The Conversation

Astrophysicists trace the origin of valuable metals in space, from colliding stars to merging galaxies

Written by Simone Dichiara, Assistant Research Professor of Astrophysics, Penn State

This artist’s impression shows two tiny but very dense neutron stars at the point at which they merge and explode.ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser, CC BY

Billions of light years away in a remote part of the universe, two neutron stars – the ultradense remnants of dead stars – collided. The catastropic cosmic event sent light...

Gifts from top 50 US philanthropists jumped to $22.4B in 2025 − Mike Bloomberg, Bill Gates and the estate of Paul Allen lead a list of the biggest givers

Written by David Campbell, Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Home Depot co-founder Arthur Blank, one of the top 50 donors of 2025, talks with his son Josh Blank.Kara Durrette/Getty Images

The 50 American individuals and couples who gave or pledged the most to charity in 2025 committed US$22.4 billion to foundations, universities, hospitals and more. That total was 35% above an inflation-adjusted $16.6...

Women of the Rosenstrasse protest challenged the Nazi regime for their detained Jewish husbands’ freedom – and won

Written by Danielle Wirsansky, Ph.D. Candidate in Modern European History, Florida State University

A sculpture by Ingeborg Hunzinger commemorates the Rosenstrasse protest in Berlin.NikiSublime/Flickr via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

On the cold evening of Feb. 27, 1943, Charlotte Israel gathered with a small crowd of women on the Rosenstrasse, a narrow street in central Berlin. They were not Jewish, but their husbands were, and the men had just been...

Making good choices when life gets messy – practical wisdom relies on human judgment, not rules

Written by Tim Hulsey, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Tennessee

This virtue helps you figure out when and how to apply the other virtues in real, varying situations.Cavan Images/Cavan via Getty Images

A few semesters into my teaching career as a psychology professor, I uncovered a cheating ring. I determined who the ringleader was and called him to my office.

He admitted that he had illicitly obtained a copy of...

Just thinking about tequila, whiskey or wine shifts your mindset – new research

Written by Logan Pant, Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Evansville

Most celebrations in the U.S. involve alcohol, in large part due to marketing and advertising.Arturo Peña Romano Medina/E+ via Getty Images

Thinking about certain types of alcohol can alter your mood and trigger certain mindsets, especially among young consumers. For instance, tequila calls up a party mindset, whiskey activates a masculine...

Higher buprenorphine doses help patients stay in opioid use disorder treatment, new study finds

Written by Rachel French, Assistant Professor of Family and Community Health, University of Pennsylvania

Patients who received 17 to 24 milligrams per day of buprenorphine stayed in treatment significantly longer than those who received 16 milligrams or less, researchers found. AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Patients who are prescribed higher daily doses of the medication buprenorphine for opioid use disorder are significantly more likely to stay in treatment....

Why cloud service outages ripple across the internet – and the economy

Written by Doug Jacobson, University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University

A cloud outage in 2024 disrupted air travel around the world.AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

When most people think about the internet, they likely picture websites and apps. What they rarely see are the invisible services that make those experiences possible: systems that translate names into numbers, verify who you are, deliver messages and block...

Iran war: 4 big questions that help clarify the future of the Middle East

Written by David Mednicoff, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Public Policy, UMass Amherst

A plume of smoke rises from a warehouse in the industrial area of Sharjah City in the United Arab Emirates, following reports of Iranian strikes elsewhere in the region on March 1, 2026. AP Photo/Altaf Qadri

The war that the U.S. and Israeli governments launched against Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, is unprecedented in its scope across the Middle East....

This Sunshine Week, Florida reflects an alarming national trend of blocking the public’s access to information

Written by David Cuillier, Director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida

By all measures, the ability to see what the government is up to in the United States has plummeted to new depths since the beginning of the second Trump administration.

For National Sunshine Week in 2025, I wrote about secrecy creep, the adoption of federal secrecy protections implemented by state and local authorities. In Florida and throughout...

47 years of deep mistrust and misperception paved the way to war between Iran and the US − and complicate any negotiations

Written by Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Vice Provost and Dean of College of Arts, Sciences, and Education, Missouri University of Science and Technology

Trust between Iran and the United States was shattered long ago.Sean Gladwell, Moment/Getty Images

It has been said that trust is like glass: Once it is shattered, nothing will ever be the same. In the case of the enduring hostility between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States over the past 47 years, even this metaphor may be an...