The Conversation

Battleground state with few combatants – why Pennsylvania’s primaries lack competition

Written by Kristin Kanthak, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania is only 1 of 13 American states that holds closed primary elections.REBECCA DROKE/AFP Collection via Getty Images

At a time when hard-fought primary elections in Georgia, Kentucky and Indiana and Ohio are making national news, perennial battleground Pennsylvania seems to be nodding through one of the sleepiest primary seasons in a long...

Hurricane forecasts have improved dramatically, saving lives, but federal cuts threaten to stretch NOAA to the breaking point

Written by Brian Tang, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University at Albany, State University of New York

One of NOAA's WP-3D Orion hurricane hunters, dubbed Miss Piggy, flies over Tropical Storm Idalia on Aug. 28, 2023.Nick Underwood/NOAA

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1, and while a developing El Niño might result in a tamer season than in the past few years, all it takes is one big storm hitting a populated area to make it a...

Antonia Bembo fled Venice to escape her abusive husband – over three centuries later, her opera finally takes the stage

Written by Claire Fontijn, Professor of Music, Wellesley College

After fleeing Venice, Antonia Bembo lived near the newly constructed Porte Saint-Denis, a triumphal arch in Paris that's depicted in this 19th-century painting by Jean Francois Lebelle.Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images

The Paris Opera has staged iconic works like “Don Carlos” and “Les Troyens,” along with...

Dark patterns on the web are designed to manipulate you – why aren’t they all illegal?

Written by Gregory M. Dickinson, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Institute for Humane Studies

Website designs that try to change your behavior cross a line when they outright deceive.Fizkes/iStock via Getty Images

You open a free app to do one simple thing. Before you even start, a full-screen message asks whether you want to try the paid version. The “Start free trial” button is large, bright and hard to miss. The option to...

What are those orange balls on some power lines?

Written by Rui Bo, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology

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.

What are those orange balls on some power lines? – Maggie, age 8, West Chester, Pennsylvania

Have you ever looked up while driving on a highway and spotted those big orange balls hanging...

Flavored vapes led to a major shake-up at the FDA – 3 health policy analysts explain the science behind the controversial products

Written by Claire L. Ma, Postdoctoral Research Fellow of Public Health, University of Michigan

There are currently 45 approved vaping products in the U.S. Most are tobacco- or menthol-flavored; only two are fruit-flavored.Roman Mykhalchuk/iStock via Getty Images Plus

The resignation of Marty Makary, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on May 12, 2026, brought to the forefront a heated controversy over fruit-flavored...

Uncovering coded antisemitism online takes both human expertise and AI automation

Written by Wendy Melillo, Associate Professor of Journalism, American University School of Communication

The volume of social media posts makes content moderation challenging – especially when it comes to more subtle hate speech.Peter Dazeley/The Image Bank via Getty Images

This article includes examples of antisemitic hate speech.

The men accused of carrying out high-profile antisemitic attacks in the United States in recent years shared an...

A newly rediscovered moth species in Florida may already be at risk

Written by Ryan St Laurent, Assistant Professor of Biology, University of Colorado Boulder

For decades, the Florida sack-bearer moth was hiding in plain sight among collections of other sack-bearer moths around the U.S.Ryan St Laurent

To the untrained eye, the Florida scrub ecosystem isn’t much to look at. Scattered in patches around coastal and inland Florida, the scrub landscape is dominated by shrubs and short oaks, all growing...

Companies are hyping AI the same way they talked up sustainability, but there are ways to fix that

Written by Suvrat Dhanorkar, Associate Professor of Operations Management, Georgia Institute of Technology

The struggling footwear company Allbirds, which announced in April 2026 that it was rebranding into an AI company, may be one of the most recent notable examples of 'AI washing.'Business Wire

Across corporate earnings calls, investor presentations and marketing pitches, “artificial intelligence” has become the buzzword of choice. Yet a...

Trump’s Cabinet dramatically changed American foreign policy while the president made noise – a scholar of presidential rhetoric explains

Written by Kevin Maloney, PhD student, Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University

President Trump often stops to speak off the cuff with the press.Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images

The first half of 2026 has been a chaotic time for U.S. foreign policy: new tariffs, threats to annex Greenland, the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the struggle for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

As a researcher focused...