The Conversation

What are roundabouts? A transportation engineer explains the safety benefits of these circular intersections

Written by Deogratias Eustace, Professor of Civil, Environmental and Engineering Mechanics, University of Dayton

A large roundabout in China.Jiojio/Moment via Getty Images

If you live on the East Coast, you may have driven through roundabouts in your neighborhood countless times. Or maybe, if you’re in some parts farther west, you’ve never encountered one of these intersections. But roundabouts, while a relatively new traffic control measure, are c...

Being humble about what you know is just one part of what makes you a good thinker

Written by Eranda Jayawickreme, Professor of Psychology & Senior Research Fellow, Program for Leadership and Character, Wake Forest University

Good thinking is built from many ingredients.skynesher/E+ via Getty Images

What does it mean to be a good thinker? Recent research suggests that acknowledging you can be wrong plays a vital role.

I had these studies in mind a few months ago when I was chatting with a history professor about a class she was teaching to first-year students here at...

From morgue to medical school: Cadavers of the poor, Black and vulnerable can be dissected without consent

Written by Eli Shupe, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of Medical Humanities and Bioethics, University of Texas at Arlington

Medical students look at cadaver parts being used for demonstration.Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images

Every year, first-year medical students approach their human cadavers with a mixture of awe and trepidation. They will come to know their assigned cadaver intimately. During the course of their studies, they will carefully pull back layers...

Israeli invasion of Gaza likely to resemble past difficult battles in Iraq and Syria

Written by Javed Ali, Associate Professor of Practice of Public Policy, University of Michigan

Armored Israeli military vehicles maneuver near Israel's border with Gaza.Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images

Israel appears to be preparing for the next phase of its military operation: a ground campaign to “crush and destroy” Hamas, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put it.

Israel has signaled that it might be willing to...

TCUS senior editor Kalpana Jain explores Indigenous communities in Indonesia − and learns about their struggles to reclaim land

Written by Kalpana Jain, Senior Religion + Ethics Editor/ Director of the Global Religion Journalism Initiative

Traditional grain houses inside a village chief's residential complex in West Java, Indonesia.Kalpana Jain

Kalpana Jain, senior religion and ethics editor at The Conversation, spent part of 2023 on a trip spanning over 20,000 miles, covering seven cities in three countries, as an East-West Center 2023 Senior Journalists Fellow to pursue issues...

Are ghosts real? A social psychologist examines the evidence

Written by Barry Markovsky, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of South Carolina

Remember the old saying: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.David Wall/Moment 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.

Is it possible for there to be ghosts? – Madelyn, age 11, Fort Lupton,...

Let the community work it out: Throwback to early internet days could fix social media's crisis of legitimacy

Written by Ethan Zuckerman, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Communication, and Information, UMass Amherst

Content moderators like these workers make decisions about online communities based on company dictates.Ilana Panich-Linsman for The Washington Post via Getty Images

In the 2018 documentary “The Cleaners,” a young man in Manila, Philippines, explains his work as a content moderator: “We see the pictures on the screen. You then go...

The Rio Grande isn't just a border – it's a river in crisis

Written by Vianey Rueda, PhD Student in Resource Ecology Management, University of Michigan

The Rio Grande, viewed from the Zaragoza International Bridge between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.Vianey Rueda, CC BY-ND

The Rio Grande is one of the longest rivers in North America, running some 1,900 miles (3,060 kilometers) from the Colorado Rockies southeast to the Gulf of Mexico. It provides fresh water for seven U.S. and Mexican...

Backlash to the oil CEO leading the UN climate summit overlooks his ambitious agenda for COP28 – and concerns of the Global South

Written by Ibrahim Ozdemir, Professor of Philosophy, Uskudar University; Visiting Professor, Clark University

Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber, CEO of the United Arab Emirates' state oil company, will be leading the COP28 United Nations climate conference.Francois Walschaerts/AFP via Getty Images

In December 2023, negotiators from countries worldwide will meet in the United Arab Emirates for the next round of international climate talks. While the talks are...

Space rocks and asteroid dust are pricey, but these aren't the most expensive materials used in science

Written by Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona

Meteorites can get pricey, but they're not the most expensive material. AP Photo/Thibault Camus

After a journey of seven years and nearly 4 billion miles, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft landed gently in the Utah desert on the morning of Sept. 24, 2023, with a precious payload. The spacecraft brought back a sample from the asteroid Bennu.

OSIRIS-RE...