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Exploring questions of meaning, ethics and belief through Japanese anime

  • Written by Ronald S. Green, Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Coastal Carolina University
imageA still from the Japanese anime 'Spirited Away.'Choo Yut Shing via Flickr, CC BY

Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.

Title of course:

Anime and Religious Identity: Cultural Aesthetics in Japanese Spiritual Worlds

What prompted the idea for the course?

As a scholar who...

Read more: Exploring questions of meaning, ethics and belief through Japanese anime

How the Catholic Church helped change the conversation about capital punishment in the United States

  • Written by Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College
imageHelen Prejean has been one of the most high-profile opponents of the death penalty for decades.Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty Images

Thirty years ago, the film “Dead Man Walking” had its debut in movie theaters around the United States. It was a box office hit, and critics lavished it with praise. Lead actress Susan Sarandon won an...

Read more: How the Catholic Church helped change the conversation about capital punishment in the United States

How Philadelphia’s current sanitation strike differs from past labor disputes in the city

  • Written by Francis Ryan, Associate Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University
imageCurbside trash collection has been on pause in Philadelphia since July 1, 2025.AP Photo/Matt Slocum

As the Philadelphia municipal worker strike enters its second week, so-called “Parker piles” – large collections of garbage that some residents blame on Mayor Cherelle Parker – continue to build up in neighborhoods across the...

Read more: How Philadelphia’s current sanitation strike differs from past labor disputes in the city

How Philadelphia’s sanitation strike differed from past labor disputes in the city

  • Written by Francis Ryan, Associate Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University
imageTrash piled up in Philadelphia during the 8-day strike that ended July 9, 2025.AP Photo/Matt Slocum

The Philadelphia municipal workers strike ended after eight days in the early hours of July 9, 2025.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33 union’s 9,000 blue-collar workers, including sanitation...

Read more: How Philadelphia’s sanitation strike differed from past labor disputes in the city

Scientific norms shape the behavior of researchers working for the greater good

  • Written by Jeffrey A. Lee, Professor of Geography and the Environment, Texas Tech University
imageMentors model the ethical pursuit of scientific knowledge.sanjeri/E+ via Getty Images

Over the past 400 years or so, a set of mostly unwritten guidelines has evolved for how science should be properly done. The assumption in the research community is that science advances most effectively when scientists conduct themselves in certain ways.

The first...

Read more: Scientific norms shape the behavior of researchers working for the greater good

How slashing university research grants impacts Colorado’s economy and national innovation – a CU Boulder administrator explains

  • Written by Massimo Ruzzene, Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation, University of Colorado Boulder
imageFederal funding cuts to the University of Colorado Boulder have already impacted research and could cause even more harm. Glenn J. Asakawa/University of Colorado

The Trump administration has been freezing or reducing federal grants to universities across the country.

Over the past several months, universities have lost more than US$11 billion in...

Read more: How slashing university research grants impacts Colorado’s economy and national innovation – a CU...

3 basic ingredients, a million possibilities: How small pizzerias succeed with uniqueness in an age of chain restaurants

  • Written by Paula de la Cruz-Fernández, Cultural Digital Collections Manager, University of Florida
imageVariety is the sauce of life.Suzanne Kreiter/Boston Globe via Getty Images

At its heart, pizza is deceptively simple. Made from just a few humble ingredients – baked dough, tangy sauce, melted cheese and maybe a few toppings – it might seem like a perfect candidate for the kind of mass-produced standardization that defines many global...

Read more: 3 basic ingredients, a million possibilities: How small pizzerias succeed with uniqueness in an...

The aftermath of floods, hurricanes and other disasters can be hardest on older rural Americans – here’s how families and neighbors can help

  • Written by Lori Hunter, Professor of Sociology, Director of the Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder
imageEdith Schaecher, center, and her daughter and granddaughter look at a photo album recovered from her tornado-damaged home in Greenfield, Iowa, in May 2024.AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Hurricanes, tornadoes and other extreme weather do not distinguish between urban and rural boundaries. But when a disaster strikes, there are big differences in how...

Read more: The aftermath of floods, hurricanes and other disasters can be hardest on older rural Americans –...

What is the ‘Seven Mountains Mandate’ and how is it linked to political extremism in the US?

  • Written by Art Jipson, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Dayton
imagePeople pray before Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance at a town hall hosted by Lance Wallnau on Sept. 28, 2024, in Monroeville, Pa.AP Photo/Rebecca Droke

Vance Boelter, who allegedly shot Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state representative, and her husband, Mark Hortman, on June 14, 2025, studied at Christ for the Nations...

Read more: What is the ‘Seven Mountains Mandate’ and how is it linked to political extremism in the US?

President Trump’s tug-of-war with the courts, explained

  • Written by Paul M. Collins Jr., Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science, UMass Amherst
imageThe U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg

The Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a big win on June 27, 2025, by limiting the ability of judges to block Trump administration policies across the nation.

But Trump has not fared nearly as well in the lower courts, where he has lost a series of cases through different...

Read more: President Trump’s tug-of-war with the courts, explained

More Articles ...

  1. Your data privacy is slipping away – here’s why, and what you can do about it
  2. Higher ed’s relationship with marriage? It’s complicated – and depends on age
  3. Turbulent research landscape imperils US brain gain − and ultimately American prosperity
  4. Misinformation lends itself to social contagion – here’s how to recognize and combat it
  5. Social media can support or undermine democracy – it comes down to how it’s designed
  6. Nations are increasingly ‘playing the field’ when it comes to US and China – a new book explains explains why ‘active nonalignment’ is on the march
  7. Thailand’s judiciary is flexing its muscles, but away from PM’s plight, dozens of activists are at the mercy of capricious courts
  8. From Seattle to Atlanta, new social housing programs seek to make homes permanently affordable for a range of incomes
  9. Are people at the South Pole upside down?
  10. Rural hospitals will be hit hard by Trump’s signature spending package
  11. ‘Big’ legislative package shifts more of SNAP’s costs to states, saving federal dollars but causing fewer Americans to get help paying for food
  12. Why Texas Hill Country, where a devastating flood killed more than 120 people, is one of the deadliest places in the US for flash flooding
  13. Why Texas Hill Country, where a devastating flood killed dozens, is one of the deadliest places in the US for flash flooding
  14. Conservatives notch 2 victories in their fight to deny Planned Parenthood federal funding through Medicaid
  15. One ‘big, beautiful’ reason why Republicans in Congress just can’t quit Donald Trump
  16. Astronomers have discovered another puzzling interstellar object − this third one is big, bright and fast
  17. War, politics and religion shape wildlife evolution in cities
  18. Military force may have delayed Iran’s nuclear ambitions – but history shows that diplomacy is the more effective nonproliferation strategy
  19. Capitalism and democracy are weakening – reviving the idea of ‘calling’ can help to repair them
  20. What MAGA means to Americans
  21. From glass and steel to rare earth metals, new materials have changed society throughout history
  22. Philadelphians with mental illness want to work, pray, date and socialize just like everyone else – here’s how creating more inclusive communities is good for public health
  23. Speedballing – the deadly mix of stimulants and opioids – requires a new approach to prevention and treatment
  24. Employers are failing to insure the working class – Medicaid cuts would leave them even more vulnerable
  25. Employers are failing to insure the working class – Medicaid cuts will leave them even more vulnerable
  26. Parents who oppose sex education in schools often don’t discuss it at home
  27. Hurricane forecasters are losing 3 key satellites ahead of peak storm season − a meteorologist explains why it matters
  28. The Supreme Court upholds free preventive care, but its future now rests in RFK Jr.’s hands
  29. What damage did the US do to Iran’s nuclear program? Why it’s so hard to know
  30. The rule of law is key to capitalism − eroding it is bad news for American business
  31. Legal wrangling over estate of Jimmy Buffett turns his widow’s huge inheritance into a cautionary tale
  32. AI is advancing even faster than sci-fi visionaries like Neal Stephenson imagined
  33. Despite claims they’d move overseas after the election, most Americans are staying put
  34. Philadelphia’s $2B affordable housing plan relies heavily on municipal bonds, which can come with hidden costs for taxpayers
  35. Humans and animals can both think logically − but testing what kind of logic they’re using is tricky
  36. Mexican flags flown during immigration protests bother white people a lot more than other Americans
  37. Keeping brain-dead pregnant women on life support raises ethical issues that go beyond abortion politics
  38. In LGBTQ+ storybook case, Supreme Court handed a win to parental rights, raising tough questions for educators
  39. Pop, soda or coke? The fizzy history behind America’s favorite linguistic debate
  40. The hidden cost of convenience: How your data pulls in hundreds of billions of dollars for app and social media companies
  41. Why the US bombed a bunch of metal tubes − a nuclear engineer explains the importance of centrifuges to Iranian efforts to build nuclear weapons
  42. Bill Moyers’ journalism strengthened democracy by connecting Americans to ideas and each other, in a long and extraordinary career
  43. Invasive carp threaten the Great Lakes − and reveal a surprising twist in national politics
  44. 1 in 4 Americans reject evolution, a century after the Scopes monkey trial spotlighted the clash between science and religion
  45. Who’s the most American? Psychological studies show that many people are biased and think it’s a white English speaker
  46. Here’s a way to save lives, curb traffic jams and make commutes faster and easier − ban left turns at intersections
  47. Why the traditional college major may be holding students back in a rapidly changing job market
  48. What’s at risk for Arctic wildlife if Trump expands oil drilling in the fragile National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
  49. 1 in 3 Florida third graders have untreated cavities – how parents can protect their children’s teeth
  50. How can the James Webb Space Telescope see so far?