The Conversation

Meditation can reduce stress – but the pressure to overwork remains

Written by Jaime L Kucinskas, Associate Professor of Sociology, Hamilton College

Are meditation practices in the workplace effective in changing the culture of high stress?Jason Koerner/Getty Images Alo Yoga

Overwork and burnout are affecting many Americans.

The American Psychological Association’s 2023 Work and Well-being Survey found that 77% of Americans suffered from workplace stress. Over half of the respondents...

Trump’s plans for tougher border enforcement won’t necessarily stop migrants from coming to US − but their journeys could become more costly and dangerous

Written by Katrina Burgess, Professor of Political Economy, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

A section of the US-Mexico border fence is seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Oct. 21, 2024. Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images

The screen fills with images of migrants dodging highway traffic. “They keep coming,” says a narrator. “The federal government won’t stop them yet requires us to pay billions to take care of...

What is the universe expanding into if it’s already infinite?

Written by Nicole Granucci, Instructor of Physics, Quinnipiac University

The universe is full of stars, galaxies and planets − it's expanding every day. NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Wisconsin via AP

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.

What is the universe expanding into if it’s already...

Assad leaves behind a fragmented nation – stabilizing it will be a major challenge for fractured opposition and external backers

Written by Sefa Secen, Assistant Professor of International and Global Studies, Nazareth University

The brutal 54-year reign of the Assad family in Syria looks to be over.

In a matter of days, opposition forces took the major city of Aleppo before advancing southward into other government-controlled areas of Hama, Homs and finally, on Dec 7, 2024, the capital, Damascus.

The offensive was all the more astonishing given that the 13-year civil war...

Assad leaves behind a fragmented nation – stabilizing Syria will be a major challenge for fractured opposition and external backers

Written by Sefa Secen, Assistant Professor of International and Global Studies, Nazareth University

The brutal 54-year reign of the Assad family in Syria looks to be over.

The offensive was all the more astonishing given that the 13-year civil war...

What does the NASA administrator do? The agency’s leader reaches for the stars while navigating budgets and politics back on Earth

Written by Wendy Whitman Cobb, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, Air University

The head of NASA represents the agency to Congress and on the global stage. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

Leaders of NASA sit in an awkward position. While they are the head of a widely recognized organization, they’re often not the most famous individual in the agency. More people probably know the names of Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the...

Trump attacks diversity, but a fellow New Yorker − US Rep. Vito Marcantonio − worked to represent all Americans in a multiracial democracy

Written by Sandhya Shukla, Associate Professor of English and American Studies, University of Virginia

Vito Marcantonio appears in front of his office on First Avenue in New York City in 1948.The New York Public Library Digital Collections

Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign presented a dark vision of America that painted migrants as threats to the nation.

Yet his hometown, New York City, is also the birthplace of an alternative...

What is Salt Typhoon? A security expert explains the Chinese hackers and their attack on US telecommunications networks

Written by Richard Forno, Principal Lecturer, CSEE & Assistant Director, UMBC Cybersecurity Institute, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The U.S. says Chinese hackers have penetrated America's phone networks – and are still inside them.Anton Petrus/Moment via Getty Images

Cyberattacks linked to the Chinese government that compromised large portions of the American telecommunications network have the U.S. government sounding the alarm. The chair of the Senate Intelligence...

Extraterrestrial life may look nothing like life on Earth − so astrobiologists are coming up with a framework to study how complex systems evolve

Written by Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona

Evolution, the process of change, governs life on Earth − and potentially different forms of life in other places. Just_Super/E+ via Getty Images

We have only one example of biology forming in the universe – life on Earth. But what if life can form in other ways? How do you look for alien life when you don’t know what alien life...

Protests, sectarian violence and a growing spat with India: Bangladesh’s new leaders are beset with challenges to its democracy

Written by Manoj Misra, Associate Professor of Sociology, Western Connecticut State University

When student-led, anti-government protests in Bangladesh snowballed into the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year-long autocratic rule in August 2024, many in the South Asian nation hoped it signaled better times ahead.

Four months on, things are not going to plan. The initial surge of public jubilation has given way to pessimism. The interim...