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The Conversation

Finding opportunity in crisis: 3 essential reads about environmental solutions

  • Written by Jennifer Weeks, Environment + Energy Editor, The Conversation
Big challenges call for big responses.Brian S./Shutterstock.com

From climate change to omnipresent plastic waste, 2019 delivered a lot of discouraging environmental news. Several special reports this year from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change documented how global warming is altering the planet’s lands, forests, oceans and frozen...

Read more: Finding opportunity in crisis: 3 essential reads about environmental solutions

We asked kids to send us their burning questions – here are 5 of our favorites from 2019

  • Written by Maggie Villiger, Senior Science + Technology Editor
But why? But why?Odua Images/Shutterstock.com

Out of the mouths of babes… comes a never-ending stream of questions.

So this year, The Conversation US jumped on a great idea dreamed up by our colleagues in Australia and launched a series of articles meant to answer questions kids ask, but that everyone probably wonders about. The...

Read more: We asked kids to send us their burning questions – here are 5 of our favorites from 2019

Why are so few people born on Christmas Day, New Year's and other holidays?

  • Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Senior Lecturer, Questrom School of Business, Boston University
Holiday birthdays are lonely. Bryan Keogh/The Conversation via Shutterstock.com

Christmas and New Year’s are days of celebration in many parts of the world when people gather with family and friends. One thing many typically don’t celebrate on those days is a birthday.

That’s because Dec. 25 is the least popular day in the U.S., Aus...

Read more: Why are so few people born on Christmas Day, New Year's and other holidays?

Battle at the border: 5 essential reads on asylum, citizenship and the right to live in the US

  • Written by Aviva Rutkin, Data Editor
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer checks migrants' documents.AP Photo/Fernando Llano

Editor’s note: As we come to the end of the year, Conversation editors take a look back at the stories that – for them – exemplified 2019.

Who gets to live in the United States?

It’s a contentious question, particularly as the Trump...

Read more: Battle at the border: 5 essential reads on asylum, citizenship and the right to live in the US

Don't let your vote get stolen – 5 essential reads about disinformation in 2020

  • Written by Jeff Inglis, Politics + Society Editor, The Conversation US
Who's manipulating what you know before you vote?AntonSokolov/Shutterstock.com

As the 2020 election season heats up, there will be a massive number of people competing for your vote. Only some of them will be legitimate candidates.

The vast majority will be information warriors, people who seek to confuse you about what is truth and what is fiction...

Read more: Don't let your vote get stolen – 5 essential reads about disinformation in 2020

Religious minorities around the world face an uncertain future: 5 essential reads

  • Written by Kalpana Jain, Senior Religion + Ethics Editor
Relatives light candles for victims who died during a bomb blast at St. Sebastian Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka, on April 22, 2019. AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe

Around the world, religious minorities are facing violence because of their beliefs.

Noting that attacks on places of worship had increased, this year the United Nations declared Aug. 22 as...

Read more: Religious minorities around the world face an uncertain future: 5 essential reads

Where does beach sand come from?

  • Written by David R. Montgomery, Professor of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington
This started as a mountain range.Bas Meelker/Shutterstock.com

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.

Where does beach sand come from? – Sly M., age 6, Cambridge, Massachusetts

There’s more to beach sand than meets the...

Read more: Where does beach sand come from?

Confederate Christmas ornaments are smaller than statues – but they send the same racist message

  • Written by Nicole Maurantonio, Associate Professor of Rhetoric & Communication Studies and American Studies, University of Richmond
Decorated with ornaments purchased, created and inherited for years, even generations, Christmas trees are a reflection of a family's history and tastes.John Morgan/flickr, CC BY-SA

As Christmas approaches, many families undertake a familiar ritual: an annual sojourn to the attic, basement or closet to pull out a box of treasured ornaments bought,...

Read more: Confederate Christmas ornaments are smaller than statues – but they send the same racist message

Why bad customer service won't improve anytime soon

  • Written by Anthony Dukes, Professor of Marketing, University of Southern California
Bad customer service is increasingly good for companies who use it.Sichon/Shutterstock.com

Some of the most hated companies in the U.S. are also the most profitable.

Much of this consumer resentment may stem from poor customer service. In fact, most Americans have fought with phone menus, desperately seeking a live service agent to seek a refund.

In...

Read more: Why bad customer service won't improve anytime soon

How old would you want to be in heaven?

  • Written by Margaret Morganroth Gullette, Resident Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center, Brandeis University
Our cult of youth continues into the afterlife.Denis Simonov/Shutterstock.com

Many religious faiths propose different versions of heaven as a location: There are walled gardens with streams, flowers, pleasing scents, pretty angels, rapturous music or delicious accessible food.

But what about us – the once-mortal – who will go on to...

Read more: How old would you want to be in heaven?

More Articles ...

  1. Giving pregnant women antibiotics could harm the lungs of preemies, according to study in mice
  2. Should you avoid meat for good health? How to slice off the facts from the fiction
  3. Nonprofits that empower leaders of color are more apt to do something about racial inequality
  4. A real-life deluminator for spotting exoplanets by reflected starlight
  5. The holidays remind us that grief cannot be wished away
  6. Democratic presidential hopefuls are promising to ramp up funding for public schools
  7. 5 ways chess can make you a better law student and lawyer
  8. Here's how you can be nudged to eat healthier, recycle and make better decisions every day
  9. How St. Francis created the Nativity scene, with a miraculous event in 1223
  10. Alcoholic? Me? How to tell if your holiday drinking is becoming a problem
  11. Can Congress hold Trump accountable? 4 essential reads on a historic power struggle
  12. The Madrid climate conference's real failure was not getting a broad deal on global carbon markets
  13. How Crisco toppled lard – and made Americans believers in industrial food
  14. Tracking your heart rate? 5 questions answered about what that number really means
  15. 150 cooks, servers and dishwashers almost shut down a Democratic debate, showing unions' growing clout in the party
  16. Think presidential debates are dull? Thank 1950s TV game shows
  17. Parents of medically fragile children and their kids could use help, understanding year-round
  18. 7 reasons to learn a foreign language
  19. 7 science-based strategies to boost your willpower and succeed with your New Year’s resolutions
  20. My team uses crossbows and drones to collect bacteria from whales – and the results are teaching us how to keep whales healthy
  21. Feeling sick is an emotion meant to help you get better faster
  22. When a chief justice reminded senators in an impeachment trial that they were not jurors
  23. The science of gift wrapping explains why sloppy is better
  24. Planetary confusion -- why astronomers keep changing what it means to be a planet
  25. How can we make sure that algorithms are fair?
  26. 3 lessons for today's teachers and students from coach Vince Lombardi
  27. 6 charts that illustrate the surprising financial strength of American houses of worship
  28. Catholic activism, not repentance for sexual abuse, is what forces clergy to resign
  29. Evangelical gangs in Rio de Janeiro wage 'holy war' on Afro-Brazilian faiths
  30. Transgender homeless Americans find few protections in the law
  31. Why Congress would keep working during a government shutdown
  32. US-China trade deal: 3 fundamental issues remain unresolved
  33. In impeachment spotlight, dueling views of professionalism appear
  34. Impeachment is better than exile
  35. Kids aren't getting enough exercise, even in sporty Seattle
  36. Memo from a historian: White ladies cooking in plantation museums are a denial of history
  37. When Trump calls someone a dog, he's tapping into ugly history
  38. Margaret Morse Nice thought like a song sparrow and changed how scientists understand animal behavior
  39. Butterfly lovers become citizen scientists by logging sightings on eButterfly
  40. Uber's data revealed nearly 6,000 sexual assaults. Does that mean it's not safe?
  41. Asking people with memory loss about past holidays can help them recall happy times
  42. As rural Americans struggle for health care access, insurers may be making things worse
  43. The Earth needs multiple methods for removing CO2 from the air to avert worst of climate change
  44. 'Organic' label doesn't guarantee that holiday ham was a happy pig
  45. The dangers of depicting Greta Thunberg as a prophet
  46. Why are whales big, but not bigger?
  47. How old should kids be to get phones?
  48. ‘Richard Jewell’ is only the latest film to depict a female journalist trading sex for scoops
  49. Supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy may have a friend
  50. Winter is coming: 5 essential reads about snow and ice