The Conversation

Yes, this is who we are: America’s 250-year history of political violence

Written by Maurizio Valsania, Professor of American History, Università di Torino

Punishment by tar and feather of Thomas Ditson, who purchased a gun from a British soldier in Boston in March 1775. Interim Archives/Getty Images

The day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University, commentators repeated a familiar refrain: “This isn’t who we are as Americans.&r...

Scientists detected a potential biosignature on Mars – an astrobiologist explains what these traces of life are, and how researchers figure out their source

Written by Amy J. Williams, Assistant Professor of Geology, University of Florida

NASA’s Perseverance rover explores Mars' Jezero Crater.NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, CC BY-NC

As the Perseverance rover traversed an ancient river valley in Mars’ Jezero Crater back in July 2024, it drilled into the surface and extracted a sample from of a unique, striped rock called Chevaya Falls. The rover’s instruments then analyzed...

Parasitic worms bury themselves in the brains of moose and elk – a new test can help diagnose these animals to prevent disease spread

Written by Richard Gerhold, Professor of Parasitology, University of Tennessee

The difficult-to-detect meningeal worm is spread by white-tailed deer and is a notorious killer of moose. AP Photo/Jim Cole, File

A moose in Minnesota stumbles onto the road. She circles, confused and dazed, unable to orient herself or recognize the danger of an oncoming semitruck. What kills her is the impact of 13 tons of steel, but what causes...

‘Publish or perish’ evolutionary pressures shape scientific publishing, for better and worse

Written by Thomas Morgan, Associate Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University

While developing his theory of natural selection, Charles Darwin was horrified by a group of wasps that lay their eggs within the bodies of caterpillars, with the larvae eating their hosts alive from the inside-out.

Darwin didn’t judge the wasps. Instead, he was troubled by what they revealed about evolution. They showed natural selection to...

Beauty sleep isn’t a myth – a sleep medicine expert explains how rest keeps your skin healthy and youthful

Written by Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, Associate Professor of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh

Getting enough sleep is one of the most accessible and powerful ways to maintain healthy skin.TatyanaGl/iStock via Getty Images

Have you ever woken up after a night of poor sleep, glanced in the mirror and thought, “I look tired?”

You’re not imagining it.

I am a neurologist who specializes in sleep medicine. And though...

Proposed cuts to NIH funding would have ripple effects on research that could hamper the US for decades

Written by Mohammad S. Jalali, Associate Professor, Systems Science and Policy, Harvard University

The NIH is a node in an interconnected system producing health and medical advances. Anchalee Phanmaha/Moment via Getty Images

In May 2025, the White House proposed reducing the budget of the National Institutes of Health by roughly 40% – from about US$48 billion to $27 billion. Such a move would return NIH funding to levels last seen in 2007....

Social scientists have long found women tend to be more religious than men – but Gen Z may show a shift

Written by Ryan Burge, Professor of Practice, Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, Washington University in St. Louis

Students leave after attending a Catholic Mass at Benedictine College on Dec. 3, 2023, in Atchison, Kan.AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

For decades, one of the most consistent findings in religion research has been that women tend to be more religious than men. This holds true across dozens of countries and on nearly every measure of religiosity, from how...

Fewer international students are coming to the US, costing universities and communities that benefit from these visitors

Written by Tara Sonenshine, Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice in Public Diplomacy, Tufts University

The international student population is expected to experience a dive in the fall of 2025. iStock/Getty Images Plus

American college campuses from Tucson to Tallahassee are buzzing with the familiar routine of students getting settled in classes and dorms.

One new trend, though, is emerging.

An estimated 30% to 40% fewer international students are...

Bolsonaro joins a rogues’ gallery of coup plotters held to account for their failed power grab

Written by John Joseph Chin, Assistant Teaching Professor of Strategy and Technology, Carnegie Mellon University

Soon to be exchanging blinds with bars?Sergio Lima/AFP via Getty Images

Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction on Sept. 11, 2025, puts the former Brazilian president in a rogues’ gallery of failed coup plotters to be held to account for their attempted power grab.

Brazil’s Supreme Court found Bolsonaro guilty of being part of an armed...

‘This will not end here’: A scholar explains why Charlie Kirk’s killing could embolden political violence

Written by Arie Perliger, Director of Security Studies and Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, UMass Lowell

A boy in Scottsdale, Ariz., attends a Catholic rosary prayer vigil for Charlie Kirk after he was killed during a Utah college event on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025.AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

The fatal shooting of prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 10, 2025, has brought renewed attention to the climate of political violence in...