The Conversation

LGTBQIA+ sanctuary declarations help cities take a stand to defend rights -- but may not have much actual legal impact

Written by John E. Finn, Professor Emeritus of Government, Wesleyan University

Minnesotans hold a rally at the state capitol in St. Paul to support trans kids in March 2022. Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Several cities and towns, mostly in the American Midwest and South, are responding to a surge of proposed and approved legislation that restricts gay and transgender people’s rights by...

MicroRNA is the master regulator of the genome − researchers are learning how to treat disease by harnessing the way it controls genes

Written by Andrea Kasinski, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Purdue University

RNA is more than just a transitional state between DNA and protein.Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

The Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago, and life less than a billion years after that. Although life as we know it is dependent on four major macromolecules – DNA, RNA, proteins and lipids – only one is thought to have...

Stoicism and spirituality: A philosopher explains how more Americans' search for meaning is turning them toward the classics

Written by Sandra Woien, Associate Teaching Professor, Arizona State University

Web communities have helped the ancient philosophy of Stoicism find fans in a new generation.utah778/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Stoicism may be having a renaissance. For centuries, the ancient philosophy that originated in Greece and spread across the Roman Empire was more or less treated as extinct – with the word “stoic”...

A brief history of the US-Israel 'special relationship' shows how connections have shifted since long before the 1948 founding of the Jewish state

Written by Fayez Hammad, Lecturer in Political Science and International Relations, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

U.S. President Harry Truman holds a Torah given to him by Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel, in May 1948.Bettmann via Getty Images

In his first remarks after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, President Joe Biden affirmed the United States offered “rock solid and unwavering” support to Israel, “just as we have...

Merriam-Webster's word of the year – authentic – reflects growing concerns over AI's ability to deceive and dehumanize

Written by Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of Memphis

According to the publisher’s editor-at-large, 2023 represented 'a kind of crisis of authenticity.'lambada/E+ via Getty Images

When Merriam-Webster announced that its word of the year for 2023 was “authentic,” it did so with over a month to go in the calendar year.

Even then, the dictionary publisher was late to the game.

In a...

Writing instructors are less afraid of students cheating with ChatGPT than you might think

Written by Daniel Ernst, Assistant Professor of English, Texas Woman's University

Many educators say they are worried about being unable to keep up with advances in AI. Guillaume via Getty Images

When ChatGPT launched a year ago, headlines flooded the internet about fears of student cheating. A pair of essays in The Atlantic decried “the end of high-school English” and the death of the college essay.“ NPR...

Philly parents worry about kids' digital media use but see some benefits, too

Written by Denise E. Agosto, Professor of Library and Information Science, Drexel University

Parents can model good media habits, like using online tools to connect with family and friends. Ridofranz/iStock/Getty Images Plus

A group of U.S. senators recently called on tech giant Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger – to hand over documents related to the mental and physical harms its products...

After a pandemic pause, Detroit restarts water shut-offs – part of a nationwide trend as costs rise

Written by Elizabeth Mack, Professor of Geography, Michigan State University

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department shut off water to thousands of homes after the city declared bankruptcy in 2013.Joshua Lott/Getty Images

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Detroit residents got a break from water shut-offs.

In March 2020, just after the coronavirus made hand-washing a matter of public health, the City of Detroit...

Unwrapping Uranus and its icy secrets: What NASA would learn from a mission to a wild world

Written by Mike Sori, Assistant Professor of Planetary Science, Purdue University

Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, orbits in the outer solar system, about two billion miles (3.2 billion kilometers) from Earth. It is an enormous world – quadruple the diameter of Earth, with 15 times the mass and 63 times the volume.

Unvisited by spacecraft for more than 35 years, Uranus inhabits one of the least explored regions of...

A researcher's prescription for better health care: A dose of humility for doctors, nurses and clinicians

Written by Barret Michalec, Research Associate Professor of Nursing and Health Innovation, Arizona State University

Humility among health care providers can help prevent burnout.Cecilie Arcurs/E+ via Getty Images

Better health care for patients begins with humility – a term not often associated with medicine.

I witnessed displays of humility firsthand eight years ago, the night my son was born, in the way the doctor and doula worked together to deliver our...