The Conversation

Ukraine's economy went from Soviet chaos to oligarch domination to vital global trader of wheat and neon – and now Russian devastation

Written by Yuriy Gorodnichenko, Quantedge Presidential Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Ukrainian wheat is vital to global food chains. But fighting near farmland like around Mykolayiv may prevent seeds from being planted.Mykola Sosiukin/EyeEm via Getty Images

Ukraine’s economy continues to operate despite the battering the country is getting from the Russian military.

Many factories and businesses still function. Other...

Russia's energy clout doesn't just come from oil and gas – it's also a key nuclear supplier

Written by Alex Gilbert, PhD Candidate in Space Resources, Colorado School of Mines

Manufacturing a 300-ton nuclear reactor pressure vessel at a factory in Volgodonsk, Russia.Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images

As Western nations look for ways to reduce their reliance on Russian oil and gas, another aspect of the Ukraine crisis has received less attention: Most of the 32 countries that use nuclear power rely on Russia for some...

Some states are making it harder to vote, some are making it easier – but it's too soon to say if this will affect voter turnout in 2022

Written by Nancy Martorano Miller, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Dayton

Mail-in ballots for the California recall election are processed in Pomona, Calif., on Sept. 9, 2021.Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

There’s been a good deal of crying foul about what are being called anti-democratic new state laws that make it harder to vote.

But it turns out such laws might have little impact on voter turnout and...

Why pregnant people should get vaccinated for COVID-19 – a maternal care expert explains

Written by Stacy Potts, Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health, UMass Chan Medical School

Pregnant people are at significantly greater risk from COVID-19 than from the vaccine.Emilija Manevska/Moment via Getty Images

The Conversation is running a series of dispatches from clinicians and researchers operating on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. You can find all of the stories here.

I don a gown, gloves and a mask to enter the...

The West thinks that Russians, suffering from sanctions, will end up abandoning Putin – but history indicates they won't

Written by Julia Khrebtan-Hörhager, Associate Professor of Critical Cultural & International Studies, Colorado State University

The McDonald's flagship restaurant at Pushkinskaya Square – the first one of the chain, opened in the USSR on Jan. 31, 1990 – in central Moscow on March 13, 2022, McDonald's last day in Russia. AFP via Getty Images

While Russia is leading a merciless war in Ukraine that has resulted in millions of Ukrainian refugees’ fleeing to...

Calling Asians 'robotic' is a racist stereotype with a long, troubled history

Written by Long T. Bui, Associate Professor of Global and International Studies, University of California, Irvine

Nathan Chen competes during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on Feb. 10, 2022.VCG via Getty Images

When U.S. figure skater Nathan Chen won the gold medal in men’s figure skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics, a Washington Post article attributed his win to a fierce, focused, “robotic” zeal. This robotic characterization draws...

Who are the Jesuits?

Written by Dorian Llywelyn, President, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Venezuelan priest Arturo Sosa Abascal, second from right, receives congratulations after being chosen as new superior general of the Jesuits in 2016. Franco Origlia/Getty Images News via Getty Images

For centuries, the Jesuits have worn many hats: missionaries, educators and preachers; writers and scientists; priests with the poor and confessors to...

A large solar storm could knock out the power grid and the internet – an electrical engineer explains how

Written by David Wallace, Assistant Clinical Professor of Electrical Engineering, Mississippi State University

Typical amounts of solar particles hitting the earth's magnetosphere can be beautiful, but too much could be catastrophic.Svein-Magne Tunli - tunliweb.no/Wikimedia, CC BY-NC-SA

On Sept. 1 and 2, 1859, telegraph systems around the world failed catastrophically. The operators of the telegraphs reported receiving electrical shocks, telegraph paper...

How prosthetic penises in shows like HBO's 'Minx' reinforce existing stereotypes and taboos

Written by Peter Lehman, Emeritus Professor, Film and Media Studies in English, Arizona State University

Entertainment Weekly recently published an interview with actor Taylor Zakhar Perez, teasing the piece with a headline about Perez “baring it all” as a nude model for a 1970s magazine centerfold in the first episode in HBO Max’s “scandalous” new show, “Minx.”

The real scandal, in my view, is not the...

How poetry can help people get through hard times – 4 essential reads

Written by Alvin Buyinza, Editorial and Outreach Assistant, The Conversation US

Poetry can be a way for people to come together. Saul Loeb - Pool/Getty Images

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukrainian American writer Ilya Kaminsky’s poem “We Lived Happily During the War” went viral across social media.

Poetry can often help people make sense of the world in difficult times. For World Poetry Day, The Conversation...