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Iran’s universities have long been a battleground, where protests happen and students fight for the future

  • Written by Pardis Mahdavi, Professor of Anthropology, University of La Verne; University of California, Berkeley
imageAnti-government Iranian protesters rally on Jan. 8, 2026, in Tehran. Anonymous/Getty Images

Iran’s current wave of protests continues to spread across the country, as the United States weighs military intervention. Meanwhile, many Iranian people continue to struggle to pay for basic necessities amid a collapsing currency.

The anti-government...

Read more: Iran’s universities have long been a battleground, where protests happen and students fight for...

Why Philly has so many sinkholes

  • Written by Laura Toran, Professor of Environmental Geology, Temple University
imageSinkholes form when underground rock dissolves or sediment washes away and the surface collapses.Luis Diaz Devesa/Moment Collection/Getty Images

In early January, a giant sinkhole formed at an intersection in the West Oak Lane neighborhood of North Philadelphia after a water main break. Just two weeks earlier, the city reopened a section of the...

Read more: Why Philly has so many sinkholes

What air pollution does to the human body

  • Written by Jenni Shearston, Assistant Professor of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado Boulder

I grew up in rural Colorado, deep in the mountains, and I can still remember the first time I visited Denver in the early 2000s. The city sits on the plain, skyscrapers rising and buildings extending far into the distance. Except, as we drove out of the mountains, I could barely see the city – the entire plain was covered in a brown, hazy...

Read more: What air pollution does to the human body

What triumphalist narratives about Brazil’s high court and Bolsonaro imprisonment leave out

  • Written by Tassiana Moura de Oliveira, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science, University at Albany, State University of New York
imageBrazil former President Jair Bolsonaro gestures as he faces Alexandre de Moraes, the powerful Brazilian Supreme Court judge.Arthur Menescal / Getty Images

On Jan. 15, 2026, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered that incarcerated ex-President Jair Bolsonaro be given a significant upgrade in his prison accomodations.

Perhaps not...

Read more: What triumphalist narratives about Brazil’s high court and Bolsonaro imprisonment leave out

What a bear attack in a remote valley in Nepal tells us about the problem of aging rural communities

  • Written by Geoff Childs, Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis
imageDorje Dundul ponders a life living with increased risk of bear attacks.Geoff Childs, CC BY-SA

Dorje Dundul recently had his foot gnawed by a brown bear – a member of the species Ursus thibetanus, to be precise.

It wasn’t his first such encounter. Recounting the first of three such violent experiences over the past five years, Dorje told...

Read more: What a bear attack in a remote valley in Nepal tells us about the problem of aging rural communities

Opera is not dying – but it needs a second act for the streaming era

  • Written by Christos Makridis, Associate Research Professor of Information Systems, Arizona State University; Institute for Humane Studies
imageAmerican soprano Renee Fleming performs at a dress rehearsal for a Metropolitan Opera production of 'The Merry Widow' in New York in 2014.Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images

Every few years, you’ll hear a familiar refrain: “Opera is dying.”

National surveys point toslumping attendance at live performances. Audiences are aging, leaving...

Read more: Opera is not dying – but it needs a second act for the streaming era

Trump’s Greenland ambitions could wreck 20th-century alliances that helped build the modern world order

  • Written by Donald Heflin, Executive Director of the Edward R. Murrow Center and Senior Fellow of Diplomatic Practice, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
imageFrench Gen. Jean de Rochambeau and American Gen. George Washington giving final orders in late 1781 for the battle at Yorktown, where British defeat ended the War of Independence.Pierce Archive LLC/Buyenlarge via Getty Images

Make Denmark angry. Make Norway angry. Make NATO’s leaders angry.

President Donald Trump’s relentless and...

Read more: Trump’s Greenland ambitions could wreck 20th-century alliances that helped build the modern world...

Are there thunderstorms on Mars? A planetary scientist explains the red planet’s dry, dusty storms

  • Written by Nilton O. Rennó, Professor of Climate and Space Sciences Engineering, University of Michigan
imageMars doesn't get rain like Earth does, but dust storms are common on the red planet. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

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.

Are there thunderstorms on Mars? – Cade, age 7, Houston, Texas

Mars...

Read more: Are there thunderstorms on Mars? A planetary scientist explains the red planet’s dry, dusty storms

An ultrathin coating for electronics looked like a miracle insulator − but a hidden leak fooled researchers for over a decade

  • Written by Mahesh Nepal, Ph.D. Student in Electrical Engineering, Binghamton University, State University of New York
imageTiny insulating layers inside electronics help store charge so computers can run smoothly. bee32/iStock via Getty Images

When your winter jacket slows heat escaping your body or the cardboard sleeve on your coffee keeps heat from reaching your hand, you’re seeing insulation in action. In both cases, the idea is the same: keep heat from...

Read more: An ultrathin coating for electronics looked like a miracle insulator − but a hidden leak fooled...

For 80 years, the president’s party has almost always lost House seats in midterm elections, a pattern that makes the 2026 congressional outlook clear

  • Written by Robert A. Strong, Senior Fellow, Miller Center, University of Virginia
imageWho will be in the majority in Congress after the midterm elections? Douglas Rissing/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Now that the 2026 midterm elections are less than a year away, public interest in where things stand is on the rise. Of course, in a democracy no one knows the outcome of an election before it takes place, despite what the pollsters may...

Read more: For 80 years, the president’s party has almost always lost House seats in midterm elections, a...

More Articles ...

  1. Chavismo has adapted before – but can Venezuela’s leftist ideology become US friendly and survive?
  2. Supreme Court is set to rule on constitutionality of Trump tariffs – but not their wisdom
  3. 12 ways the Trump administration dismantled civil rights law and the foundations of inclusive democracy in its first year
  4. Thecla, the beast fighter: The saint who faced down lions and killer seals is one of many ‘leading ladies’ in early Christian texts
  5. American farmers, who once fed the world, face a volatile global market with diminishing federal backing
  6. Deep reading can boost your critical thinking and help you resist misinformation – here’s how to build the skill
  7. Iran’s latest internet blackout extends to phones and Starlink
  8. New variant of the flu virus is driving surge of cases across the US and Canada
  9. International aid groups are dealing with the pain of slashed USAID funding by cutting staff, localizing and coordinating better
  10. Colorado ranchers and consumers can team up to make beef supply chains more sustainable
  11. Raccoons break into liquor stores, scale skyscrapers and pick locks – studying their clever brains can clarify human intelligence, too
  12. Googoosh, the ‘Voice of Iran,’ has gone quiet – and that’s her point
  13. The Insurrection Act is one of at least 26 legal loopholes in the law banning the use of the US military domestically
  14. Global power struggles over the ocean’s finite resources call for creative diplomacy
  15. China’s new condom tax will prove no effective barrier to country’s declining fertility rate
  16. Refugee families are more likely to become self-reliant if provided with support outside of camp settings
  17. The hidden power of grief rituals
  18. Science is best communicated through identity and culture – how researchers are ensuring STEM serves their communities
  19. How is China viewing US actions in Venezuela – an affront, an opportunity or a blueprint?
  20. One cure for sour feelings about politics − getting people to love their hometowns
  21. Most of the 1 million Venezuelans in the United States arrived within the past decade
  22. How mountain terraces have helped Indigenous peoples live with climate uncertainty
  23. Supreme Court likely to reject limits on concealed carry but uphold bans on gun possession by drug users
  24. New Year’s resolutions usually fall by the wayside, but there is a better approach to making real changes
  25. Before Venezuela’s oil, there were Guatemala’s bananas
  26. Searching reporters’ homes, suing journalists and repressing citizen dissent are well-known steps toward autocracy
  27. Climate engineering would alter the oceans, reshaping marine life – our new study examines each method’s risks
  28. Climate engineering would alter the oceans, reshaping marine life – new study examines each method’s risks
  29. Reddit and TikTok - with the help of AI - are reshaping how researchers understand substance use
  30. Broncos say their new stadium will be ‘privately financed,’ but ‘private’ often still means hundreds of millions in public resources
  31. For some Jewish women, ‘passing’ as Christian during the Holocaust could mean survival – but left scars all the same
  32. There’s an intensifying kind of threat to academic freedom – watchful students serving as informants
  33. Building ‘beloved community’: Remembering the friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh
  34. US military has a long history in Greenland, from mining during WWII to a nuclear-powered Army base built into the ice
  35. Could ChatGPT convince you to buy something? Threat of manipulation looms as AI companies gear up to sell ads
  36. From a new flagship space telescope to lunar exploration, global cooperation – and competition – will make 2026 an exciting year for space
  37. The ‘drug threat’ that justified the US ouster of Maduro won’t be fixed by his arrest
  38. South Florida’s Brightline has highlighted an old problem – every year for the past decade, 900 pedestrians were killed by trains
  39. Iran’s protests have spread across provinces, despite skepticism and concern among ethnic groups
  40. Why unlocking Venezuelan oil won’t mean much for US energy prices
  41. Martin Luther King Jr. was ahead of his time in pushing for universal basic income
  42. Rural areas have darker skies but fewer resources for students interested in astronomy – telescopes in schools can help
  43. Research institutions tout the value of scholarship that crosses disciplines – but academia pushes interdisciplinary researchers out
  44. From flammable neighborhoods to moral hazards, fire insurance maps capture early US cities and the landscape of discrimination
  45. Viruses aren’t all bad: In the ocean, some help fuel the food web – a new study shows how
  46. 3 ways US actions in Venezuela violated international law
  47. Nearly half of Detroit seniors spend at least 30% of their income on housing costs − even as real estate values fall
  48. Small businesses say they aren’t planning to hire many recent graduates for entry-level jobs – here’s why
  49. Wars without clear purpose erode presidential legacies, and Trump risks political consequences with further military action in Venezuela
  50. Colorado ranks among the highest states in the country for flu – an emergency room physician describes why the 2025-26 flu season is hitting hard