The Conversation

Can AI think – and should it? What it means to think, from Plato to ChatGPT

Written by Ryan Leack, Assistant Professor of Writing, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Ancient Greek concepts about intelligence can shed light on 21st-century tech they never knew.agsandrew/iStock via Getty Images Plus

In my writing and rhetoric courses, students have plenty of opinions on whether AI is intelligent: how well it can assess, analyze, evaluate and communicate information.

When I ask whether artificial intelligence can...

Idi Amin made himself out to be the ‘liberator’ of an oppressed majority – a demagogic trick that endures today

Written by Derek R. Peterson, Ali Mazrui Professor of History & African Studies, University of Michigan

Idi Amin addresses the United Nations General Assembly in 1975.Bettmann/Getty Images

Fifty years ago, Ugandan President Idi Amin wrote to the governments of the British Commonwealth with a bold suggestion: Allow him to take over as head of the organization, replacing Queen Elizabeth II.

After all, Amin reasoned, a collapsing economy had made the...

Clawback of $1.1B for PBS and NPR puts rural stations at risk – and threatens a vital source of journalism

Written by Allison Perlman, Associate Professor of Film & Media Studies, University of California, Irvine

Nathan Heffel and Grace Hood rehearse their Colorado Public Radio public affairs program in Centennial, Colo., in 2017. Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images

The U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives approved by narrow margins on July 17 and 18, 2025, a law that claws back federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting....

Why male corporate leaders and billionaires may need financial therapy more than anyone

Written by Prince Sarpong, Associate professor, University of the Free State

Corporate leaders and billionaires are often viewed as visionaries and wealth creators. But beneath the surface, many are trapped in an invisible financial “crisis” – one rooted not in market volatility or poor investments but in their psychological relationship with money.

As a finance professor and editor of the forthcoming book...

Poll finds bipartisan agreement on a key issue: Regulating AI

Written by Adam Eichen, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, UMass Amherst

Are concerns about AI a bridge across the polarization divide?ZargonDesign/iStock via Getty Images

In the run-up to the vote in the U.S. Senate on President Donald Trump’s spending and tax bill, Republicans scrambled to revise the bill to win support of wavering GOP senators. A provision included in the original bill was a 10-year moratorium...

When grief involves trauma − a social worker explains how to support survivors of the recent floods and other devastating losses

Written by Liza Barros-Lane, Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of Houston-Downtown

Rain falls over a makeshift memorial for flood victims along the Guadalupe River on July 13, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas.AP Photo/Eric Gay

The July 4, 2025, floods in Kerr County, Texas, swept away children and entire families, leaving horror in their wake. Days later, flash floods struck Ruidoso, New Mexico, killing three people, including two young...

Supreme Court news coverage has talked a lot more about politics ever since the 2016 death of Scalia and GOP blocking of Obama’s proposed nominee

Written by Joshua Boston, Associate Professor of Political Science, Bowling Green State University

Reporters used to treat the Supreme Court as a nonpolitical institution, but not anymore.Tetra Images/Getty

The U.S. Supreme Court has always ruled on politically controversial issues. From elections to civil rights, from abortion to free speech, the justices frequently weigh in on the country’s most debated problems.

And because of the...

Children living near oil and gas wells face higher risk of rare leukemia, studies show

Written by Lisa McKenzie, Associate Professor of Health, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

The U.S. has nearly 1 million oil and natural gas wells. Some, like the one here in Commerce City, Colo., are within a few thousand feet of schools and neighborhoods. RJ Sangosti/Getty Images

Acute lymphocytic leukemia is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in children, although it is rare. It begins in the bone marrow and rapidly...

Research replication can determine how well science is working – but how do scientists replicate studies?

Written by Amanda Kay Montoya, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles

Some research teams work on replicating prior studies to assess the value of a body of work. AzmanL/E+ via Getty Images

Back in high school chemistry, I remember waiting with my bench partner for crystals to form on our stick in the cup of blue solution. Other groups around us jumped with joy when their crystals formed, but my group just waited....

Philly’s City Council turned down a new rental inspection program − studies show that might harm tenants’ health

Written by Gabriel L. Schwartz, Assistant Professor of Health Management and Policy, Drexel University

Tenants who complain to landlords about housing conditions can risk eviction.Photo Jeff Fusco/The Conversation U.S., CC BY-NC-ND

As Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s US$2 billion housing plan moves forward, heated debates continue about another set of municipal housing proposals that could transform Philadelphia tenants’ rights.

In...