The Conversation

Ketanji Brown Jackson set for historic Supreme Court confirmation vote: 3 essential reads

Written by Matt Williams, Breaking News Editor

The next Supreme Court justice?Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are scheduled to vote April 4, 2022, on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination for the Supreme Court. It kicks off a potentially historic week in which a full Senate vote could set course for the nation’s highest court seating it’s first...

Humanitarian aid workers need security, rights and better pay

Written by Lauren Carruth, Associate Professor of International Service, American University School of International Service

International Committee of the Red Cross workers prepare bags with bodies of government soldiers to be handed over in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, in 2015.AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov

Professional humanitarian aid workers in war-torn places like Ukraine, Ethiopia, Syria and South Sudan do some of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

You might imagine...

Amazon, Starbucks and the sparking of a new American union movement

Written by John Logan, Professor and Director of Labor and Employment Studies, San Francisco State University

The start of a movement or a moment?AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez

April 1, 2022, may go down as a pivotal day in the history of American unions.

In a result that could reverberate in workplaces across the U.S., the independent Amazon Labor Union – first formed in 2020 by Chris Smalls, an Amazon worker fired for protesting what he saw as...

What is a dwarf planet?

Written by Vahe Peroomian, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Pluto, the largest of the dwarf planets. This image was taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft.NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

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 is a dwarf planet? – Myranda, age 8, Knoxville, Tennessee

The word...

Nuclear fusion hit a milestone thanks to better reactor walls – this engineering advance is building toward reactors of the future

Written by David Donovan, Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering, University of Tennessee

Magnetic fusion reactors contain super hot plasma in a donut-shaped container called a tokamak.dani3315/iStock via Getty Images

Scientists at a laboratory in England have shattered the record for the amount of energy produced during a controlled, sustained fusion reaction. The production of 59 megajoules of energy over five seconds at the Joint...

These energy innovations could transform how we mitigate climate change, and save money in the process – 5 essential reads

Written by Stacy Morford, Environment + Climate Editor

Building solar panels over water sources is one way to both provide power and reduce evaporation in drought-troubled regions.Robin Raj, Citizen Group & Solar Aquagrid

To most people, a solar farm or a geothermal plant is an important source of clean energy. Scientists and engineers see that plus far more potential.

They envision offshore wind...

Pope Francis' visit to Malta highlights the role of St. George Preca, an advocate for teaching the gospel

Written by Joanne M. Pierce, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

Pope Francis presides over a special prayer in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on March 25, 2022, before heading out to Malta for a two-day visit.AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File

Pope Francis’ two-day visit to the tiny European country of Malta, a strongly Catholic island just south of Sicily, in April, 2022 put a spotlight on Malta’s...

What countries have nuclear weapons, and where are they?

Written by Miles A. Pomper, Senior Fellow, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, Middlebury

A U.S. Air Force jet performs a test drop of a B61-12 bomb in December 2021. That bomb can contain a nuclear warhead for use in wartime.Los Alamos National Laboratory

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has raised fears among the public about the use of nuclear weapons in Europe or against the United States. This level of concern has not been seen since...

The war in Ukraine ruins Russia's academic ties with the West

Written by Arik Burakovsky, Assistant Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

U.S. universities are cutting ties with their Russian counterparts, such as Moscow State University, shown here. Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images

Since Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, universities across Europe and the United States have condemned the war and cut ties with Russia altogether. In the following...

SCOTUS is about to decide whether a public school football coach can pray on the field

Written by Charles J. Russo, Joseph Panzer Chair in Education in the School of Education and Health Sciences and Research Professor of Law, University of Dayton

When is a prayer after a public-school game constitutional?TerryJ/iStock via Getty Images Plus

The Supreme Court has consistently banned school-sponsored prayer in public K-12 schools, whether at the start of the school day, during graduation ceremonies or before football games. Under the Equal Access Act, the Supreme Court has affirmed that...