The Conversation

Unlicensed teachers now dominate new teacher hires in rural Texas schools

Written by James P. Van Overschelde, Associate professor of secondary education, Texas State University

English language learners are among the most likely to be assigned to unqualified teachers in Texas.Klaus Vedfelt via Getty Images

The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015 eliminated the federal requirement that teachers be highly qualified to teach. This regulatory freedom, combined with a shortage of trained and qualified teachers,...

The number of religious ‘nones’ has soared, but not the number of atheists – and as social scientists, we wanted to know why

Written by Christopher P. Scheitle, Associate Professor of Sociology, West Virginia University

Fewer people are affiliated with religion in the United States, but that hardly means that they're all atheists.Anthony Bradshaw/Photographer's Choice RF via Getty Images

The number of individuals in the United States who do not identify as being part of any religion has grown dramatically in recent years, and “the nones” are now larger...

‘Hidden mother’ photos don’t erase moms − rather, they reveal the labor and love that support the child

Written by Andrea Kaston Tange, Professor of English, Macalester College

While the mother's face isn't fully visible, the supportive arms encircling her child are.© Andrea Kaston Tange. All images are from the author’s private collection

Collectors relish so-called “hidden mother photographs” as historical oddities.

These 19th-century images contain very young children held still by half-obscured...

I analyzed 3,356 signs to see how language use is changing in three Latino neighborhoods in Philly

Written by Daniel Guarin, Ph.D. Candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant in Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Temple University

A collage of signs collected by the author in various Philadelphia neighborhoods.Photos by Daniel Guarin/Photo illustration by Katrina Aman, CC BY-NC-ND

Signs written in Spanish are becoming less common along North Philadelphia’s Golden Block, or El Bloque de Oro – which runs along North Fifth Street from Lehigh Avenue to Allegheny...

What are nanoplastics? An engineer explains concerns about particles too small to see

Written by Mohan Qin, Assistant Professor oif Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison

You can't see them, but there likely are nanoplastics in this Mediterranean seawater.Lisa Schaetzle, Moment, via Getty Images

It’s become common to read that microplastics – little bits of plastic, smaller than a pencil eraser – are turning up everywhere and in everything, including the ocean, farmland, food and human bodies. Now...

Houston’s flood problems offer lessons for cities trying to adapt to a changing climate

Written by Richard B. (Ricky) Rood, Professor Emeritus of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan

Heavy downpours and flash flooding forced evacuations in parts of the Houston area in early May 2024.Texas Department of Transportation via AP

Scenes from the Houston area looked like the aftermath of a hurricane in early May after a series of powerful storms flooded highways and neighborhoods and sent rivers over their banks north of the city.

Hundr...

Media coverage of campus protests tends to focus on the spectacle, rather than the substance

Written by Danielle K. Brown, Professor of Journalism, Michigan State University

Protest leaders at Columbia University are interviewed.AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey

Protest movements can look very different depending on where you stand, both literally and figuratively.

For protesters, demonstrations are usually the result of meticulous planning by advocacy groups and leaders aimed at getting a message out to a wider world or to...

What’s in a VIN? How to decode the vehicle identification number, your car’s unique fingerprint

Written by Jordan Frith, Pearce Professor of Professional Communication, Clemson University

A VIN is a unique string of 17 characters assigned to vehicles. welcomia/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Every vehicle built after 1981 has a unique vehicle identification number, or VIN. The location of this string of letters and numbers varies, but it’s located somewhere on every car, SUV, motorcycle and truck – typically on a small...

A look inside the cyberwar between Israel and Hamas reveals the civilian toll

Written by Ryan Shandler, Professor of Cybersecurity and International Relations, Georgia Institute of Technology

The conflict between Israel and Hamas is happening online as well as on the ground.Gwengoat/iStock / Getty Images Plus

The news about the Israel-Hamas war is filled with reports of Israeli families huddling in fear from relentless rocket attacks, Israeli tanks and artillery flattening buildings in the Gaza Strip, hundreds of kidnapped hostages impri...

Animal behavior research is getting better at keeping observer bias from sneaking in – but there’s still room to improve

Written by Todd M. Freeberg, Professor and Associate Head of Psychology, University of Tennessee

What you expect can influence what you think you see.Auscape/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Animal behavior research relies on careful observation of animals. Researchers might spend months in a jungle habitat watching tropical birds mate and raise their young. They might track the rates of physical contact in cattle herds of different...