The Conversation

Why the meteorites that hit Earth have less water than the asteroid bits brought back by space probes – a planetary scientist explains new research

Written by Patrick M. Shober, Postdoctoral Fellow in Planetary Sciences, NASA

This image overlays over 100 fireball images recorded between 2016 and 2020. The streaks are fireballs; the dots are star positions at different times.Desert Fireball Network

Much of what scientists know about the early solar system comes from meteorites – ancient rocks that travel through space and survive a fiery plunge through...

Cambodia’s haunted present: 50 years after Khmer Rouge’s rise, murderous legacy looms large

Written by Sophal Ear, Associate Professor in the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University

Khmer Rouge forces collect weapons left behind by retreating soldiers as they enter Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975.Roland Neveu/LightRocket via Getty Images

On April 17, 1975, tanks rolled into the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, to cheering crowds who believed that the country’s long civil war might finally be over.

But what followed was one of...

Social Security’s trust fund could run out of money sooner than expected due to changes in taxes and benefits

Written by Dennis W. Jansen, Professor of Economics and Director of the Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University

A closed entrance to the Social Security Administration headquarters sits empty in Woodlawn, Md., on March 20, 2025. Wesley Lapointe/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Social Security is one of the federal government’s biggest programs.

Roughly 67 million Americans, most of whom are 65 or older, received Social Security benefits in 2023. An...

401(k) plans and stock market volatility: What you need to know

Written by Dr. Ronald Premuroso, Accounting Instructor, Western Governors University School of Business

It's been a wild ride.iStock/Getty Images Plus

With stock market charts resembling the contours of a roller-coaster ride in recent days, many Americans could be forgiven for eyeing their 401(k)s with a little concern.

Retirement savings are crucial to the financial well-being of millions of especially older people in the U.S., so the concern is...

Perceived consensus drives moral intolerance in a time of identity-driven politics and online bubbles

Written by Jen Cole Wright, Professor of Psychology, College of Charleston

Differences of opinion within your group signal for you to be tolerant around that issue.OsakaWayne Studios/Moment via Getty Images

To live together in social communities, people create and maintain expectations about what is normal and what is not. Sometimes things can fall outside the range of normal and people are OK with it. You might have a...

Getting AIs working toward human goals − study shows how to measure misalignment

Written by Aidan Kierans, Ph.D. Student in Computer Science and Engineering, University of Connecticut

Self-driving cars are only one example where it's tricky but critical to align AI and human goals.AP Photo/Michael Liedtke

Ideally, artificial intelligence agents aim to help humans, but what does that mean when humans want conflicting things? My colleagues and I have come up with a way to measure the alignment of the goals of a group of humans and...

Same-sex marriage is under attack by state lawmakers, emboldened by Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ measures and the Supreme Court’s willingness to overturn precedent

Written by Paul M. Collins Jr., Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science, UMass Amherst

Jeff Sralla, left, and his partner of 28 years, Gerald Gafford, wed in 2015 in Texas.AP Photo/Eric Gay

Same-sex marriage, which the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 legalized nationwide in the case known as Obergefell v. Hodges, is facing resurgent hostility.

In the decade since the court’s decision, public support for same-sex marriage has increase...

Are twins allergic to the same things?

Written by Breanne Hayes Haney, Allergy and Immunology Fellow-in-Training, School of Medicine, West Virginia University

If one has a reaction to a new food, is the other more likely to as well?BjelicaS/iStock via Getty Images Plus

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 twins allergic to the same things? – Ella, age 7, Philadelphia

Allergies,...

How and where is nuclear waste stored in the US?

Written by Gerald Frankel, Distinguished Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University

A Southern California Edison employee measures radiation at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station on March 10, 2020.Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images

Around the U.S., about 90,000 tons of nuclear waste is stored at over 100 sites in 39 states, in a range of different structures and containers.

For decades,...

ICE has broad power to detain and arrest noncitizens – but is still bound by constitutional limits

Written by Rose Cuison-Villazor, Professor of Law and Chancellor's Social Justice Scholar, Rutgers University - Newark

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers restrain a detained person on Jan. 27, 2025, in Silver Spring, Md.Associated Press

News reports of noncitizens unexpectedly being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, have dominated headlines in recent weeks. Those being detained include noncitizens who hold lawful permanent...