The Conversation

Video games teach students in this class how religion works in the modern world

Written by Michael Naparstek, Associate Teaching Professor Religious Studies, University of Tennessee

A man plays the Chinese action role-playing game 'Black Myth: Wukong' during its launch day in Hangzhou, in eastern China's Zhejiang province, on Aug. 20, 2024.STR/AFP via Getty Images

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

Title of the course

Religion and Gameworlds

What...

A portrait taken in North Philly in the 1980s reconnects poet with cherished memories of her own beloved father

Written by Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon, Professor of Theater, Temple University

Local residents sitting on the steps in the shade at 3106 N. Broad St. in North Philadelphia in 1986. Joseph V. Labolito/Philadelphia Collections

To celebrate Father’s Day, The Conversation U.S. asked Philadelphia anthropologist, playwright and poetic ethnographer Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon to reflect on a poem she recently performed to...

Family homesteads with tangled titles are contributing to rural America’s housing crisis

Written by Jennifer Pindyck, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Auburn University

Rural Studio helps families build new housing on land with tangled titles, meaning there's no clear owner.Auburn University Rural Studio. Photo by Timothy Hursley, CC BY-SA

Imagine your parents leave you and your siblings a share of land that’s been in your family for generations. Several of your relatives already live on the land, and...

How your air conditioner can help the power grid, rather than overloading it

Written by Johanna Mathieu, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, University of Michigan

Could this common home machinery help usher in more renewable energy?Holden Henry/iStock / Getty Images Plus

As summer arrives, people are turning on air conditioners in most of the U.S. But if you’re like me, you always feel a little guilty about that. Past generations managed without air conditioning – do I really need it? And how bad...

Antagonism to transgender rights is tied to the authoritarian desire for social conformity – not just partisan affiliation

Written by Tatishe Nteta, Provost Professor of Political Science and Director of the UMass Amherst Poll, UMass Amherst

President Donald Trump signs an executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing in women's or girls sporting events on Feb. 5, 2025, in Washington.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Since becoming president, Donald Trump has aggressively sought to fulfill his campaign promise to reverse the Biden administration’s protection of...

Politics based on grievance has a long and violent history in America

Written by Peter C. Mancall, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

A statue of Christopher Columbus, toppled by protesters, is loaded onto a truck on the grounds of the state capitol on June 10, 2020, in St Paul, Minn.Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Recently, President Donald Trump declared that he is “bringing Columbus Day back from the ashes.” He hopes to make up for the removal of commemorative statues...

How was the wheel invented? Computer simulations reveal the unlikely birth of a world-changing technology nearly 6,000 years ago

Written by Kai James, Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

The assumption was that the wheel evolved from wooden rollers.Tetra Images via Getty Images

Imagine you’re a copper miner in southeastern Europe in the year 3900 B.C.E. Day after day you haul copper ore through the mine’s sweltering tunnels.

You’ve resigned yourself to the grueling monotony of mining life. Then one afternoon, you...

We surveyed 1,500 Florida kids about cellphones and their mental health – what we learned suggests school phone bans may have important but limited effects

Written by Justin D. Martin, Associate Professor of Digital Communication and Journalism, University of South Florida

The debate over banning smartphones in schools rages as more students are bringing phones to schools.Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images

In Florida, a bill that bans cellphone use in elementary and middle schools, from bell to bell, recently sailed through the state Legislature.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law on May 30, 2025. The...

You’re probably richer than you think because of the safety net – but you’d have more of that hidden wealth if you lived in Norway

Written by Robert Manduca, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan

You may be wealthier than you realize.Deagreez/iStock via Getty Images Plus

How wealthy are you?

Like most people, you probably would do some math before answering this question. You would add up the money in your bank accounts, the value of your investments and any equity in a home you own, then subtract your debts, such as mortgages and car loans.

B...

A field guide to ‘accelerationism’: White supremacist groups using violence to spur race war and create social chaos

Written by Art Jipson, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Dayton

Demonstrators clash with counterdemonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., on Aug. 12, 2017. AP Photo/Steve Helber

A man named Regan Prater was charged with arson for the burning of Highlander Center in New Market, Tennessee, on May 7, 2025. The nonprofit has a long history of involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. The...