The Conversation

Climate change threatens spring wildflowers by speeding up the time when trees leaf out above them

Written by Richard B. Primack, Professor of Biology, Boston University

Native wildflowers, such as these Dutchman’s breeches (_Dicentra cucullaria_) that bloom early in spring are losing access to sunlight as trees leaf out earlier.Katja Schulz/Flickr, CC BY

For short-lived spring wildflowers such as wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia) and Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), timing is everything....

How to use free satellite data to monitor natural disasters and environmental changes

Written by Qiusheng Wu, Assistant Professor of Geography and Sustainability, University of Tennessee

Over 8,000 satellites are orbiting Earth today, capturing images like this, of the Louisiana coast.NASA Earth Observatory

If you want to track changes in the Amazon rainforest, see the full expanse of a hurricane or figure out where people need help after a disaster, it’s much easier to do with the view from a satellite orbiting a few hundred...

El consumo de alcohol está ampliamente aceptado en Estados Unidos pero incluso el consumo moderado está asociado a numerosos efectos nocivos

Written by Christina Mair, Associate Professor of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh

Cada vez más investigaciones demuestran que se han minimizado los peligros del alcohol y exagerado sus beneficios.

Durante el primer mes del año, como parte de una tradición que se conoce como “enero seco”, millones de estadounidenses se comprometen a evitar el alcohol durante 31 días a fin de desintoxicarse...

What the research shows about risks of myocarditis from COVID vaccines versus risks of heart damage from COVID – two pediatric cardiologists explain how to parse the data

Written by Frank Han, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Cardiology, University of Illinois at Chicago

Inflammation of the heart (shown here), known as myocarditis, can be triggered by viral infection, including COVID-19, as well as from COVID-19 vaccination, in rare cases.wildpixel/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Soon after the first COVID-19 vaccines appeared in 2021, reports of rare cases of heart inflammation, or myocarditis, began to surface.

In...

Syrian earthquake devastated an area that was already a disaster zone – and highlights the vital role of local aid groups

Written by Kimberly Howe, University of Virginia Humanitarian Collaborative Practitioner Fellow; Assistant Research Professor of International Relations, Tufts University

The earthquake destroyed many houses and buildings in northwestern Syria.Bahar Organization, CC BY-NC-ND

Three weeks after the February 2023 earthquakes struck Turkey and Syria, I stood amid the rubble in Jindires, a devastated Syrian village. An estimated 50,000 people had lost their lives in the two countries by that point, with the number of...

I went to CPAC to take MAGA supporters' pulse – China and transgender people are among the top 'demons' they say are ruining the country

Written by Alexander Hinton, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University - Newark

Supporters listen to former President Donald Trump at the CPAC meeting in Maryland in March 2023. Alex Wong/Getty Images

In early March 2023, I mixed with the Make America Great Again faithful at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference – a popular meeting, often known as CPAC, for conservative activists and political figures.

I...

What exactly is the internet? A computer scientist explains what it is and how it came to be

Written by Fred Martin, Professor of Computer Science, UMass Lowell

The internet is used for a lot more than just surfing the web.Jonathan Kirn/The Image Bank 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.

What exactly is the internet? Nora, age 8, Akron, Ohio

The internet is a global...

Marburg virus outbreaks are increasing in frequency and geographic spread – three virologists explain

Written by Adam Hume, Research Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Boston University

Marburg virus spreads through close contact with infected body fluids.NIAID/flickr, CC BY-SA

The World Health Organization confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus disease in the central African country of Equatorial Guinea on Feb. 13, 2023. To date, there have been 11 deaths suspected to be caused by the virus, with one case confirmed....

Smell is the crucial sense that holds ant society together, helping the insects recognize, communicate and cooperate with one another

Written by Laurence Zwiebel, Professor of Biological Sciences and of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University

Ants from different colonies will fight based on smell alone.Joseph Howell, Vanderbilt University, CC BY-ND

Ants can be found in nearly every location on Earth, with rough estimates suggesting there are over 10 quadrillion individuals – that is a 1 followed by 16 zeroes, or about 1 million ants per person. Ants are among the most biologically...

Vinyl record sales keep spinning and spinning – with no end in sight

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Clinical Associate Professor, Boston University

There are far easier ways to consume music than buying records, which takes time, money and effort.Alejandra Villa Loraca/Newsday via Getty Images

Over the past decade, vinyl records have made a major comeback. People purchased US$1.2 billion of records in 2022, a 20% jump from the previous year.

Not only did sales rise, but they also surpassed CD...