The Conversation

Sci-fi books for young readers often omit children of color from the future

Written by Emily Midkiff, Instructor of Children's Literature, University of North Dakota

Children of color are hardly ever central characters in sci-fi books for kids.SDI Productions via Getty Images

While visiting an elementary school library in 2016 to count the fantasy books for a graduate class on fantasy literature, I noticed there were hardly any science fiction books for readers under 12. This discovery prompted me to spend the...

Black Twitter's expected demise would make it harder to publicize police brutality and discuss racism

Written by Deion Scott Hawkins, Assistant Professor of Argumentation & Advocacy, Emerson College

#blacktwitter helped mobilize social protests against police brutality across the country, like this one in New York City in July 2020. Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images

Before the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile and Sandra Bland were propelled into the media spotlight, their names were Twitter #hashtags.

In 2020,...

Fatherhood changes men's brains, according to before-and-after MRI scans

Written by Darby Saxbe, Associate Professor of Psychology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Fathers' brains adjust their structure and function to parenthoodMaría Paternina-Die, CC BY-ND

The time fathers devote to child care every week has tripled over the past 50 years in the United States. The increase in fathers’ involvement in child rearing is even steeper in countries that have expanded paid paternity leave or created...

More than 4 in 5 pregnancy-related deaths are preventable in the US, and mental health is the leading cause

Written by Rachel Diamond, Clinical Training DIrector and Assistant Professor of Couple and Family Therapy, Adler University

According to the CDC's latest numbers, 65% of pregancy-related deaths occur in the first year following childbirth.Petri Oeschger/Moment via Getty Images

Preventable failures in U.S. maternal health care result in far too many pregnancy-related deaths. Each year, approximately 700 parents die from pregnancy and childbirth complications. As such,...

Even weak tropical cyclones have grown more intense worldwide – we tracked 30 years of them using currents

Written by Wei Mei, Assistant Professor of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Hurricane Nicole was a Category 1 storm, but it caused extensive damage to Florida in 2022.Lauren Dauphin/NASA Earth Observatory

Tropical cyclones have been growing stronger worldwide over the past 30 years, and not just the big ones that you hear about. Our new research finds that weak tropical cyclones have gotten at least 15% more intense in...

A sampler of our most popular articles of 2022

Written by Katrina Aman, Journalism Evangelist, The Conversation

Download this collection of articles, or read them hereThe Conversation, CC BY-NC-ND

We’ve created a special downloadable e-book of some of our most popular stories of the year – stories that sparked the curiosity of readers like you, covering topics ranging from super-earths to mosquito magnets, and from why we need to file tax returns...

White landowners in Hawaii imported Russian workers in the early 1900s, to dilute the labor power of Asians in the islands

Written by Stepan Serdiukov, Ph.D. Candidate in U.S. History, Indiana University

A newspaper headline and photo show the arrival of the Molokans in Hawaii.The Hawaiian Star via Library of Congress

On Feb. 19, 1906, the mail steamer China pulled into the harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. It had made the voyage from San Pedro, California, many times before, but this trip made front-page news. Local newspapers heralded the arrival of...

Alabama’s execution problems are part of a long history of botched lethal injections

Written by Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College

In some cases, death row inmates have been strapped to the gurney for hours.AP Photo/Sue Ogrock

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has announced a pause in her state’s use of capital punishment. It follows a run of botched lethal injection executions in the state, including two where the procedure had to be abandoned before the inmates succumbed to the...

'Y'all,' that most Southern of Southernisms, is going mainstream – and it's about time

Written by David B. Parker, Professor of History, Kennesaw State University

A sign encourages people to vote in Charlotte, N.C., ahead of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections. Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Southern Living magazine once described “y’all” as “the quintessential Southern pronoun.” It’s as iconically Southern as sweet tea and grits.

While “y’all” is considered slang,...

Is China ready to lead on protecting nature? At the upcoming UN biodiversity conference, it will preside and set the tone

Written by Vanessa Hull, Assistant Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida

Four Père David's deer (_Elaphurus davidianus_), also known as milu deer, on a wetland near the Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve in Jiangsu Province, China. He Jinghua/VCG via Getty Images

As the world parses what was achieved at the U.N. climate change conference in Egypt, negotiators are convening in Montreal to set goals for curbing...