The Conversation

Can we train our taste buds for health? A neuroscientist explains how genes and diet shape taste

Written by Monica Dus, Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan

Researchers are increasingly learning that early diet can shape taste preferences but that our taste buds can also be trained to prefer healthier foods.RichVintage/E+ via Getty Images

Have you ever wondered why only hummingbirds sip nectar from feeders?

Unlike sparrows, finches and most other birds, hummingbirds can taste sweetness because they carry...

George Soros hands control over his family's philanthropy to son Alex, after giving away billions and enduring years of antisemitic attacks and conspiracy theories

Written by Armin Langer, Assistant Professor of European Studies, University of Florida

George Soros in a 2017 photo.Olivier Hoslet/EPA via AP

Billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros is handing control of his US$25 billion holdings, including his Open Society Foundations, to one of his sons, Alexander Soros.

As a sociologist who researches immigrants and minorities in Europe and conspiracy theories about them, I study...

The Global South is forging a new foreign policy in the face of war in Ukraine, China-US tensions: Active nonalignment

Written by Jorge Heine, Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University

Lula and Modi walking a new diplomatic path.Takashi Aoyama/AFP via Getty Images

What does the Ukraine war have to do with Brazil? On the face of it, perhaps not much.

Yet, in his first six months in office, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – now in his third nonconsecutive term – has expended much effort trying to...

Supreme Court affirms Congress's power over Indian affairs, upholds law protecting Native American children

Written by Kirsten Matoy Carlson, Professor of Law and Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Wayne State University

Wiping away tears, Nita Battise, vice chairperson of the tribal council of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, reacts to the Supreme Court ruling upholding a law that gives Native American families priority in adoptions and foster care placements of tribal children.Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

The Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality...

Generative AI is a minefield for copyright law

Written by Robert Mahari, JD-PhD Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Still from 'All watched over by machines of loving grace' by Memo Akten, 2021. Created using custom AI software.Memo Akten, CC BY-SA

In 2022, an AI-generated work of art won the Colorado State Fair’s art competition. The artist, Jason Allen, had used Midjourney – a generative AI system trained on art scraped from the internet – to...

Jewish denominations: A brief guide for the perplexed

Written by Joshua Shanes, Associate Professor of Jewish Studies, College of Charleston

From Reconstructionism to ultra-Orthodoxy, Judaism is richly diverse.MendyHechtman/iStock via Getty Images

As a scholar of modern Jewish history, religion and politics, I am often asked to explain the differences between Judaism’s major denominations. Here is a very brief overview:

Rabbinic roots

Two thousand years ago, Jews were divided...

Russians are using age-old military tactic of flooding to combat Ukraine’s counteroffensive

Written by Liam Collins, Founding Director, Modern War Institute, United States Military Academy West Point

A screen grab shows the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant after a blast on June 6, 2023. Zelenskyy Social Media Account / via Getty Images

On the morning of June 6, 2023, thousands of Ukrainians awoke to the sounds of rushing water following an explosion at the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River.

Initially, there were questions on how the dam...

Despite threats of violence, Trump's federal indictment happened with little fanfare -- but that doesn't mean the far-right movement is fading, an extremism scholar explains

Written by Amy Cooter, Director of Research, Academic Development, and Innovation, Middlebury

Trump supporters and protesters gather peacefully outside the Miami federal courthouse on June 13, 2023.Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty at a federal courthouse in Miami on June 13, 2023, to 37 felony counts related to withholding – and refusing to return – classified government...

How the Unabomber's unique linguistic fingerprints led to his capture

Written by Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of Memphis

Ted Kaczynski was arrested after the longest and most expensive investigation in the FBI's history.Rich Pedroncelli/AFP via Getty Images

Can the language someone uses be as unique as their fingerprints?

As I describe in my forthcoming book, “Linguistic Fingerprints: How Language Creates and Reveals Identity,” that was true in the case of...

96.4% of Americans had COVID-19 antibodies in their blood by fall 2022

Written by Matt Hitchings, Assistant Professor of Biostatistics, University of Florida

Infection and vaccination both leave their mark in your blood.Yulia Reznikov/Moment via Getty Images

CC BY-ND

Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, were present in the blood of 96.4% of Americans over the age of 16 by September 2022. That’s according to a serosurvey – an analysis testing for the presence of these...