The Conversation

How the Academy Awards became ‘the biggest international fashion show free-for-all’

Written by Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén, Fulbright Scholar and Sweden-America Foundation Research Fellow, University of Southern California

The dress actress Lupita Nyong'o wore to the 86th Academy Awards in 2014 became a story in and of itself.Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage via Getty Images

The Oscars are no longer just a celebration of movies. They’ve also become a fashion show, with fans, designers and the media celebrating and critiquing Hollywood celebrities as they stroll, pause...

After Super Tuesday, exhausted Americans face 8 more months of presidential campaigning

Written by Jared McDonald, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, University of Mary Washington

Campaign volunteers set up signs encouraging people to vote.AP Photo/Vasha Hunt

Now that Super Tuesday is over and the Democratic and Republican nominees are all but officially chosen, as everyone expected, voters can turn the page to the general election.

But they’re not excited about it, and they haven’t been for months.

A September...

The Anthropocene is not an epoch − but the age of humans is most definitely underway

Written by Erle C. Ellis, Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Human influence on the climate started even before the Industrial Revolution.Print Collector/Getty Images

When people talk about the “Anthropocene,” they typically picture the vast impact human societies are having on the planet, from rapid declines in biodiversity to increases in Earth’s temperature by burning fossil fuels.

Such...

Plight of migrant laborers killed, held hostage in Middle East exposes Israel’s reliance on overseas workforce

Written by Julie Weise, Associate Professor of History, University of Oregon

A Thai foreign worker tends to an agriculture field in Beersheba, Israel.Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images)

An Indian laborer in Israel was killed and several other migrant workers injured on March 4, 2024, in a missile attack launched from Lebanon by Hamas-aligned Hezbollah.

They are not the first migrant workers in Israel to get caught up in...

Arctic rivers face big changes with a warming climate, permafrost thaw and an accelerating water cycle − the effects will have global consequences

Written by Michael A. Rawlins, Associate Director, Climate System Research Center and Associate Professor of Climatology, UMass Amherst

Water from the Mackenzie River, seen from a satellite, carries silt and nutrients from land to the Arctic Ocean.Jesse Allen/NASA Earth Observatory

As the Arctic warms, its mighty rivers are changing in ways that could have vast consequences – not only for the Arctic region but for the world.

Rivers represent the land branch of the...

Donations by top 50 US donors fell again in 2023, sliding to $12B − Mike Bloomberg, Phil and Penny Knight, and Michael and Susan Dell led the list of biggest givers

Written by David Campbell, Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Penny Knight and Phil Knight were the second-largest givers of 2023.Michael Hickey/Getty Images

The top 50 American individuals and couples who gave or pledged the most to charity in 2023 committed US$12 billion to foundations, universities, hospitals and more. That total was 28% below an inflation-adjusted $16.5 billion in 2022, according to the Ch...

Michigan Gov. Whitmer proposes a caregiver tax credit − an idea many Americans support

Written by Sarah E. Patterson, Research Investigator at the Survey Research Center at the Institute of Social Research, University of Michigan

As the population of older adults in the U.S. grows, more people need care.seb_ra/via Getty Images

People caring for elderly or disabled relatives need a break – and, in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has a proposal to give them one.

Whitmer’s recently proposed US$5,000 tax credit, the Caring for MI Family Tax Credit, is part of a...

Hispanic health disparities in the US trace back to the Spanish Inquisition

Written by Margaret Boyle, Associate Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Director of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies Program, Bowdoin College

Class, gender and religion influenced health care in early modern Spain and Latin America.Diego Velázquez/The National Gallery, CC BY-NC

Many of the significant health disparities and inequities Hispanic communities in the United States face are tied to a long history of health injustice in the Hispanic world.

The health landscape of early...

Lithium-ion batteries don’t work well in the cold − a battery researcher explains the chemistry at low temperatures

Written by Wesley Chang, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Drexel University

Why do batteries lose charge more quickly when it's cold? Halfpoint Images/Moment

Rechargeable batteries are great for storing energy and powering electronics from smartphones to electric vehicles. In cold environments, however, they can be more difficult to charge and may even catch on fire.

I’m a mechanical engineering professor who’s...

How age-friendly universities can improve the second half of life

Written by David R. Buys, Associate Professor of Health, Mississippi State University

Opportunities to learn alongside people of different ages can benefit the entire community.monkeybusinessimages via Getty Images

By 2030, more than 1.4 billion people across the globe will be at least 60 years old. This number will shoot up to 2.1 billion by 2050. At this point, there will be more people age 60 or older than people between 10 and 24...