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Federal laws don’t ban rollbacks of environmental protection, but they don’t make it easy

  • Written by Stan Meiburg, Executive Director, Sabin Center for Environment and Sustainability, Wake Forest University
imageEPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has announced plans to review or reverse dozens of environmental protection regulations.Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin have announced their intent to reconsider dozens of current regulations in an effort to loosen standards originally...

Read more: Federal laws don’t ban rollbacks of environmental protection, but they don’t make it easy

Why don’t humans have hair all over their bodies? A biologist explains our lack of fur

  • Written by Maria Chikina, Assistant Professor of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh
imageSome mammals are super hairy, some are not.Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

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.

Why don’t humans have hair all over their bodies like other animals? – Murilo, age 5, Brazil

Have you ever...

Read more: Why don’t humans have hair all over their bodies? A biologist explains our lack of fur

Endowments aren’t blank checks – but universities can rely on them more heavily in turbulent times

  • Written by Ellen P. Aprill, Senior Scholar in Residence at the UCLA Law School's Lowell Milken Center For Philanthropy And Nonprofit Law, University of California, Los Angeles

The Trump administration is demanding that at least 60 U.S. colleges and universities change their policies or lose out on billions of dollars in federal funding.

In Harvard University’s case, the government has accused the Ivy league school – so far without providing any specific evidence – of violating some students’ civil...

Read more: Endowments aren’t blank checks – but universities can rely on them more heavily in turbulent times

Exposure to perceptible temperature rise increases concern about climate change, higher education adds to understanding

  • Written by R. Alexander Bentley, Professor of Anthropology, University of Tennessee
imageHigher education can train students to carefully consider the evidence around them.Adam Crowley/Tetra Images/Getty images

Years ago, after taking an Earth science class, I found myself looking at the world differently. It was the 1990s, and lakes in Wisconsin where I lived at the time were beginning to freeze later in winter and thaw earlier in...

Read more: Exposure to perceptible temperature rise increases concern about climate change, higher education...

What will happen at the funeral of Pope Francis

  • Written by Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
imageA side altar with reliquary at the St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome. Pope Francis has chosen to be buried in that basilica.Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images

The 88-year-old pontiff had been well aware of his fragile state and advanced age. As early as 2015, Pope Francis had expressed the desire to be buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria...

Read more: What will happen at the funeral of Pope Francis

How the next pope will be elected – what goes on at the conclave

  • Written by Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
imageCardinals attend Mass at St. Peter's Basilica, before they enter the conclave to decide who the next pope will be, on March 12, 2013, in Vatican City.Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Image

With the death of Pope Francis, attention now turns to the selection of his successor. The next pope will be chosen in what is called a “conclave,” a...

Read more: How the next pope will be elected – what goes on at the conclave

Scientists found a potential sign of life on a distant planet – an astronomer explains why many are still skeptical

  • Written by Daniel Apai, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona
imageAn illustration of the exoplanet K2-18b, which some research suggests may be covered by deep oceans. NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)

A team of astronomers announced on April 16, 2025, that in the process of studying a planet around another star, they had found evidence for an unexpected atmospheric gas. On Earth, that gas – called...

Read more: Scientists found a potential sign of life on a distant planet – an astronomer explains why many...

‘I never issued a criminal contempt citation in 19 ½ years on the bench’ – a former federal judge looks at the ‘relentless bad behavior’ of the Trump administration in court

  • Written by John E. Jones III, President, Dickinson College
image'You just didn't mess around with federal judges,' says a former federal judge. 'It was a good way to get your head handed to you.'sesame, DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images

Legal battles between the Trump administration and advocates for deportees flown to prison in El Salvador have turned into conflicts between the government and the judges overse...

Read more: ‘I never issued a criminal contempt citation in 19 ½ years on the bench’ – a former federal judge...

As views on spanking shift worldwide, most US adults support it, and 19 states allow physical punishment in schools

  • Written by Christina Erickson, Associate Dean in the College of Nursing and Professional Disciplines, University of North Dakota
imageSpanking in the U.S. generally ends around age 12, when children become big enough to resist or fight back. Sandro Di Carlo Darsa/Brand X Pictures via Getty Images

Nearly a half-century after the Supreme Court ruled that school spankings are permissible and not “cruel and unusual punishment”, many U.S. states allow physical punishment...

Read more: As views on spanking shift worldwide, most US adults support it, and 19 states allow physical...

Crime is nonpartisan and the blame game on crime in cities is wrong – on both sides

  • Written by Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
imageNeither party – Democrats nor Republicans – is doing a better job at fixing crime.Carl Ballou - iStock/Getty Images Plus

Following George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis in 2020, the U.S. has undergone a national reckoning over crime prevention and police reform.

Across the country, calls went out from activists...

Read more: Crime is nonpartisan and the blame game on crime in cities is wrong – on both sides

More Articles ...

  1. With federal funding in question, artists can navigate a perilous future by looking to the past
  2. Lawsuits seeking to address climate change have promise but face uncertain future
  3. All models are wrong − a computational modeling expert explains how engineers make them useful
  4. Trump’s attacks on central bank threaten its independence − and that isn’t good news for sound economic stewardship (or battling inflation)
  5. Claims of ‘anti-Christian bias’ sound to some voters like a message about race, not just religion
  6. How does your brain create new memories? Neuroscientists discover ‘rules’ for how neurons encode new information
  7. Patriots’ Day: How far-right groups hijack history and patriotic symbols to advance their cause, according to an expert on extremism
  8. International students infuse tens of millions of dollars into local economies across the US. What happens if they stay home?
  9. Popular AIs head-to-head: OpenAI beats DeepSeek on sentence-level reasoning
  10. Why people with autism struggle to get hired − and how businesses can help by changing how they look at job interviews
  11. Appliance efficiency standards save consumers billions, reduce pollution and fight climate change
  12. Why deregulating online platforms is actually bad for free speech
  13. Ethical leadership can boost well-being and performance in remote work environments
  14. Is a ‘friend-apist’ what we really want from therapy?
  15. Federal judge finds ‘probable cause’ to hold Trump administration in contempt – a legal scholar explains what this means
  16. How single-stream recycling works − your choices can make it better
  17. The sudden dismissal of public records staff at health agencies threatens government accountability
  18. Wide variety of old-growth ecosystems across the US makes their conservation a complex challenge
  19. Railways were essential to carrying out the Holocaust – decades later, corporate reckoning continues
  20. 200 years ago, France extorted Haiti in one of history’s greatest heists – and Haitians want reparations
  21. Cory Booker’s long speech offers a strategy for Trump opponents in a fragmented media landscape
  22. Miami researchers are testing a textured seawall designed to hold back water and create a home for marine organisms
  23. Dark energy may have once been ‘springier’ than it is today − DESI cosmologists explain what their collaboration’s new measurement says about the universe’s history
  24. Giving cash to families in poor, rural communities can help bring down child marriage rates – new research
  25. Des Moines food pantries face spiking demand as the Iowa region’s SNAP enrollment declines
  26. Beggar thy neighbor, harm thyself: Tariffs like Trump’s come with pitfalls, history shows
  27. 25 years of Everglades restoration has improved drinking water for millions in Florida, but a new risk is rising
  28. A need for chaos powers some Americans’ support for Elon Musk taking a chainsaw to the US government
  29. Preventive care may no longer be free in 2026 because of HIV stigma − unless the Trump administration successfully defends the ACA
  30. How bird flu differs from seasonal flu − an infectious disease researcher explains
  31. Educators find creative work-arounds to new laws that restrict what they can teach
  32. Volcanic ash is a silent killer, more so than lava: What Alaska needs to know with Mount Spurr likely to erupt
  33. The Thucydides Trap: Vital lessons from ancient Greece for China and the US … or a load of old claptrap?
  34. On stage but out of the spotlight − the quiet struggle of being an opening act
  35. Why the meteorites that hit Earth have less water than the asteroid bits brought back by space probes – a planetary scientist explains new research
  36. Cambodia’s haunted present: 50 years after Khmer Rouge’s rise, murderous legacy looms large
  37. Social Security’s trust fund could run out of money sooner than expected due to changes in taxes and benefits
  38. 401(k) plans and stock market volatility: What you need to know
  39. Perceived consensus drives moral intolerance in a time of identity-driven politics and online bubbles
  40. Getting AIs working toward human goals − study shows how to measure misalignment
  41. 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
  42. Are twins allergic to the same things?
  43. How and where is nuclear waste stored in the US?
  44. ICE has broad power to detain and arrest noncitizens – but is still bound by constitutional limits
  45. How the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service protects public health at home and abroad
  46. Utilities choosing coal, solar, nuclear or other power sources have a lot to consider, beyond just cost
  47. Pennsylvania may be short 20,000 nurses by 2026
  48. In trade war with the US, China holds a lot more cards than Trump may think − in fact, it might have a winning hand
  49. Companies will still face pressure to manage for climate change, even as government rolls back US climate policy
  50. Pikachu protesters, Studio Ghibli memes and the subversive power of cuteness