The Conversation

How people with disabilities got game − the surprisingly long history of access to arcade and video sports

Written by Matt Knutson, Assistant Professor of Esports, University of North Dakota

Many of today's disabled esports players, like Rocky "RockyNoHands" Stoutenburgh, use mouth controllers, which were first used in gaming over 40 years ago. Rocky "RockyNoHands" Stoutenburgh, CC BY-SA

If you’ve seen an esports competition, chances are that there was a big stage with about 10 gaming PCs, each with a young person behind it...

Racism and discrimination lead to faster aging through brain network changes, new study finds

Written by Negar Fani, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Emory University

Discrimination in the form of microaggressions, slights and overt racism take a toll on the body, including neural activity in the brain.LeoPatrizi/E+ via Getty Images

Racism steals time from people’s lives – possibly because of the space it occupies in the mind. In a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, our team showed...

Menstrual cycle is a vital sign and important indicator of overall health − 2 reproductive health experts explain

Written by Evelina Sterling, Associate Professor of Medical Sociology, Kennesaw State University

Tracking your period is one way of staying on top of your health.peakSTOCK/iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

“When was your last period?”

For anyone who menstruates, this is a routine question during any visit to your doctor.

Health care providers generally ask this to determine whether their patient is concerned about a...

Arab Druze community in mourning after tragic rocket strike on Golan Heights soccer field − highlighting challenges for Druze within Israel and the region

Written by Rami Zeedan, Associate Professor of Israel Studies, University of Kansas

Members of the Druze minority attend a memorial ceremony for the children and teens killed in a rocket strike in the village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. AP Photo/Leo Correa

The village of Majdal Shams has been in mourning since July 27, 2024: the day a rocket hit a soccer field, killing 12 children and wounding tens more....

In ‘bamboo diplomacy,’ late Vietnam leader Nguyen Phu Trong left a path for smaller nations to navigate great-power rivalries

Written by Jorge Heine, Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University

Nguyen Phu Trong addresses Communist Party deputies in Hanoi in 2006.Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP via Getty Images)

As a rule, the U.S. secretary of state does not attend the funeral of the general secretary of a Communist party.

Yet that is exactly what Washington’s top diplomat, Antony Blinken, had planned to do for the last rites of Nguyen Phu Trong,...

Democratic Party’s choice of Harris was undemocratic − and the latest evidence of party leaders distrusting party voters

Written by Daniel Klinghard, Professor of Political Science, College of the Holy Cross

Kamala Harris, at her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next Democratic Party presidential nominee.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Could the primary system – a feature of presidential politics for more than 50 years – be weakened by the Democrats’ choice to elevate Vice President Kamala Harris to the...

I researched the dark side of social media − and heard the same themes in ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

Written by Angeline Close Scheinbaum, Associate Professor of Marketing, Clemson University

As an expert in consumer behavior, I recently edited a book about how social media affects mental health.

I’m also a big fan of Taylor Swift.

So when I listened to Swift’s latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” I couldn’t help but notice parallels to the research that I’ve been studying for the past...

AIs encode language like brains do − opening a window on human conversations

Written by Zaid Zada, Ph.D. Candidate in Psychology, Princeton University

When two people converse, their brain activity becomes coupled, or aligned.designer491/iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

Language enables people to transmit thoughts to each other because each person’s brain responds similarly to the meaning of words. In our newly published research, my colleagues and I developed a framework to model...

Gov. Josh Shapiro has a reputation for getting things done in Pennsylvania – but not necessarily things all Democrats like

Written by Daniel J. Mallinson, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration, Penn State

Josh Shapiro's political ambitions were clear since his college days.Hannah Beier/Getty Images

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s place on the short list of potential Democratic vice presidential nominees has vaulted him to a national profile. That’s not surprising to someone like me who follows Pennsylvania politics closely.

Shapiro is no...

‘House of the Dragon’ was inspired by the chaos of the Middle Ages, a world without law and order

Written by David Routt, Adjunct Professor of History, University of Richmond

Daemon Targaryen, played by Matt Smith, finds himself in the middle of an internecine struggle between two warring families.Ollie Upton/HBO

Students in my medieval history courses often wonder whether historical reality can be gleaned from medieval cinematic fantasy.

I tell them that fantasy does not aspire to historical verisimilitude. But it can...