The Conversation

How mountain terraces have helped Indigenous peoples live with climate uncertainty

Written by Stephen Acabado, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles

Farmers during harvest season in Batad, Ifugao, Philippines.Paul Connor and the Ifugao Archaeological Project, CC BY

Indigenous communities have lived with changes to the climate for centuries. Their adaptations over those many years are based on their close observation of weather, water, soils and seasonal change, and they have been refined...

Supreme Court likely to reject limits on concealed carry but uphold bans on gun possession by drug users

Written by Morgan Marietta, Professor of American Civics, University of Tennessee

The Supreme Court recognizes an individual right to self-defense with firearms in public spaces.wildpixel/Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court in early 2026 will hear oral arguments in two cases testing the limits of gun rights under the Constitution.

Can a state outlaw carrying a concealed weapon in businesses or restaurants unless the owners post...

New Year’s resolutions usually fall by the wayside, but there is a better approach to making real changes

Written by Michele Patterson Ford, Lecturer in Psychology, Dickinson College

Resolutions often rely on willpower to push through or follow through, but research shows they usually don't work. Guillermo Spelucin Runciman/iStock via Getty Images

How are your New Year’s resolutions going? If you’ve given up on them, you’re not alone.

Every January, people across the world seek a fresh start and set goals for...

Before Venezuela’s oil, there were Guatemala’s bananas

Written by Aaron Coy Moulton, Associate Professor of Latin American History, Stephen F. Austin State University

A woman walks past a banner that says 'against foreign intervention,' in Spanish, in Guatemala in 1954.Bettmann/Getty Images

In the aftermath of the U.S. military strike that seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, 2026, the Trump administration has emphasized its desire for unfettered access to Venezuela’s oil more than...

Searching reporters’ homes, suing journalists and repressing citizen dissent are well-known steps toward autocracy

Written by Konstantin Zhukov, Assistant Professor of Economics, Indiana University; Institute for Humane Studies

Neither of these men -- US President Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin -- likes being held accountable by the press.Contributor/Getty Images

The FBI search of a Washington Post reporter’s home on Jan. 14, 2026, was a rare and intimidating move by an administration focused on repressing criticism and dissent.

In its story...

Climate engineering would alter the oceans, reshaping marine life – our new study examines each method’s risks

Written by Kelsey Roberts, Post-Doctoral Scholar in Marine Ecology, Cornell University; UMass Dartmouth

Phytoplankton blooms, seen by satellite in the Baltic Sea, pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.European Space Agency via Flickr, CC BY-SA

Climate change is already fueling dangerous heat waves, raising sea levels and transforming the oceans. Even if countries meet their pledges to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate...

Reddit and TikTok - with the help of AI - are reshaping how researchers understand substance use

Written by Layla Bouzoubaa, Doctoral Student in Information Science, Drexel University

Only a small percentage of people with substance use disorder seek treatment, but millions of people discuss their experiences with drugs in online communities. vladans/iStock via Getty Images

When you think of tools for studying substance use and addiction, a social media site like Reddit, TikTok or YouTube probably isn’t the first thing...

Broncos say their new stadium will be ‘privately financed,’ but ‘private’ often still means hundreds of millions in public resources

Written by Geoffrey Propheter, Associate Professor, School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado Denver

In September 2025, the Denver Broncos announced their plan to build a new, privately financed stadium.Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

The Denver Broncos announced in early September 2025 their plan to build a privately financed football stadium. The proposal received a lot of attention and praise.

Across the five major sports leagues in the U.S....

For some Jewish women, ‘passing’ as Christian during the Holocaust could mean survival – but left scars all the same

Written by Hana Green, Postdoctoral Fellow in Holocaust Studies, Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies, College of Charleston

A 1943 post office identification card for Annelies Herz, a German Jewish woman who managed to survive by posing as a Christian woman with the last name 'Stein.'From the Collection of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Gift of Annelies and Helmut Herz, 393.89.

Travel case in hand, dressed in fashionable...

There’s an intensifying kind of threat to academic freedom – watchful students serving as informants

Written by Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College

Approximately 58% of faculty interviewed in a national survey in 2024 reported self-censoring. PM Images/iStock/Getty Images

Texas A&M University told philosophy professor Martin Peterson in early January 2026 that he could not teach some of Greek philosopher Plato’s writings that touch on “race and gender ideology.”

The...