The Conversation

Why can’t it always be summer? It’s all about the Earth’s tilt

Written by Stephanie Spera, Assistant Professor of Geography and the Environment, University of Richmond

One hemisphere has summer, while the opposite has winter.Prasit photo/Moment via Getty Images

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Why can’t it always be summer? – Amanda, age 5, Chile

With its long days just itching to...

Gentrification isn’t inevitable − it can hinge on how residents view their neighborhood

Written by Elizabeth Korver-Glenn, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Families on bikes at a July Fourth parade in Houston's Northside neighborhood.Jimmy Castillo, CC BY-ND

Gentrification has become a familiar story in cities across the United States. The story line typically goes this way: Middle- and upper-income people start moving into a lower-income or poor neighborhood. Housing prices rise in response, and longt...

Trump and Harris vocabularies signal their different frames of mind

Written by Patricia Friedrich, Vice Provost and Professor of Sociolinguistics, Arizona State University

The debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris revealed more about each person in what they said and how they said it.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

In their campaigns, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris project different emotions and moods. The contrast between them was particularly sharp during their debate on Sept. 10, 2024....

Men are carrying the brunt of the ‘loneliness epidemic’ amid potent societal pressures

Written by Alvin Thomas, Associate Professor, Phyllis Northway Faculty Fellow, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Singer Justin Bieber is seen on May 16, 2024, in Los Angeles.BG046/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

A few weeks before Justin Bieber and his wife, Hailey, announced in May 2024 that they were expecting, the pop icon posted a selfie where he appears tearful and distraught.

While media attention quickly pivoted to the pregnancy, there was little attention paid...

Wind phones help the bereaved deal with death, loss and grief − a clinical social worker explains the vital role of the old-fashioned rotary phone

Written by Taryn Lindhorst, Professor of Social Work, University of Washington

The first wind phone was built in 2010 in Otsuchi, Japan.Matthew Komatsu/Wikimedia Commons

My mother died in my home in hospice in 2020, on the day my state of Washington went into COVID-19 lockdown. Her body was taken away, but none of the usual touchstones for grief were available to our family. There was no funeral or supportive gathering, no...

Half of Black gay men will be diagnosed with HIV, despite highly effective preventive treatments − why?

Written by Oluwafemi Atanda Adeagbo, Assistant Professor of Public Health, University of Iowa

Stigma and prejudice make it difficult for Black gay men to access PrEP.Willie B. Thomas/DigitalVision via Getty Images

At a pharmacy in Iowa, a 42-year-old Black gay man couldn’t find a medication he needed. The pharmacist, a white woman, told him they didn’t stock that medication. But while he waited to pay for his other purchases, he...

College can be confusing for first-generation students – but it doesn’t have to be

Written by Blake R. Silver, Associate Professor of Sociology, George Mason University

Many college students are reluctant to ask for help even when they know they need it.Ariel Skelley/DigitalVision via Getty Images

In his new book, “Degrees of Risk: Navigating Insecurity and Inequality in Public Higher Education,” sociology professor Blake R. Silver examines some of many ways that college students can slip through the...

Self-forgiveness is more than self-comfort − a philosopher explains

Written by Mordechai Gordon, Professor of Education, Quinnipiac University

Forgiving yourself can be a sign of moral growth − but only if you put in the work.Stephanie Verhart/E+ via Getty Images

As the Jewish High Holidays approach, which begin with Rosh Hashanah and continue with Yom Kippur, the theme of forgiveness keeps coming to my mind.

The 10 days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur are referred to in the Jewish...

Nepal’s revamped truth commissions will need to go beyond ‘ritualism’ to deliver justice to civil war victims

Written by Tracy Fehr, Sociology PhD Candidate, University of Colorado Boulder

Nepal’s attempt to deliver justice and accountability following the country’s decade-long civil war froze more than two years ago with little progress – but a recent development has raised hopes that it could soon be revived and revamped.

In August 2024, the country’s parliament passed a long-awaited bill that sets the stage...

Rare Florida fossil finally ends debate about how porcupine jaws and tails evolved

Written by Natasha S. Vitek, Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)

A porcupine fossil recovered in Florida was the key clue in solving a paleontological mystery.Jeff Gage/Florida Museum, CC BY-ND

A rare, nearly complete fossil of an extinct North American porcupine helped me and my colleagues solve a decades-long debate about how the modern North American porcupine evolved from its ancestors.

Published in Current...