The Conversation

Kremlin promotes ‘traditional values’ – but leaves some battles to the governors

Written by Guzel Garifullina, Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond

Vladimir Putin poses with participants at the Russia Expo in Moscow in front of a sign that says 'Year of the Family' on Jan. 23, 2024. Sergei Karpukhin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

As 2025 begins, Russia ends its official “Year of the Family.” But the state has been promoting what it calls “traditional” or...

What another Lukashenko ‘victory’ will mean for Europe’s security – and that of Belarus’ citizenry

Written by Tatsiana Kulakevich, Associate Professor of Instruction in the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, University of South Florida

Europe’s longest-serving authoritarian leader, Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko, is set to run for a seventh term on Jan. 26, 2025. And even before the first vote is counted, it can be stated with a fair degree of confidence that he will prevail.

With no genuine opposition and a history of vote rigging, Lukashenko – in power since...

Meet phosphine, a gas commonly used for industrial fumigation that can damage your lungs, heart and liver

Written by Aliasger K. Salem, Associate Vice President for Research and Bighley Chair and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Iowa

Grain transported in cargo ships usually undergoes fumigation to kill pests − a process that often uses toxic phosphine gas. bfk92/E+ via Getty Images

In 1980, two children and 29 crew members aboard a grain freighter became ill. They had been exposed to phosphine – a chemical used in fumigation to kill pests in and on grain – for...

Many more older people are leaving prison and face unmet needs for housing and health care − as well as a tangle of groups trying to help

Written by Angela S. Murolo, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice and Sociology, St. Francis College

Nearly a quarter of all people in U.S. prisons are 50 or older, like these inmates at FMC Devens in Massachusetts in 2015. Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post via Getty Images

American prisons are rapidly graying.

Following decades of mass incarceration, exacerbated by the U.S. war on drugs, the proportion of older people in prison has increased since...

As Gaza ceasefire takes hold, Israeli forces turn to Jenin – a regular target seen as a center of Palestinian resistance

Written by Maha Nassar, Associate Professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies, University of Arizona

Just two days after a shaky ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip, Israel on Jan. 21, 2025, launched a large-scale incursion of the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

Soldiers raided hundreds of homes in the West Bank city in what the Israeli military called a “counterterrorism” operation, aiming to reassert control there. Many...

What is seditious conspiracy, which is among the most serious crimes Trump pardoned?

Written by Amy Cooter, Director of Research, Academic Development and Innovation at the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism, Middlebury

The Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol was the result of a planned conspiracy to disrupt the government, prosecutors alleged.AP Photo/John Minchillo

Several of the highest-profile figures in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection were charged with, and convicted of, the crime of seditious conspiracy, which is defined as the act of getting together with...

Ozempic and similar weight loss drugs may lower risk of 42 health conditions, but also pose risks

Written by Ziyad Al-Aly, Clinical Epidemiologist, Washington University in St. Louis

The research shows the health effects of these drugs are significant and wide-ranging.Mario Tama via Getty Images News

Several years ago, a little-known drug named Ozempic – previously used only to treat diabetes – emerged as a promising new drug for weight management.

The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Ozempic in 2021...

Warning of ‘oligarchy,’ Biden channels Andrew Jackson

Written by Daniel Feller, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Tennessee

In some circumstances, a president’s official Farewell Address to the Nation may be an occasion for sunny reflection. President Joe Biden’s, delivered five days before he left office, began that way, with a celebration of America’s promise and of its progress under his tenure.

But midway through, Biden’s tone shifted...

How the oil industry and growing political divides turned climate change into a partisan issue

Written by Joe Árvai, Director of the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability | Professor of Psychology, Biological Sciences, and Environmental Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Donald Trump's pro-fossil fuel positions stand in sharp contrast with efforts to protect the climate.Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

After four years of U.S. progress on efforts to deal with climate change under Joe Biden, Donald Trump’s return to the White House is swiftly swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction.

On his first...

‘The geezer game’ – a nearly 50-year-old pickup basketball game – reveals its secrets to longevity

Written by Richie Zweigenhaft, Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, Guilford College

Several geezers appear on the court before a 5-on-5 pickup game.Andy Casper, CC BY-SA

Donald Trump’s polarizing political rise in the past decade has driven many groups – and some families – apart.

But a long-running pickup basketball game that I play in, made up of people with various political leanings, including Trump...