The Conversation

Por qué la blasfemia es un delito capital en algunos países musulmanes

Written by Ahmet T. Kuru, Porteous Professor of Political Science, San Diego State University

Los miembros de un grupo de la sociedad civil participan en una vigilia con velas para rendir homenaje al ciudadano de Sri Lanka Priyantha Kumara, que fue linchado por una turba musulmana en Pakistán.AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary

Un hombre de Sri Lanka trabajando en Pakistán, Priyantha Kumara, fue linchado por una turba el 3 de diciembre,...

Where are memories stored in the brain? New research suggests they may be in the connections between your brain cells

Written by Don Arnold, Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Physically removing bad or unwanted memories by altering synapses in the brain may one day be possible. apagafonova/iStock via Getty Images Plus

All memory storage devices, from your brain to the RAM in your computer, store information by changing their physical qualities. Over 130 years ago, pioneering neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal f...

2021’s biggest climate and weather disasters cost the U.S. $145 billion – here's what climate science says about them in 5 essential reads

Written by Stacy Morford, Environment + Climate Editor

Residents had to be rescued as Hurricane Ida flooded coastal Louisiana in August 2021.Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

The disasters just kept coming in 2021, from Hurricane Ida’s destruction across Louisiana and the Northeast to devastating wildfires in the West and damaging storms, tornadoes and floods. Nearly half the U.S. was in...

Watch for these conflicts over education in 2022

Written by Joseph J. Ferrare, Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Data Visualization, University of Washington, Bothell

Louisiana residents object to mask mandates at a state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meeting in August 2021.AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte

At school board meetings across the country in 2021, parents engaged in physical altercations, shouted at school board members and threatened them as well.

These disagreements entered state politics,...

What is 5G? An electrical engineer explains

Written by Prasenjit Mitra, Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State

Telecommunications companies around the world are expanding their next-generation, or 5G, networks.Guo Shining/VCG via Getty Images

5G stands for fifth-generation cellular network technology.

It’s the technology that enables wireless communication – for example, from your cellular phone to a cell tower, which channels it to the...

End-of-life conversations can be hard, but your loved ones will thank you

Written by Deborah Carr, Professor of Sociology and Director of Center for Innovation in Social Science, Boston University

You can start these conversations simply, like saying, "I need to think about the future. Can you help me?"Richard Ross/The Image Bank via Getty Images

Death – along with taxes – is one of life’s few certainties. Despite this inevitability, most people dread thinking and talking about when, how or under what conditions they might...

How the Earth's tilt creates short, cold January days

Written by Deanna Hence, Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The Sun rises in Midland, Michigan, shortly after 8a.m. on Jan. 13, 2017.Christian Collins/Flickr, CC BY-SA

Above the equator, winter officially begins in December. But in many areas, January is when it really takes hold. Atmospheric scientist Deanna Hence explains the weather and climate factors that combine to produce wintry conditions at the...

How much candy do Americans eat in a whole year?

Written by Rahel Mathews, Assistant Professor of Nutrition, Mississippi State University

Most candy is basically just a heap of sugar.Atlantide Phototravel/Corbis Documentary 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 much candy do Americans eat in a whole year? – Yvanna C., age 9, Nevada

From...

Supreme Court considers derailing federal vaccine mandates – appears inclined to keep for health workers, but not wider workforce

Written by James Hodge, Professor of Law, Arizona State University

Did justices give oral arguments an icy reception?AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Conservative justices on the Supreme Court appeared to signal a belief that the Biden administration may have overreached in ordering private companies to require that staff be vaccinated or subject to regular testing. But a separate requirement that health care workers...

Sidney Poitier -- Hollywood's first Black leading man reflected the civil rights movement on screen

Written by Aram Goudsouzian, Bizot Family Professor of History, University of Memphis

Sidney Poitier, seen here in a 1980 photograph. Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images

In the summer of 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. introduced the keynote speaker for the 10th-anniversary convention banquet of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Their guest, he said, was his “soul brother.”

“He has carved for himself...