The Conversation

Make Russia Medieval Again! How Putin is seeking to remold society, with a little help from Ivan the Terrible

Written by Dina Khapaeva, Professor of Cultural Studies, Georgia Institute of Technology

Russian President Vladimir Putin has draped himself in old-fashioned, medieval conceptions of Russian history to add symbolic weight to his authoritarian government.AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko

Beginning in September 2025, Russian middle and high school students will be handed a new textbook titled “My Family.”

Published in March...

Francis, a pope of many firsts: 5 essential reads

Written by Molly Jackson, Religion and Ethics Editor

A mourner holds a portrait of Pope Francis at the Basílica de San José de Flores in Buenos Aires, a church where the pope worshipped in his youth.AP Photo/Gustavo Garello

Pope Francis, whose papacy blended tradition with pushes for inclusion and reform, died on April, 21, 2025 – Easter Monday – at the age of 88.

Here we...

Lawful permanent residents like Mahmoud Khalil have a right to freedom of speech – but does that protect them from deportation?

Written by Erin Corcoran, Professor of immigration, refguee and asylum law, University of Notre Dame

The detention of noncitizen university students after their Palestinian rights activism raises questions about the limits of free speech. Rob Dobi/Moment/Getty Images

The Trump administration has revoked the visas of more than 1,000 foreign university students since January 2025. Many of the individual cases that have made headlines center on...

Federal laws don’t ban rollbacks of environmental protection, but they don’t make it easy

Written by Stan Meiburg, Executive Director, Sabin Center for Environment and Sustainability, Wake Forest University

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has announced plans to review or reverse dozens of environmental protection regulations.Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin have announced their intent to reconsider dozens of current regulations in an effort to loosen standards originally...

Why don’t humans have hair all over their bodies? A biologist explains our lack of fur

Written by Maria Chikina, Assistant Professor of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh

Some mammals are super hairy, some are not.Ed Jones/AFP 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 don’t humans have hair all over their bodies like other animals? – Murilo, age 5, Brazil

Have you ever...

Endowments aren’t blank checks – but universities can rely on them more heavily in turbulent times

Written by Ellen P. Aprill, Senior Scholar in Residence at the UCLA Law School's Lowell Milken Center For Philanthropy And Nonprofit Law, University of California, Los Angeles

The Trump administration is demanding that at least 60 U.S. colleges and universities change their policies or lose out on billions of dollars in federal funding.

In Harvard University’s case, the government has accused the Ivy league school – so far without providing any specific evidence – of violating some students’ civil...

Exposure to perceptible temperature rise increases concern about climate change, higher education adds to understanding

Written by R. Alexander Bentley, Professor of Anthropology, University of Tennessee

Higher education can train students to carefully consider the evidence around them.Adam Crowley/Tetra Images/Getty images

Years ago, after taking an Earth science class, I found myself looking at the world differently. It was the 1990s, and lakes in Wisconsin where I lived at the time were beginning to freeze later in winter and thaw earlier in...

What will happen at the funeral of Pope Francis

Written by Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

A side altar with reliquary at the St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome. Pope Francis has chosen to be buried in that basilica.Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images

The 88-year-old pontiff had been well aware of his fragile state and advanced age. As early as 2015, Pope Francis had expressed the desire to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria...

How the next pope will be elected – what goes on at the conclave

Written by Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

Cardinals attend Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, before they enter the conclave to decide who the next pope will be, on March 12, 2013, in Vatican City.Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Image

With the death of Pope Francis, attention now turns to the selection of his successor. The next pope will be chosen in what is called a “conclave,” a...

Scientists found a potential sign of life on a distant planet – an astronomer explains why many are still skeptical

Written by Daniel Apai, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona

An illustration of the exoplanet K2-18b, which some research suggests may be covered by deep oceans. NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

A team of astronomers announced on April 16, 2025, that in the process of studying a planet around another star, they had found evidence for an unexpected atmospheric gas. On Earth, that gas – called...