The Conversation

How VR and AI could help the next generation grow kinder and more connected

Written by Ekaterina Muravevskaia, Assistant Professor of Human-Centered Computing, Indiana University

Technology can be isolating, but it can also help kids learn emotional connection.Dusan Stankovic/E+ via Getty Images

Empathy is not just a “nice-to-have” soft skill – it is a foundation of how children and adults regulate emotions, build friendships and learn from one another.

Between the ages of 6 and 9, children begin shifting...

Venezuela and US edge toward war footing − but domestic concerns, international risks may hold Washington back

Written by Robert Muggah, Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow na Bosch Academy e Co-fundador, Instituto Igarapé

U.S. Marines park a Lockheed Martin F-35B fighter aircraft at Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico on Sept 13, 2025.Kendall Torres Cortés/picture alliance via Getty Images

For many in Venezuela, the question is no longer whether tensions with Washington will reach a boiling point – they already have. Rather, the big unknown now...

Trump scraps the nation’s most comprehensive food insecurity report − making it harder to know how many Americans struggle to get enough food

Written by Tracy Roof, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Richmond

Nearly 1 in 7 Americans had trouble consistently getting enough to eat in 2023.Patrick Strattner/fStop via Getty Images

The Trump administration announced on Sept. 20, 2025, that it plans to stop releasing food insecurity data. The federal government has tracked and analyzed this data for the past three decades, but it plans to stop after...

Why Major League Baseball keeps coming back to Japan

Written by Jared Bahir Browsh, Assistant Teaching Professor of Critical Sports Studies, University of Colorado Boulder

When Shohei Ohtani stepped onto the field at the Tokyo Dome in March 2025, he wasn’t just playing a game – he was carrying forward more than 100 years of baseball ties between the U.S. and Japan.

That history was front and center when the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs opened their 2025 regular season facing off in the Tokyo...

Why a quick compromise to the first government shutdown in nearly 7 years seems unlikely

Written by Charlie Hunt, Associate Professor of Political Science, Boise State University

The Capitol is seen in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 25, 2025.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Congress failed to meet an Oct. 1 deadline to adopt a spending measure and keep the federal government open, resulting in the first government shutdown in nearly seven years. With both Democrats and Republicans seemingly prepared for a long fight, Alfonso...

Jane Goodall, the gentle disrupter whose research on chimpanzees redefined what it meant to be human

Written by Mireya Mayor, Director of Exploration and Science Communication, Florida International University

Jane Goodall appears on stage at 92NY in New York on Oct. 1, 2023.Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Anyone proposing to offer a master class on changing the world for the better, without becoming negative, cynical, angry or narrow-minded in the process, could model their advice on the life and work of pioneering animal behavior scholar Jane Goodall.

Goodall&...

Many book bans could be judging titles mainly by their covers

Written by Alex Wermer-Colan, Academic and Research Director, Loretta C. Duckworth Scholars Studio, Temple University Libraries, Temple University

A display at the Hoboken Public Library in Hoboken, N.J., features books that have been targeted or banned in other states.Ana Fernandez/AFP via Getty Images

Over the past decade, a growing movement to restrict access to books in public schools and libraries has spread across the country. Every year, there are hundreds of attempts to challenge or...

Violent acts in houses of worship are rare but deadly – here’s what the data shows

Written by James Densley, Professor of Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University

A church program lies on the ground near the family reunification area after the shooting in Grand Blanc, Mich., on Sept. 28, 2025. Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images

On Sept. 28, 2025, at least four people were killed and eight others injured during a Sunday service at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel in Grand Blanc, Michigan....

Flood-prone Houston faces hard choices for handling too much water

Written by Ivis García, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University

A roadside assistance vehicle is swamped by floodwaters on a Houston highway in 2024.Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Eight years after Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston in 2017, flooding hundreds of thousands of homes, the city still awaits a comprehensive flood protection system. The local flood control district estimates that at least one major flood...

Conventional anti-corruption tools often fail to address root causes – but loss of US leadership could still spell trouble for efforts abroad

Written by Diana Chigas, Professor of the Practice in International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders on Feb. 10, 2025, including an order relating to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

For nearly half a century, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has made it illegal for U.S. citizens and companies to bribe foreign officials. Since 1998, that has been the case for...