The Conversation

Want to help Maui's animals after the wildfires? Send cash, not kibble

Written by Sarah DeYoung, Disaster Researcher and Associate Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware

Thousands of Maui's cats, dogs and other companion animals went missing or were injured.Maui Humane Society, CC BY-ND

An estimated 3,000 pets were still missing more than a week after deadly wildfires ripped through Maui in August 2023 and left thousands of people – many of whom had companion animals – homeless. The Conversation asked...

Geoengineering sounds like a quick climate fix, but without more research and guardrails, it's a costly gamble − with potentially harmful results

Written by David Kitchen, Associate Professor of Geology, University of Richmond

Geoengineering includes techniques to reflect solar energy.Elvis Tam/500px via Getty Images

When soaring temperatures, extreme weather and catastrophic wildfires hit the headlines, people start asking for quick fixes to climate change. The U.S. government just announced the first awards from a US$3.5 billion fund for projects that promise to pull...

Social media algorithms warp how people learn from each other, research shows

Written by William Brady, Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations, Northwestern University

Social media pushes evolutionary buttons.AP Photo/Manish Swarup

People’s daily interactions with online algorithms affect how they learn from others, with negative consequences including social misperceptions, conflict and the spread of misinformation, my colleagues and I have found.

People are increasingly interacting with others in social...

AI and new standards promise to make scientific data more useful by making it reusable and accessible

Written by Bradley Wade Bishop, Professor of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee

Data replication is an integral part of the scientific process, which proper research data management can improve. Tom Werner/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Every time a scientist runs an experiment, or a social scientist does a survey, or a humanities scholar analyzes a text, they generate data. Science runs on data – without it, we...

Caroline Herschel was England's first female professional astronomer, but still lacks name recognition two centuries later

Written by Kris Pardo, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

The Herschel Museum in Bath, England, has a new display of a handwritten draft of Caroline Herschel’s memoirs.Internet Archive Book Images via Wikimedia Commons

Caroline Herschel, the first English professional female astronomer, made contributions to astronomy that are still important to the field today. But even many astronomers may not...

Nagorno-Karabakh blockade crisis: Choking of disputed region is a consequence of war and geopolitics

Written by Ronald Suny, Professor of History and Political Science, University of Michigan

A Russian peacekeeper guards the Lachin corridor.TOFIK BABAYEV/AFP via Getty Images

Wars have consequences – and they are drastically different for the winners and losers.

In the South Caucasus, a region far from most Americans’ attention, the democratic republic of Armenia lost a short but devastating war three years ago to Azerbaijan,...

Georgia indictment and post-Civil War history make it clear: Trump's actions have already disqualified him from the presidency

Written by Joseph Ferguson, Co-Director, National Security and Civil Rights Program, Loyola University Chicago

Donald Trump may be barred from holding public office due to a constitutional amendment disqualifying those who have taken part in 'insurrection or rebellion.'Mike Stobe/Getty Images

After three indictments of former President Donald Trump, the fourth one in Georgia came not as a surprise but as a powerful exposition of the scope of Trump’s...

Risk of death related to pregnancy and childbirth more than doubled between 1999 and 2019 in the US, new study finds

Written by Laura Fleszar, Public Health Researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington

Maternal death rates are higher in the U.S. than in other high-income countries.Tetra Images/Getty Images

Black women were more likely to die during pregnancy or soon after in every year from 1999 through 2019, compared with Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and white women. That is a key...

What Florida gets wrong about George Washington and the benefits he received from enslaving Black people

Written by Calvin Schermerhorn, Professor of History, Arizona State University

In this 1853 painting, George Washington stands among Black field workers.Buyenlarge/Getty Images

If there was anyone who knew the rewards of slavery, it was George Washington.

Over a period of about 50 years, the nation’s first president enslaved about 577 Black Americans, starting when he was 11 years old.

One of them was a Black man named...

Can coffee or a nap make up for sleep deprivation? A psychologist explains why there's no substitute for shut-eye

Written by Kimberly Fenn, Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University

A cup of coffee might provide you some pep, but it won't fully make up for lost sleep. nopponpat/iStock via Getty Images Plus

There is no denying the importance of sleep. Everyone feels better after a good night of sleep, and lack of sleep can have profoundly negative effects on both the body and the brain. So what can be done to substitute for a...