The Conversation

Ukrainian refugees are welcomed with open arms – not so with people fleeing other war-torn countries

Written by Tazreena Sajjad, Senior Professorial Lecturer of Global Governance, Politics and Security, American University School of International Service

People cross a destroyed bridge as they evacuate the city of Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, during heavy shelling and bombing on March 5, 2022. Aris Messinis / AFP via Getty Images

Across Europe, countries are preparing for the 4 million to 7 million Ukrainian refugees who will likely flee the Russian invasion of their country.

European Commission...

How pet cancer data sheds light on human cancers – and speeds the development of new treatments

Written by Rodney Lee Page, Professor of Oncology, Colorado State University

Dogs are pets in nearly 50 million U.S. homes.zhao hui/500Px Plus via Getty Images

Stunning advances have happened in medicine since President Richard Nixon declared the “war on cancer” just over a half-century ago.

But that progress is only the beginning. More is expected in the coming years and decades, particularly following...

Putin, Zelenskyy and Biden all have unique leadership styles

Written by Sam Hunter, Professor of Psychology, University of Nebraska Omaha

From left, Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Joe Biden.Associated Press and Ukraine government

Crises have the capacity to reveal who leaders really are, and how differently they operate.

Our research over the past 20 years has identified three primary types of leadership across a wide range of situations and circumstances.

The current...

In 2014, the 'decrepit' Ukrainian army hit the refresh button. Eight years later, it's paying off

Written by Liam Collins, Founding Director, Modern War Institute, United States Military Academy West Point

In this March 4, 2022, photograph, Ukrainian soldiers stand guard outside the train station in Irpin, Ukraine. Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times

In 2014, Ukraine’s military was called “decrepit” by one national security analyst, and its navy was in “a sorry state.” Ukrainian General Victor Muzhenko, a former top commander...

Support for democracy is waning across the Americas

Written by Elizabeth J. Zechmeister, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Political Science and Director of LAPOP, Vanderbilt University

Armed Salvadoran soldiers, following presidential orders, surrounded lawmakers in 2020.AP Photo/Salvador Melendez

People are losing faith in democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Across North, Central and South America, and parts of the Caribbean, only 63% of the public expressed support for democracy in 2021. This is a main takeaway from the...

Canada has long feared the chaos of US politics

Written by Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy, Associate Teaching Professor of American Studies, Miami University

Anti-Catholic riots, like this one in Philadelphia in 1844, worried Canadians.H. Bucholzer via Library of Congress

When the nation of Canada was founded in 1867, its people deliberately chose a form of government meant to avoid the mistakes and problems they saw in the U.S. government next door.

That helps explain why Canadian police used emergency...

Ukrainian war bonds: The American roots of a powerful financial and propaganda tool

Written by James J. Kimble, Professor of Communication & the Arts, Seton Hall University

Ukraine could use war bonds to tap into the broad international outrage over Russia's invasion.AP Photo/Leo La Valle

Ukraine is desperate for money. And as the saying goes, freedom is not free.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Finance – at this moment trying to fund the nation’s defense against a massive Russian invasion – would surely...

3 things that influence college graduates from rural areas to return to their communities

Written by Stephanie Sowl, Ph.D Candidate in Higher Education, Iowa State University

Rural students who grow up with strong ties to their schools are more likely to return to their hometowns after they graduate from college.Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

When high-achieving students from rural areas go off to college and graduate, they often choose to live in suburban or urban areas instead rural...

A brief history of Babi Yar, where Nazis massacred Jews, Soviets kept silence and now Ukraine says Russia fired a missile

Written by Jeffrey Veidlinger, Professor of History and Judaic Studies, University of Michigan

A woman pays homage at the memorial to victims of the 1941 Nazi massacre of Jews in Babi Yar in Kyiv, Ukraine.AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky

“At Babi Yar no memorials preside.”

Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko wrote that line in a 1961 poem in a reference to to the ravine in the suburbs of Kyiv where, starting on Sept. 29, 1941, and continuing...

Even mild cases of COVID-19 can leave a mark on the brain, such as reductions in gray matter – a neuroscientist explains emerging research

Written by Jessica Bernard, Associate Professor, Texas A&M University

A new brain-imaging study finds that participants who had even mild COVID-19 showed an average reduction in whole brain sizes.Kirstypargeter/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Researchers have been steadily gathering important insights into the effects of COVID-19 on the body and brain. Two years into the pandemic, these findings are raising concerns...