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Could fungi actually cause a zombie apocalypse?

  • Written by Matt Kasson, Associate Professor of Mycology and Plant Pathology, West Virginia University
imageA zombie cicada fungus, _Massospora cicadina_, has consumed the rear end of this periodical cicada, replacing it with a 'plug' of chalky spores.Matt Kasson, CC BY-NDimage

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.

Is a zombie apocalypse...

Read more: Could fungi actually cause a zombie apocalypse?

Some people love to scare themselves in an already scary world − here’s the psychology of why

  • Written by Sarah Kollat, Teaching Professor of Psychology, Penn State
imageA controlled scary experience can leave you exhilarated and relaxed afterward.gremlin/E+ via Getty Images

Fall for me as a teenager meant football games, homecoming dresses – and haunted houses. My friends organized group trips to the local fairground, where barn sheds were turned into halls of horror, and masked men nipped at our ankles with...

Read more: Some people love to scare themselves in an already scary world − here’s the psychology of why

During the American Revolution, Brits weren’t just facing off against white Protestant Christians − US patriots are diverse and have been since Day 1

  • Written by Adam Jortner, Goodwin Philpott Eminent Professor of Religion, Auburn University
imageA detail from the Washington Monument in Philadelphia, sculpted by Rudolf Siemering.PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

In 1770, Barnard Gratz of Philadelphia wrote to a friend complaining about a recent speech by King George III. Gratz, an American patriot, wrote that the speech “was such narishkeit” that it was “not...

Read more: During the American Revolution, Brits weren’t just facing off against white Protestant Christians...

Hemingway, after the hurricane

  • Written by Verna Kale, Associate Editor, The Letters of Ernest Hemingway and Associate Research Professor of English, Penn State
imageRescue workers search debris for victims of the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, a Category 5 storm that devastated parts of the Florida Keys.Bettman/Getty Images

The 2024 hurricane season has been especially disastrous, and the casualties and widespread damage from flooding and high winds in towns like Cedar Key, Florida, call to mind another historic...

Read more: Hemingway, after the hurricane

What the history of blasphemy laws in the US and the fight for religious freedom can teach us today

  • Written by Kristina M. Lee, Assistant Professor, University of South Dakota
imageU.S. blasphemy laws reflect a complex fight for the freedom of religion and speechGetty Images

Some 79 countries around the world continue to enforce blasphemy laws. And in places such as Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, violation of these measures can result in a death penalty.

While the U.S. is not among those...

Read more: What the history of blasphemy laws in the US and the fight for religious freedom can teach us today

AI, cryptocurrencies and data privacy: Comparing the Trump and Harris records on technology regulation

  • Written by Anjana Susarla, Professor of Information Systems, Michigan State University
imageThe Federal Trade Commission is one of the main venues for government regulation of big tech and its wares. Alpha Photo/Flickr, CC BY-NC

It’s not surprising that technology regulation is an important issue in the 2024 U.S. presidential campaign.

The past decade has seen advanced technologies, from social media algorithms to large language...

Read more: AI, cryptocurrencies and data privacy: Comparing the Trump and Harris records on technology...

To make nuclear fusion a reliable energy source one day, scientists will first need to design heat- and radiation-resilient materials

  • Written by Sophie Blondel, Research Assistant Professor of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee
imageA fusion experiment ran so hot that the wall materials facing the plasma retained defects.Christophe Roux/CEA IRFM, CC BY

Fusion energy has the potential to be an effective clean energy source, as its reactions generate incredibly large amounts of energy. Fusion reactors aim to reproduce on Earth what happens in the core of the Sun, where very...

Read more: To make nuclear fusion a reliable energy source one day, scientists will first need to design...

MicroRNA − a new Nobel laureate describes the scientific process of discovering these tiny molecules that turn genes on and off

  • Written by Victor Ambros, Professor of Molecular Medicine, UMass Chan Medical School
imageA microRNA molecule is a tiny regulator of other genetic material.Artur Plawgo/iStock via Getty Images Plus

The 2024 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine goes to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA, tiny biological molecules that tell the cells in your body what kind of cell to be by turning on and off certain genes.

The...

Read more: MicroRNA − a new Nobel laureate describes the scientific process of discovering these tiny...

Microplastic pollution is everywhere, even in the exhaled breath of dolphins – new research

  • Written by Leslie Hart, Associate Professor of Public Health, College of Charleston
imageMicroplastics are invisible but omnipresent.Musat/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Bottlenose dolphins in Sarasota Bay in Florida and Barataria Bay in Louisiana are exhaling microplastic fibers, according to our new research published in the journal PLOS One.

Tiny plastic pieces have spread all over the planet – on land, in the air and even in...

Read more: Microplastic pollution is everywhere, even in the exhaled breath of dolphins – new research

Aquaculture could harm animal welfare or protect it, depending on what species the farms raise

  • Written by Becca Franks, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, New York University
imageRaising salmon in a tank at an aquaculture farm in Dubai.Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images

The global aquaculture industry has tripled in size since the year 2000, with producers raising a mind-boggling diversity of species, from seaweeds and clams to carp, salmon and cuttlefish. Many of these creatures are undomesticated and lead complex and...

Read more: Aquaculture could harm animal welfare or protect it, depending on what species the farms raise

More Articles ...

  1. Black Myth: Wukong – how China’s gaming revolution is fueling its tech power
  2. Bouncing between war-torn countries: Displacement in Lebanon and Syria highlights cyclical nature of cross-border refuge
  3. What is Chabad-Lubavitch? A Jewish studies scholar explains
  4. Overseas US voters get ignored by political campaigns − but could be crucial supporters
  5. Philly hospitals test new strategy for ‘tranq dope’ withdrawal – and it keeps patients from walking out before their treatment is done
  6. How to be a boss at giving performance reviews
  7. Coastal cities have a hidden vulnerability to storm-surge and tidal flooding − entirely caused by humans
  8. What is Temporary Protected Status? A global migration expert explains why the US offers some foreign nationals temporary protection
  9. 4 ways AI can be used and abused in the 2024 election, from deepfakes to foreign interference
  10. Presidential elections provide opportunities to teach about power, proportions and percentages
  11. Socially distanced layout of the world’s oldest cities helped early civilization evade diseases
  12. Color complexity in social media posts leads to more engagement, new research shows
  13. On crime and justice, Trump and Harris records differ widely
  14. ‘Childless cat ladies’ is a political catchphrase that doesn’t match reality − Democrats and Republicans have similar demographics and experiences when it comes to parenthood
  15. People displaced by hurricanes face anxiety and a long road to recovery, US census surveys show − smarter, targeted policies could help
  16. How dogs were implicated during the Salem witch trials
  17. This course explores the history of contested presidential elections
  18. Candidate experience matters in elections, but not the way you think
  19. Farms to fame: How China’s rural influencers are redefining country life
  20. Rain may have helped form the first cells, kick-starting life as we know it
  21. Why FEMA’s disaster relief gets political − especially when hurricane season and election season collide
  22. A devastating hurricane doesn’t dramatically change how people vote – but in a close election, it can matter
  23. What is a communist, and what do communists believe?
  24. No country still uses an electoral college − except the US
  25. Godzilla at 70: The monster’s warning to humanity is still urgent
  26. What does Springfield, Illinois, in 1908 tell us about Springfield, Ohio, in 2024?
  27. From Swift to Springsteen to Al Jolson, candidates keep trying to use celebrities to change voters’ songs
  28. Trump’s musical interlude is a twist on the long tradition of candidates enlisting musicians’ support, from Al Jolson to Springsteen to Swift
  29. As OpenAI attracts billions in new investment, its goal of balancing profit with purpose is getting more challenging to pull off
  30. Scientists around the world report millions of new discoveries every year − but this explosive research growth wasn’t what experts predicted
  31. Atmospheric rivers are shifting poleward, reshaping global weather patterns
  32. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is a Halloween visitor from the spooky Oort Cloud − the invisible bubble that’s home to countless space objects
  33. Vatican synod is opening the door a bit wider for Catholic women − but they’ve been knocking for more than 100 years
  34. Happiness class is helping clinically depressed school teachers become emotionally healthy − with a cheery assist from Aristotle
  35. Swing-state GOP leaders amplified election denial in 2020 − and may do so again
  36. San Francisco is suing the EPA over how specific water pollution permits should be
  37. Millions of people across the US use well water, but very few test it often enough to make sure it’s safe
  38. If you think grocery prices take a big bite out of your paycheck in the US, check out the rest of the world
  39. Evacuating in disasters like Hurricane Milton isn’t simple – there are reasons people stay in harm’s way, and it’s not just stubbornness
  40. Evacuating in disasters like Hurricane Milton isn’t simple – there are reasons people stay in harm’s way
  41. US inflation rate fell to 2.4% in September − here’s what that means for interest rates and markets
  42. Is childproofing the internet constitutional? A tech law expert draws out the issues
  43. Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage: sales pitches are often from biased sources, the choices can be overwhelming and impartial help is not equally available to all
  44. Charging, not range, is becoming a top concern for electric car drivers
  45. LGBTQ rights: Where do Harris and Trump stand?
  46. Why Trump accuses people of wrongdoing he himself committed − an explanation of projection
  47. Caitlin Clark, Christine Brennan and how racial stereotypes persist in the media’s WNBA coverage
  48. A realistic statue of Mary giving birth was criticized, then vandalized − but saints and artists have often reimagined Christ’s birth
  49. ‘Cajun Navy’ volunteers who participate in search-and-rescue operations after hurricanes are forming long-lasting organizations
  50. Machine learning cracked the protein-folding problem and won the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry