The Conversation

Maui's deadly wildfires burn through Lahaina – it's a reminder of the growing risk to communities that once seemed safe

Written by Mojtaba Sadegh, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, Boise State University

Fires burn in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 8, 2023.Zeke Kalua/County of Maui via AP

Wildfires, pushed by powerful winds, raced through Lahaina, Hawaii, on Aug. 8 and 9, 2023, leaving a charred and smoldering landscape across the tourist town of about 13,000 residents that was once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii. At least 99 people died, Hawaii...

Air travel is in a rut – is there any hope of recapturing the romance of flying?

Written by Christopher Schaberg, Director of Public Scholarship, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

The high-risk adventure of air travel has been subdued, yet today's long flights can paradoxically feel torturous.Christopher Schaberg, CC BY-SA

Amelia Earhart broke a transcontinental speed record 90 years ago, in July 1933, by flying her signature red Lockheed Vega from Los Angeles to New Jersey in just 17 hours, seven and a half minutes. Earlier...

AI can help forecast air quality, but freak events like 2023's summer of wildfire smoke require traditional methods too

Written by Joshua S. Fu, Chancellor's Professor in Engineering, Climate Change and Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee

Thick smoke rolling in from Canada's 2023 wildfires was a wakeup call for several cities.Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images

Wildfire smoke from Canada’s extreme fire season has left a lot of people thinking about air quality and wondering what to expect in the days ahead.

All air contains gaseous compounds and small particles. But as air...

The heroic effort to save Florida’s coral reef from devastating ocean heat

Written by Michael Childress, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences & Environmental Conservation, Clemson University

Elkhorn coral fragments rescued from overheating ocean nurseries sit in cooler water at Keys Marine Laboratory.NOAA

Armed with scrub brushes, young scuba divers took to the waters of Florida’s Alligator Reef in late July to try to help corals struggling to survive 2023’s extraordinary marine heat wave. They carefully scraped away...

Babies almost all try crawling to get from Point A to Point B, but CDC says it's not a useful developmental milestone

Written by Mark Geil, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Biomechanics, Kennesaw State University

Babies are curious about their world and want to explore.Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Infant milestones can be a source both of pride and anxiety for a new parent. Baby’s firsts – first tooth, first steps, first word – are moments of joy that many parents immediately compare with charts listing...

Researchers dig deep underground in hopes of finally observing dark matter

Written by Hugh Lippincott, Associate Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara

The inside of the LZ outer detector. The LZ is a super sensitive machine that may one day detect a dark matter particle. Matt Kapust, SURF, CC BY-SA

Physicists like me don’t fully understand what makes up about 83% of the matter of the universe — something we call “dark matter.” But with a tank full of xenon buried nearly a...

A brief illustrated guide to 'scissors congruence' − an ancient geometric idea that’s still fueling cutting-edge mathematical research

Written by Maxine Calle, Ph.D. Candidate in Mathematics, University of Pennsylvania

While scissors congruence accurately captures the modern algebraic notion of 2D area, things get more complicated in higher dimensions.Maxine Calle, CC BY-ND

In math class, you probably learned how to compute the area of lots of different shapes by memorizing algebraic formulas. Remember “base x height” for rectangles and...

Women get far more migraines than men – a neurologist explains why, and what brings relief

Written by Danielle Wilhour, Assistant Professor of Neurology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Migraines are more common and intense during a woman's reproductive years. PixelsEffect/iStock via Getty Images Plus

A migraine is far more than just a headache – it’s a debilitating disorder of the nervous system.

People who have migraines experience severe throbbing or pulsating pain, typically on one side of the head. The pain is...

Despite giving students chances to cheat, unsupervised online exams gauge student learning comparably to in-person exams

Written by Jason C.K. Chan, Professor of Psychology, Iowa State University

Research shows that unsupervised online exams can accurately assess student learning.Geber86/iStock via Getty Images

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

Students don’t have to be supervised during online exams. That’s because unsupervised online exams can accurately assess student learning,...

Through space and rhyme: How hip-hop uses Afrofuturism to take listeners on journeys of empowerment

Written by Roy Whitaker, Associate Professor of Africana Philosophy of Religions and American Religious Diversity, San Diego State University

The exhibit "Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures" at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., on May 4, 2023.Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images

It is perhaps only natural, as hip-hop celebrates its 50th anniversary, that people look to the genre’s future. But for some rappers, the...