The Conversation

Not all polarization is bad, but the US could be in trouble

Written by Robert B. Talisse, W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University

Protesters and counter-protesters face off at a political rally in September 2021.AP Photo/Nathan Howard

For the first time, the United States has been classified as a “backsliding democracy” in a global assessment of democratic societies by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, an intergovernmental...

Why can’t we throw all our trash into a volcano and burn it up?

Written by Emily Johnson, Research Geologist, US Geological Survey

Lava flows from a fissure in the aftermath of eruptions from the Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island, May 22, 2018. Andrew Richard Hara/Ena Media Hawaii 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.

Why can’t we...

Rifts between older mothers and their adult children usually endure – even through divorce, illness and death

Written by Megan Gilligan, Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University

Relationships among family members can be tough.vm/ iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

At the start of every new year, individuals often make resolutions to change aspects of their lives that they find undesirable. For some, these promises to themselves may involve trying to mend broken family relationships.

Well-meaning friends and family...

Philanthropists seeking to fix big problems must tread carefully – here's how they can make their efforts more compatible with democracy

Written by Ted Lechterman, Research Fellow, University of Oxford

Martin Luther King Jr. is among the many big thinkers to question the importance of philanthropy.AP Photo

How should wealthy people respond to daunting problems like racism, economic inequality and climate change? Leading thinkers have long questioned whether philanthropy offers appropriate or meaningful solutions to vexing challenges.

Eighteenth-ce...

Inflation, workforce participation and real wages: 3 key indicators for monitoring the economy in 2022

Written by Veronika Dolar, Assistant Professor of Economics, SUNY Old Westbury

Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the best economy of them all?PM Images/DigitalVision via Getty Images

The U.S. economy ended 2021 with a lot of uncertainty. Inflation surged to levels not seen since the 1980s – seriously eroding consumer purchasing power – while the highly contagious omicron variant forced many Americans to hunker down...

Ghislaine Maxwell guilty in Epstein sex trafficking trial: What the case revealed about female sex offenders

Written by Poco Kernsmith, Professor of Social Work, Wayne State University

Ghislaine Maxwell now faces the prospect of years behind bars.Elizabeth Williams via AP

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been convicted for her role in luring and grooming girls to be sexually abused by the American financier Jeffrey Epstein.

In a court in lower Manhattan, Maxwell – a close friend of Epstein’s – was found...

E.O. Wilson's lifelong passion for ants helped him teach humans about how to live sustainably with nature

Written by Doug Tallamy, Professor of Entomology, University of Delaware

Edward O. Wilson in his office in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard, in 2014.Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

E. O. Wilson was an extraordinary scholar in every sense of the word. Back in the 1980s, Milton Stetson, the chair of the biology department at the University of Delaware, told me that a scientist who makes a...

4 New Year's resolutions for a healthier environment in 2022

Written by Viniece Jennings, Assistant Professor of Public Health, Agnes Scott College

Enjoy the environment in 2022 and find ways to help nature and communities thrive.Cavan Images via Getty Images

When many people think of New Year’s resolutions, they brainstorm ways to improve themselves for the year ahead. What if we expanded those aspirations to include resolutions that benefit our communities, society and the planet, too?

I...

Not all calories are equal – a dietitian explains the different ways the kinds of foods you eat matter to your body

Written by Terezie Tolar-Peterson, Associate Professor of Food Science, Nutrition & Health Promotion, Mississippi State University

Even if two foods share the same calorie count, there can be major differences in how they affect your body.Julia_Sudnitskaya/iStock via Getty Images

A calorie is a calorie is a calorie, at least from a thermodynamic standpoint. It’s defined as the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 degree Celsius...

What will 2022 bring in the way of misinformation on social media? 3 experts weigh in

Written by Anjana Susarla, Professor of Information Systems, Michigan State University

A cutout display at a protest highlighted the connection between social media and the real-world effects of misinformation.Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images

At the end of 2020, it seemed hard to imagine a worse year for misinformation on social media, given the intensity of the presidential election and the trauma of the COVID-19...