratz, an American patriot, wrote that the speech “was such narishkeit” that it was “not...

Hemingway, after the hurricane

Written by Verna Kale, Associate Editor, The Letters of Ernest Hemingway and Associate Research Professor of English, Penn State

Rescue workers search debris for victims of the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, a Category 5 storm that devastated parts of the Florida Keys.Bettman/Getty Images

The 2024 hurricane season has been especially disastrous, and the casualties and widespread damage from flooding and high winds in towns like Cedar Key, Florida, call to mind another historic...

What the history of blasphemy laws in the US and the fight for religious freedom can teach us today

Written by Kristina M. Lee, Assistant Professor, University of South Dakota

U.S. blasphemy laws reflect a complex fight for the freedom of religion and speechGetty Images

Some 79 countries around the world continue to enforce blasphemy laws. And in places such as Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, violation of these measures can result in a death penalty.

While the U.S. is not among those...