The Conversation

Family rifts affect millions of Americans – research shows possible paths from estrangement toward reconciliation

Written by Karl Pillemer, Hazel E. Reed Human Development Professor and Professor of Gerontology in Medicine, Cornell University

Early research suggests that nearly 1 in 5 Americans, about 68 million people, are in the midst of a family estrangement.baona/iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

Family relationships are on many people’s minds during the holiday season as sounds and images of happy family celebrations dominate the media. Anyone whose experiences...

Are parents criminally responsible for the actions of their child? In the Oxford shooting case, prosecutors say yes

Written by Thaddeus Hoffmeister, Law Professor, University of Dayton

Jennifer Crumbley, at left, and her husband, James, at far right, sit with their attorneys during a hearing.Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Many were surprised when James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old boy accused of killing four classmates at Oxford High School in Oakland County, Michigan, were charged for their...

What's the record for how long it's ever rained without stopping?

Written by Lynn McMurdie, Research Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington

Some places rarely see the sun.Donat Photography / EyeEm

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 the longest time it has ever rained for? – Wayne

The answer is – it depends. If you live in a dry place, like the...

UN fails to agree on 'killer robot' ban as nations pour billions into autonomous weapons research

Written by James Dawes, Professor of English, Macalester College

Humanitarian groups have been calling for a ban on autonomous weapons.Wolfgang Kumm/picture alliance via Getty Images

Autonomous weapon systems – commonly known as killer robots – may have killed human beings for the first time ever last year, according to a recent United Nations Security Council report on the Libyan civil war. History...

People who are bad with numbers often find it harder to make ends meet – even if they are not poor

Written by Wändi Bruine de Bruin, Professor of Public Policy, Psychology and Behavioral Science, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Even college-educated adults can still struggle with numbers. Prostock-Studio/iStock via Getty Images

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

People who are bad with numbers are more likely to experience financial difficulties than people who are good with numbers. That’s according to our analyses of the...

The magnificent history of the maligned and misunderstood fruitcake

Written by Jeffrey Miller, Associate Professor of Hospitality Management, Colorado State University

Fruitcakes are known for their legendary shelf life.CSA-Printstock via Getty Images

Nothing says Christmas quite like a fruitcake – or, at the very least, a fruitcake joke.

A quip attributed to former “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson has it that “There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to...

Kim Jong Un’s decade in power: Starvation, repression and brutal rule – just like his father and grandfather

Written by Sung-Yoon Lee, Professor in Korean Studies, Tufts University

Repression running in the genes?Jenni Lim/AFP via Getty Images

By the grim metric of fatalities in the first 10 years of a dictator’s rule, Kim Jong Un has yet to match the records set by his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, or father, Kim Jong Il – the two tyrants who reigned by terror in North Korea before him.

For now, the number of people...

bell hooks will never leave us – she lives on through the truth of her words

Written by Karsonya Wise Whitehead, Executive Director, Karson Institute for Race, Peace, & Social Justice, Loyola University Maryland

Bell hooks' books provide a window into her hugely influential theories.Karjean Levine/Getty Images

I was introduced to the work of bell hooks for the first time when I was 14 years old, sitting on my Nana’s porch, complaining about the mosquitoes and the heat.

My Nana, who was probably frustrated by my endless complaints about being bored,...

The US is making plans to replace all of its lead water pipes from coast to coast

Written by Gabriel Filippelli, Chancellor's Professor of Earth Sciences and Executive Director, Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute, IUPUI

Workers prepare to install new water pipes in Walnut Creek, California, on April 22, 2021.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The Biden administration has released a plan to accelerate removal of lead water pipes and lead paint from U.S. homes. As a geochemist and environmental health researcher who has studied the heartbreaking impacts of lead poisoning...

A Persian festival, Yalda, celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, with pomegranates, poetry and sacred rituals

Written by Pardis Mahdavi, Dean of Social Sciences, Arizona State University

A table set for the celebration of the Persian festival of Yalda. Jasmin Merdan/Moment via Getty images.

As the days become shorter and the nights become longer and darker, we are reminded that indeed winter is coming. As a child I would dread this time of the year. Not only was there was less time to play outside, but there was a string of...