The Conversation

Where next for Khamenei? After war, Iran’s supreme leader is faced with difficult choices

Written by Shirvin Zeinalzadeh, Graduate Teaching Associate, School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei makes a speech in Tehran, Iran, on July 16, 2025. Photo by Iranian Leader Press Office/Anadolu via Getty Images

In the weeks since Israel’s expansive 12-day war, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rarely been seen in public.

That absence has inevitably led to speculation over...

Philadelphia is using AI-driven cameras to keep bus lanes clear – transparency can help build trust in the system

Written by Murugan Anandarajan, Professor of Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems, Drexel University

More than 150 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority buses across Philadelphia are equipped with cameras that detect vehicles blocking bus lanes. Han Zheng via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority piloted a new enforcement tool in Philadelphia in 2023: AI-powered cameras mounted on seven of...

The Druze are a tightly knit community – and the violence in Syria is triggering fears in Lebanon

Written by Mireille Rebeiz, Chair of Middle East Studies, Dickinson College

Walid Jumblatt, the political leader of Lebanon's Druze minority, speaks in Beirut on July 18, 2025.AP Photo/Bilal Hussein

Violence continues several weeks after clashes started between armed Bedouin clans, Sunni jihadist groups and Druze fighters on July 14, 2025, in Sweida, a city in southern Syria.

Hundreds of Druze were killed in the clashes,...

EPA removal of vehicle emissions limits won’t stop the shift to electric vehicles, but will make it harder, slower and more expensive

Written by Alan Jenn, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis

Customers have embraced electric vehicles; policy changes may decrease that interest but will not eliminate it.Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The U.S. government is in full retreat from its efforts to make vehicles more fuel-efficient, which it has been waging, along with state governments, since the 1970s.

The latest move came on...

A red meat allergy from tick bites is spreading – and the lone star tick isn’t the only alpha-gal carrier to worry about

Written by Lee Rafuse Haines, Associate Research Professor of Molecular Parasitology and Medical Entomology, University of Notre Dame

Steak and other red meats can trigger an allergic reaction in people with alpha-gal syndrome.Vicushka/Moment via Getty Images

Hours after savoring that perfectly grilled steak on a beautiful summer evening, your body turns traitor, declaring war on the very meal you just enjoyed. You begin to feel excruciating itchiness, pain or even swelling that...

Why leisure matters for a good life, according to Aristotle

Written by Ross Channing Reed, Lecturer in Philosophy, Missouri University of Science and Technology

What we do in our free time says a lot about what makes us happy.Halfpoint Images/Moment via Getty Images

In his powerful book “The Burnout Society,” South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han argues that in modern society, individuals have an imperative to achieve. Han calls this an “achievement society” in which we must...

When it comes to finance, ‘normal’ data is actually pretty weird

Written by D. Brian Blank, Associate Professor of Finance, Mississippi State University

When business researchers analyze data, they often rely on assumptions to help make sense of what they find. But like anyone else, they can run into a whole lot of trouble if those assumptions turn out to be wrong – which may happen more often than they realize. That’s what we found in a recent study looking at financial data from...

Football and faith could return to the Supreme Court – this time, over loudspeakers

Written by Charles J. Russo, Joseph Panzer Chair in Education and Research Professor of Law, University of Dayton

Private schools want to pray over the loudspeaker – at a public facility, during games run by a state association.John Coletti/Photodisc via Getty Images

With the start of another high school football season around the corner, a long-simmering dispute has heated up: prayers at games.

Kennedy v. Bremerton, the case of a high school football...

Survivors’ voices 80 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki sound a warning and a call to action

Written by Masako Toki, Senior Education Project Manager and Research Associate, Nonproliferation Education Program, Middlebury

Supporters of nuclear disarmament, including Hibakusha, demonstrate in Oslo, Norway, in 2024.Hideo Asano, CC BY-ND

Eighty years ago, in August 1945, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were incinerated by the first and only use of nuclear weapons in war. By the end of that year, approximately 140,000 people had died in Hiroshima and 74,000 in...

National parks are key conservation areas for wildlife and natural resources

Written by Sarah Diaz, Associate Professor of Recreation and Sport Management, Coastal Carolina University

A researcher collects water samples in Everglades National Park in Florida to monitor ecosystem health.AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

The United States’ national parks have an inherent contradiction. The federal law that created the National Park Service says the agency – and the parks – must “conserve the scenery and the...