The Conversation

How do spices get their flavor?

Written by Beronda L. Montgomery, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, Grinnell College

Without spices, our meals would have less color and flavor.Helaine Weide/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.

How do spices get their flavor? – Liam, age 6, San Francisco

I love savory and spicy foods....

Watered-down LGBTQ 'understanding' bill shows how far Japan's parliament is out of step with its society – and history

Written by Sabine Frühstück, Professor of Modern Japanese Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Rainbow ears, but is Japan's parliament listening? Lucas Calloch/@dreiimos/Unsplash, FAL

Japan has passed legislation aimed at “promoting the understanding” of members of the LGBTQ community – a watered-down bill that will do little to put the Asian country in line with fellow liberal democracies on the issue.

As many reports of the...

Juneteenth, Jim Crow and how the fight of one Black Texas family to make freedom real offers lessons for Texas lawmakers trying to erase history from the classroom

Written by Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, Professor of History, Sam Houston State University

Joshua Houston leads a Juneteenth Parade in Huntsville, Texas, in a photo circa 1900.Sam Houston Memorial Museum and Republic of Texas Presidential Library

The news was startling.

On June 19, 1865, two months after the U.S. Civil War ended, Union Gen. Gordon Granger walked onto the balcony at Ashton Villa in Galveston, Texas, and announced to the...

Juneteenth offers new ways to teach about slavery, Black perseverance and American history

Written by Raphael E. Rogers, Professor of Practice in Education, Clark University

Freedom is a key concept to study.Klaus Vedfelt via Getty Images

Whenever I tell high school students in classes I visit that I appreciated learning about slavery as a child growing up in the Caribbean, they often look confused.

Why, they ask, did I like learning about slavery given that it was so horrible and harsh? How could I value being taught...

Cormac McCarthy's fearless approach to writing

Written by Bill Hardwig, Associate Professor of English, University of Tennessee

McCarthy attends the 2009 premiere of the film adaptation of his novel 'The Road.'Evan Agostini/AP Photo

Cormac McCarthy, who died on June 13, 2023, at the age of 89, is often characterized rather narrowly as a Southern writer, or perhaps a Southern Gothic writer.

McCarthy did lean heavily on his Tennessee upbringing in his first four novels, and he...

Abortion restrictions put hospital ethics committees in the spotlight – but what do they do?

Written by Elizabeth Lanphier, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Bioethicist, University of Cincinnati

Ethics decisions are among the hardest hospital staff need to make.Thomas Barwick/Stone via Getty Images

Many states have imposed sweeping restrictions that all but ban abortion since the June 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned the 50-year-old constitutional right to the procedure. These laws have created new obstacles for pregnant patients...

Southern Baptist Convention votes to expel two churches with female pastors – a religion scholar explains how far back these battles go

Written by Susan M. Shaw, Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Oregon State University

SBC pastor Rev. Linda Barnes Popham with the choir at Fern Creek Baptist Church in May 21, 2023, in Louisville, Kentucky.AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski

During its two-day annual meeting that began on June 13, 2023, the Southern Baptist Convention reaffirmed the ouster of its largest congregation that ordained women and began a process to amend its...

The US will send depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine – a health physicist explains their military, health and environmental effects

Written by Kathryn Higley, Distinguished Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Oregon State University

Depleted uranium shells will equip M1A1 Abrams battle tanks, also from the U.S.Lance Cpl. Julio McGraw, USMC/Flickr

The Biden administration has agreed to provide Ukraine with depleted uranium shells to equip M1A1 Abrams tanks that the U.S. is sending there. Britain has already delivered tanks to Ukraine equipped with depleted-uranium shells.

DU...

Can we train our taste buds for health? A neuroscientist explains how genes and diet shape taste

Written by Monica Dus, Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Michigan

Researchers are increasingly learning that early diet can shape taste preferences but that our taste buds can also be trained to prefer healthier foods.RichVintage/E+ via Getty Images

Have you ever wondered why only hummingbirds sip nectar from feeders?

Unlike sparrows, finches and most other birds, hummingbirds can taste sweetness because they carry...

George Soros hands control over his family's philanthropy to son Alex, after giving away billions and enduring years of antisemitic attacks and conspiracy theories

Written by Armin Langer, Assistant Professor of European Studies, University of Florida

George Soros in a 2017 photo.Olivier Hoslet/EPA via AP

Billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros is handing control of his US$25 billion holdings, including his Open Society Foundations, to one of his sons, Alexander Soros.

As a sociologist who researches immigrants and minorities in Europe and conspiracy theories about them, I study...