The Conversation

Efficiency − or empire? How Elon Musk’s hostile takeover could end government as we know it

Written by Allison Stanger, Distinguished Endowed Professor, Middlebury

Elon Musk, right, has moved to take the reins of the U.S. government.Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Elon Musk’s role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE, is on the surface a dramatic effort to overhaul the inefficiencies of federal bureaucracy. But beneath the rhetoric of cost-cutting and regulatory...

Seed oils are toxic, says Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – but it’s not so simple

Written by Mary J. Scourboutakos, Adjunct Lecturer in Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto

Seed oils have become a mainstay of the American diet. d3sign/Moment via Getty Images

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is expected to clear the final hurdles in his confirmation as President Donald Trump’s health secretary, and a host of health influencers have proclaimed that widely used cooking oils such as canola oil and soybean oil are toxic.

T-...

Map wars in the Middle East: How cartographers charted and helped shape a regional conflict

Written by Christine Leuenberger, Senior Lecturer, Cornell University

A lot has changed since the publication of this 1750 map of Palestine.Ken Welsh/Design Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Image

Maps are ubiquitous – on phones, in-flight and car displays, and in textbooks the world over. While some maps delineate and name territories and boundaries, others show different voting blocs in elections, and GPS...

Why does Trump want to abolish the Education Department? An anthropologist who studies MAGA explains 4 reasons

Written by Alex Hinton, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University - Newark

A pedestrian walks past the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building on Feb. 3, 2025, in Washington. Pete Kiehart for The Washington Post via Getty Images

“And one other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education.”

President Donald Trump made this promise in a Sept....

How AI can help in the creative design process

Written by Tilanka Chandrasekera, Professor of Interior Design, Oklahoma State University

A student works on a design in a fashion merchandising lab.Fashion Merchandising Labs at Oklahoma State University, CC BY-ND

Generative artificial intelligence tools can help design students by making hard tasks easier, cutting down on stress, and allowing the students more time to explore innovative ideas, according to new research I published...

Why Americans need well-informed national security decisions – not politicized intelligence analysis

Written by Mark S. Chandler, Professor of Practice and Director, Government Relations - Intelligence and Security Studies Department, Coastal Carolina University

U.S. intelligence workers gather information from around the world to help guide leaders' decisions.da-kuk/E+ via Getty Images

The United States’ security depends on leaders who make well-informed decisions, including matters ranging from diplomatic relations around the world to economic relations, threats to the U.S., up to the deployment of...

The illusion of equal opportunity for minority NFL coaches

Written by Joseph N. Cooper, Endowed Chair of Sport Leadership and Administration, UMass Boston

On the day after the New England Patriots ended their NFL season with a miserable 4-13 record, team owner Robert Kraft fired Jerod Mayo, the team’s first Black head coach. In a press conference following his decision, Kraft explained that he put Mayo in “an untenable situation” by hiring him to lead an underperforming team.

Kraft&...

California wildfires force students to think about the connections between STEM and society

Written by Erika Dyson, Professor of Religous Studies, Harvey Mudd College

Satellite imagery shows the front line of the Palisades fire in Los Angeles on Jan. 11, 2025.Maxar Technologies/Contributor

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

Title of course:

“STEM & Social Impact: Climate Change”

What prompted the idea for the course?...

Is DOGE a cybersecurity threat? A security expert explains the dangers of violating protocols and regulations that protect government computer systems

Written by Richard Forno, Teaching Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, and Assistant Director, UMBC Cybersecurity Institute, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

People protest DOGE's access to sensitive personal data.AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), President Donald Trump’s special commission tasked with slashing federal spending, continues to disrupt Washington and the federal bureaucracy. According to published reports, its teams are dropping into federal...

Kendrick Lamar’s big Super Bowl moment

Written by Christina L. Myers, Assistant Professor of Journalism, Michigan State University

Lamar's Super Bowl appearance marks a political reckoning for the NFL.Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images

In the September 2024 NFL ad announcing Kendrick Lamar as the halftime performer at Super Bowl 59, the 37-year-old rapper stands before a colossal American flag, feeding footballs into a machine that launches the balls to wide receivers.

“Will...