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The Conversation

Trump administration’s lie detector campaign against leakers is unlikely to succeed and could divert energy from national security priorities

  • Written by Brian O'Neill, Professor of Practice, International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology
imageThe Department of Homeland Security and FBI are reportedly using polygraphs aggressively to identify dissenters.standret/Getty Images

The Trump administration has recently directed that a new wave of polygraphs be administered across the executive branch, aimed at uncovering leaks to the press.

As someone who has taken roughly a dozen polygraphs...

Read more: Trump administration’s lie detector campaign against leakers is unlikely to succeed and could...

‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will have Americans paying higher prices for dirtier energy

  • Written by Daniel Cohan, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University
imageCongress passed Donald Trump's tax and spending bill on July 3, 2025.Kevin Carter/Getty Images

When congressional Republicans decided to cut some Biden-era energy subsidies to help fund their One Big Beautiful Bill Act, they could have pruned wasteful subsidies while sparing the rest. Instead, they did the reverse. Americans will pay the price with...

Read more: ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will have Americans paying higher prices for dirtier energy

Exploring questions of meaning, ethics and belief through Japanese anime

  • Written by Ronald S. Green, Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Coastal Carolina University
imageA still from the Japanese anime 'Spirited Away.'Choo Yut Shing via Flickr, CC BY

Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.

Title of course:

Anime and Religious Identity: Cultural Aesthetics in Japanese Spiritual Worlds

What prompted the idea for the course?

As a scholar who...

Read more: Exploring questions of meaning, ethics and belief through Japanese anime

How the Catholic Church helped change the conversation about capital punishment in the United States

  • Written by Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College
imageHelen Prejean has been one of the most high-profile opponents of the death penalty for decades.Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty Images

Thirty years ago, the film “Dead Man Walking” had its debut in movie theaters around the United States. It was a box office hit, and critics lavished it with praise. Lead actress Susan Sarandon won an...

Read more: How the Catholic Church helped change the conversation about capital punishment in the United States

How Philadelphia’s current sanitation strike differs from past labor disputes in the city

  • Written by Francis Ryan, Associate Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University
imageCurbside trash collection has been on pause in Philadelphia since July 1, 2025.AP Photo/Matt Slocum

As the Philadelphia municipal worker strike enters its second week, so-called “Parker piles” – large collections of garbage that some residents blame on Mayor Cherelle Parker – continue to build up in neighborhoods across the...

Read more: How Philadelphia’s current sanitation strike differs from past labor disputes in the city

How Philadelphia’s sanitation strike differed from past labor disputes in the city

  • Written by Francis Ryan, Associate Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University
imageTrash piled up in Philadelphia during the 8-day strike that ended July 9, 2025.AP Photo/Matt Slocum

The Philadelphia municipal workers strike ended after eight days in the early hours of July 9, 2025.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33 union’s 9,000 blue-collar workers, including sanitation...

Read more: How Philadelphia’s sanitation strike differed from past labor disputes in the city

Scientific norms shape the behavior of researchers working for the greater good

  • Written by Jeffrey A. Lee, Professor of Geography and the Environment, Texas Tech University
imageMentors model the ethical pursuit of scientific knowledge.sanjeri/E+ via Getty Images

Over the past 400 years or so, a set of mostly unwritten guidelines has evolved for how science should be properly done. The assumption in the research community is that science advances most effectively when scientists conduct themselves in certain ways.

The first...

Read more: Scientific norms shape the behavior of researchers working for the greater good

How slashing university research grants impacts Colorado’s economy and national innovation – a CU Boulder administrator explains

  • Written by Massimo Ruzzene, Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation, University of Colorado Boulder
imageFederal funding cuts to the University of Colorado Boulder have already impacted research and could cause even more harm. Glenn J. Asakawa/University of Colorado

The Trump administration has been freezing or reducing federal grants to universities across the country.

Over the past several months, universities have lost more than US$11 billion in...

Read more: How slashing university research grants impacts Colorado’s economy and national innovation – a CU...

3 basic ingredients, a million possibilities: How small pizzerias succeed with uniqueness in an age of chain restaurants

  • Written by Paula de la Cruz-Fernández, Cultural Digital Collections Manager, University of Florida
imageVariety is the sauce of life.Suzanne Kreiter/Boston Globe via Getty Images

At its heart, pizza is deceptively simple. Made from just a few humble ingredients – baked dough, tangy sauce, melted cheese and maybe a few toppings – it might seem like a perfect candidate for the kind of mass-produced standardization that defines many global...

Read more: 3 basic ingredients, a million possibilities: How small pizzerias succeed with uniqueness in an...

The aftermath of floods, hurricanes and other disasters can be hardest on older rural Americans – here’s how families and neighbors can help

  • Written by Lori Hunter, Professor of Sociology, Director of the Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder
imageEdith Schaecher, center, and her daughter and granddaughter look at a photo album recovered from her tornado-damaged home in Greenfield, Iowa, in May 2024.AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Hurricanes, tornadoes and other extreme weather do not distinguish between urban and rural boundaries. But when a disaster strikes, there are big differences in how...

Read more: The aftermath of floods, hurricanes and other disasters can be hardest on older rural Americans –...

More Articles ...

  1. What is the ‘Seven Mountains Mandate’ and how is it linked to political extremism in the US?
  2. President Trump’s tug-of-war with the courts, explained
  3. Your data privacy is slipping away – here’s why, and what you can do about it
  4. Higher ed’s relationship with marriage? It’s complicated – and depends on age
  5. Turbulent research landscape imperils US brain gain − and ultimately American prosperity
  6. Misinformation lends itself to social contagion – here’s how to recognize and combat it
  7. Social media can support or undermine democracy – it comes down to how it’s designed
  8. Nations are increasingly ‘playing the field’ when it comes to US and China – a new book explains explains why ‘active nonalignment’ is on the march
  9. Thailand’s judiciary is flexing its muscles, but away from PM’s plight, dozens of activists are at the mercy of capricious courts
  10. From Seattle to Atlanta, new social housing programs seek to make homes permanently affordable for a range of incomes
  11. Are people at the South Pole upside down?
  12. Rural hospitals will be hit hard by Trump’s signature spending package
  13. ‘Big’ legislative package shifts more of SNAP’s costs to states, saving federal dollars but causing fewer Americans to get help paying for food
  14. Why Texas Hill Country, where a devastating flood killed more than 120 people, is one of the deadliest places in the US for flash flooding
  15. Why Texas Hill Country, where a devastating flood killed dozens, is one of the deadliest places in the US for flash flooding
  16. Conservatives notch 2 victories in their fight to deny Planned Parenthood federal funding through Medicaid
  17. One ‘big, beautiful’ reason why Republicans in Congress just can’t quit Donald Trump
  18. Astronomers have discovered another puzzling interstellar object − this third one is big, bright and fast
  19. War, politics and religion shape wildlife evolution in cities
  20. Military force may have delayed Iran’s nuclear ambitions – but history shows that diplomacy is the more effective nonproliferation strategy
  21. Capitalism and democracy are weakening – reviving the idea of ‘calling’ can help to repair them
  22. What MAGA means to Americans
  23. From glass and steel to rare earth metals, new materials have changed society throughout history
  24. Philadelphians with mental illness want to work, pray, date and socialize just like everyone else – here’s how creating more inclusive communities is good for public health
  25. Speedballing – the deadly mix of stimulants and opioids – requires a new approach to prevention and treatment
  26. Employers are failing to insure the working class – Medicaid cuts would leave them even more vulnerable
  27. Employers are failing to insure the working class – Medicaid cuts will leave them even more vulnerable
  28. Parents who oppose sex education in schools often don’t discuss it at home
  29. Hurricane forecasters are losing 3 key satellites ahead of peak storm season − a meteorologist explains why it matters
  30. The Supreme Court upholds free preventive care, but its future now rests in RFK Jr.’s hands
  31. What damage did the US do to Iran’s nuclear program? Why it’s so hard to know
  32. The rule of law is key to capitalism − eroding it is bad news for American business
  33. Legal wrangling over estate of Jimmy Buffett turns his widow’s huge inheritance into a cautionary tale
  34. AI is advancing even faster than sci-fi visionaries like Neal Stephenson imagined
  35. Despite claims they’d move overseas after the election, most Americans are staying put
  36. Philadelphia’s $2B affordable housing plan relies heavily on municipal bonds, which can come with hidden costs for taxpayers
  37. Humans and animals can both think logically − but testing what kind of logic they’re using is tricky
  38. Mexican flags flown during immigration protests bother white people a lot more than other Americans
  39. Keeping brain-dead pregnant women on life support raises ethical issues that go beyond abortion politics
  40. In LGBTQ+ storybook case, Supreme Court handed a win to parental rights, raising tough questions for educators
  41. Pop, soda or coke? The fizzy history behind America’s favorite linguistic debate
  42. The hidden cost of convenience: How your data pulls in hundreds of billions of dollars for app and social media companies
  43. Why the US bombed a bunch of metal tubes − a nuclear engineer explains the importance of centrifuges to Iranian efforts to build nuclear weapons
  44. Bill Moyers’ journalism strengthened democracy by connecting Americans to ideas and each other, in a long and extraordinary career
  45. Invasive carp threaten the Great Lakes − and reveal a surprising twist in national politics
  46. 1 in 4 Americans reject evolution, a century after the Scopes monkey trial spotlighted the clash between science and religion
  47. Who’s the most American? Psychological studies show that many people are biased and think it’s a white English speaker
  48. Here’s a way to save lives, curb traffic jams and make commutes faster and easier − ban left turns at intersections
  49. Why the traditional college major may be holding students back in a rapidly changing job market
  50. What’s at risk for Arctic wildlife if Trump expands oil drilling in the fragile National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska