The Conversation

New chancellor, old constraints: Germany’s Friedrich Merz will have a hard time freeing the country from its self-imposed shackles

Written by Mark I. Vail, Worrell Chair of Politics and International Affairs, Wake Forest University

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has had an uncertain start to his tenure.John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images

Friedrich Merz received a rude shock on the morning of May 6, 2025, as he prepared to lose the “in-waiting” qualifier from his title as German chancellor.

After weeks of negotiations following February’s federal election,...

Trump’s vision for Air Force One will turn it from the ‘Flying White House’ to a ‘palace in the sky’

Written by Janet Bednarek, Professor of History, University of Dayton

Former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy helped design Air Force One's color scheme, which has been used since her husband's presidency.Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images

Since President Donald Trump excitedly announced that he would be accepting a US$400 million plane from the Qatari government to serve as the next Air Force One, even members of his own...

‘Manu jumping’: The physics behind making humongous splashes in the pool

Written by Pankaj Rohilla, Postdoctoral Fellow in Fluid Dynamics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Maybe you've unknowingly tried to do a manu jump.Isabel Pavia/Moment via Getty Images

Whether diving off docks, cannonballing into lakes or leaping off the high board, there’s nothing quite like the joy of jumping into water.

Olympic divers turned this natural act into a sophisticated science, with the goal of making a splash as small as...

Trump’s battle with elite universities overlooks where most students actually go to college

Written by Amy Li, Associate Professor of Higher Education, Florida International University

There are nearly 20 million undergraduate college students in the United States.Anadolu/Getty Images

Headlines often mention the ongoing power struggle between President Donald Trump’s administration and private colleges such as Columbia University and Harvard University.

But such elite universities educate only a small portion of...

Governments continue losing efforts to gain backdoor access to secure communications

Written by Richard Forno, Teaching Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, and Assistant Director, UMBC Cybersecurity Institute, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Signal is the poster child for strong encryption apps.AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato

Reports that prominent American national security officials used a freely available encrypted messaging app, coupled with the rise of authoritarian policies around the world, have led to a surge in interest in encrypted apps like Signal and WhatsApp. These apps prevent...

Placenta bandages have far more health benefits than risky placenta pills − a bioengineer explains

Written by Marley Dewey, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, University of California, Santa Barbara

With some bioengineering, placentas can be recycled for various medical treatments.mikroman6/Moment via Getty Images

Eating a placenta may not give you the health benefits some people want you to believe it has, but using it as a bandage might.

The placenta is an organ created during pregnancy that provides nutrients to a growing fetus through an...

Birthright citizenship case at Supreme Court reveals deeper questions about judicial authority to halt unlawful policies

Written by Cassandra Burke Robertson, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Professional Ethics, Case Western Reserve University

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether a single federal judge should have the power to temporarily halt presidential policies across the entire country.Rudy Sulgan, The Image Bank/Getty Images

When one judge blocks a president’s policies nationwide, alarm bells ring. Should a single judge wield this much power? Can they halt policies...

Disarming Hezbollah is key to Lebanon’s recovery − but task is complicated by regional shifts, ceasefire violations

Written by Mireille Rebeiz, Chair of Middle East Studies and Associate Professor of Francophone and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dickinson College

Slain Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah looms large in Lebanon.Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images

Within a span of two weeks from late April to early May 2025, Israel launched two aerial attacks ostensibly targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon: The first, on April 27, struck a building in Beirut’s southern suburbs; the second, an assault in...

Disarming Hezbollah is key to Lebanon’s recovery − but the task is complicated by regional shifts, ceasefire violations

Written by Mireille Rebeiz, Chair of Middle East Studies and Associate Professor of Francophone and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Dickinson College

Slain Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah looms large in Lebanon.Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images

Unprecedented cuts to the National Science Foundation endanger research that improves economic growth, national security and your life

Written by Paul Bierman, Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Vermont

The National Science Foundation funds America's next great innovations, including space-related research.Heritage Space/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Look closely at your mobile phone or tablet. Touch-screen technology, speech recognition, digital sound recording and the internet were all developed using funding from the U.S. National Science...