The Conversation

Spider-Man’s lessons for us all on the responsibility to use our power, great or small, to do good

Written by George Tsakiridis, Senior Lecturer of Philosophy and Religion, South Dakota State University

A large statue of Spider-Man at a mall in Dubai.Giuseppe Cacace AFP via Getty Images

As a child, I watched reruns of the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon on television. I was drawn to the action and colors and, of course, the catchy tune. This was my early introduction to Spider-Man, as it was for many children who grew up in the 1960s-’80s.

Spidey, as...

Disinformation and other forms of ‘sharp power’ now sit alongside the ‘hard power’ of tanks and ‘soft power’ of ideas in policy handbook

Written by Andrew Latham, Professor of Political Science, Macalester College

The right to arm bears? Mixing the soft and the hard.Getty Images Plus

“The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must.”

So wrote Thucydides in the “History of the Peloponnesian War,” and the Greek historian’s cold-eyed observation still holds.

But in today’s world, strength doesn’t always...

Florida panthers and black bears need a literal path for survival – here’s how the Florida Wildlife Corridor provides it in one of the fastest-growing US states

Written by Thomas Hoctor, Research Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Florida

Florida panthers are a federally endangered species. Carlton Ward Jr./Wildpath

Imagine a Florida panther slinking its way 400 miles (645 kilometers) from the Big Cypress Swamp, in the southwest part of the state, to Okefenokee Swamp, on Florida’s northern border with Georgia, without ever being spotted by a human.

No one has yet documented a...

How Trump promotes a radical, unscientific theory about sex and gender in the name of opposing ‘gender ideology extremism’

Written by Ina Seethaler, Associate Professor and Director of Women's and Gender Studies, Coastal Carolina University

Sexual diversity has been documented in every species in the animal kingdom, including among humans. smartboy10/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

The Trump administration claims to be rooting out “gender ideology extremism” and “restoring biological truth” in the United States.

In a January 2025 executive order,...

Trump’s first 100 days show him dictating the terms of press coverage − following Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán’s playbook for media control

Written by Adam G. Klein, Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Pace University

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during a meeting in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stood before a captivated audience of conservative activists from the U.S. and laid out his vision for American politics....

50 years later, Vietnam’s environment still bears the scars of war – and signals a dark future for Gaza and Ukraine

Written by Pamela McElwee, Professor of Human Ecology, Rutgers University

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. bombed and defoliated vast areas of forest and protective mangroves.AP Photo

When the Vietnam War finally ended on April 30, 1975, it left behind a landscape scarred with environmental damage. Vast stretches of coastal mangroves, once housing rich stocks of fish and birds, lay in ruins. Forests that had boasted...

Trump administration’s attempt to nix the labor rights of thousands of federal workers on ‘national security’ grounds furthers the GOP’s long-held anti-union agenda

Written by Bob Bussel, Professor Emeritus of History and Labor Education, University of Oregon

Airline passengers wait at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint before boarding to flights in Denver in 2022.Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

As the Trump administration seeks to shrink the federal workforce, slash nonmilitary spending and curb opposition to its policies, it is taking steps beyond the firing and furloughing of...

Bureaucrats get a bad rap, but they deserve more credit − a sociologist of work explains why

Written by Michel Anteby, Professor of Management and Organizations & Sociology at Questrom School of Business & College of Arts and Sciences, Boston University

It’s telling that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration wants to fire bureaucrats. In its view, bureaucrats stand for everything that’s wrong with the United States: overregulation, inefficiency and even the nation’s deficit, since they draw salaries from taxpayers.

But bureaucrats have historically stood for...

Italy’s Meloni is positioning herself as bridge between EU and Trump – but will it work?

Written by Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager, Associate Professor of Critical Cultural & International Studies, Colorado State University

Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni looks to thread a divide.Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recently became the first European leader to visit the United States after President Donald Trump announced a new tariff regime on trading partners, including a 20% levy on imports from the European Union.

While...

Pope Francis filled the College of Cardinals with a diverse group of men – and they’ll be picking his successor

Written by Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

The Catholic Church's 115 cardinal-electors take part in a mass in St. Peter's Basilica on March 12, 2013, ahead of entering the conclave for a papal election.Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images

Following the death of 88-year-old Pope Francis on Easter Monday, several cardinals who were already in Rome, or who traveled only short...