The Conversation U.S. - News written by researchers and scientists to help you understand

A dark-haired man talking to a huge crowd of people.

Psychological toll of betrayal trauma may help explain why women kept silent for decades after their allegations of abuse against civil rights icon Cesar Chavez

Anne P. DePrince, University of Denver

Over 400 million barrels will be added to the oil market soon – what are strategic reserves and what can they do?

Scott L. Montgomery, University of Washington

A web of sensors: How the US spots missiles and drones from Iran

Aaron Brynildson, University of Mississippi

a large outdoor structure with angled sides containing octagonal patterns

How dolphins communicate – new discoveries from a long-term study in Sarasota, Florida

Laela Sayigh, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

50 years ago, Karen Quinlan’s coma sparked the movement for patients’ rights near the end of life

Robert S. Olick, SUNY Upstate Medical University

Someone in a brown sweater holds the hand of someone lying in a hospital bed.

What Betsy Ross’ real story tells us about women’s work in the Revolution − and why it still matters 250 years later

Marla Miller, UMass Amherst

An illustration of a group of men and women in colonial dress with the man in the center holding a U.S. flag with 13 stars

Why many older adults skip hard candy – how aging can change chewing and swallowing

Sundeep Venkatesan, Binghamton University, State University of New York

A grandmother and her granddaughter sitting at a table with bowls of Easter candy.

Immigrant kids can attend school regardless of citizenship – some states are challenging this standard

William McCorkle, College of Charleston

A woman walks along the sidewalk, holding a child's hand, near a sign that says Ellsworth Avenue School.

The ever-evolving Latino vote is rapidly shifting away from Trump and Republicans

Matt A. Barreto, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and Gary M. Segura, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

A man holds a campaign sign in front of a display of various campaign posters and the U.S. flag.

For the nearly 1 in 4 US adults with chronic pain, employers’ expectations of a healthy body can lead to shame

Beth Schinoff, University of Delaware and Elana Feldman, UMass Lowell

Businesswoman whose neck is hurting sits at a desk at work.

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Trump’s ‘Venezuela solution’ to Cuba would see the island nation returned to a client state

Joseph J. Gonzalez, Appalachian State University

Can you survive inside a tornado? This scientist did by accident – he’s lucky to be alive

Perry Samson, University of Michigan

Targeting of energy facilities turned Iran war into worst-case scenario for Gulf states

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University

Overconfidence is how wars are lost − lessons from Vietnam, Afghanistan and Ukraine for the war in Iran were ignored

Monica Duffy Toft, Tufts University

Plumes of black smoke rising from fires at oil tanks.

You probably agree with the animals on which bird calls, frog noises and cricket chirps are most attractive – new research

Logan S. James, The University of Texas at Austin; McGill University

three birds perched on a rod cocking their heads in different directions

‘Project Hail Mary’ explores unique forms of life in space – 5 essential reads on searching for aliens that look nothing like life on Earth

Mary Magnuson, The Conversation

A deep view of many galaxies and stars in space

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cartoon of a woman and a humanoid robot talking to each other

How AI English and human English differ – and how to decide when to use artificial language

Laura Aull, University of Michigan

Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict is rooted in local border dispute – but the risks extend across the region

Rabia Akhtar, Harvard Kennedy School; University of Lahore

A man with a gun stands on top of rubble

HBO’s ‘The Pitt’ nails how hospital cyberattacks create chaos, endanger patients and disrupt critical care

Jeffrey Tully, University of California, San Diego and Christian Dameff, University of California, San Diego

Medical staff from the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center stabilize a patient.

Israeli action in Lebanon risks repeating history’s mistakes — and torpedoing a historic moment for dialogue

Asher Kaufman, University of Notre Dame

A black cloud rises next to an apartment bloc.

Federal judge temporarily blocks RFK Jr.’s vaccine agenda – an epidemiologist answers questions parents may have

Katrine L. Wallace, University of Illinois Chicago

Little girl getting vaccinated at a table with another child behind her.

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U.S.-Iran war

Who are Iran’s new leaders? A look at 6 the US placed a bounty on – 2 of whom are already dead

Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Missouri University of Science and Technology

Information is a battlefield: 4 questions you can ask to judge the reliability of news reports and social posts about the US-Iran war

Andrea Hickerson, University of Mississippi

Several men in suit and ties watch another man speak while on a podium.

Going nuclear? Why a growing number of Washington’s allies are eyeing an alternative to US umbrella

Amy McAuliffe, University of Notre Dame

Political leaders in business attire sit around a conference table.

In war-torn Iran, air pollution from burning oil depots and bombed buildings unleashes invisible health threats

Armin Sorooshian, University of Arizona

A woman crouches down picking up up pieces while surrounded by missing walls and pulverized cement. Few items int he home are reconizable.

Iran’s nuclear materials and equipment remain a danger in an active war zone

Matthew Bunn, Harvard Kennedy School

An overhead view of a rugged landscape with gravel roads and metal buildings.

When GPS lies at sea: How electronic warfare is threatening ships and their crews

Anna Raymaker, Georgia Institute of Technology

view along the deck of a oil super tanker at sea with sunset in the background

Iran’s missile mayhem show the limits of Middle East defences

Michael J. Armstrong, Brock University

A large black plume of smoke spewing from a warehouse in an industrial area.

Iran will respond to US-Israeli strikes as existential threats to the regime – because they are

Javed Ali, University of Michigan

The US is using repurposed Iranian drone technology to attack Iran – a military expert explains why

Arun Dawson, King's College London

The Iranian Shahed-136 attack drone in flight.

Philosophy and ethics

Hands type on a keyboard, as the words 'credit score' and a colored chart float above.

Moral metrics: Are corporate algorithms becoming our new moral authorities?

Beth DuFault, University of Portland

Paul Ehrlich, often called alarmist for dire warnings about human harms to the Earth, believed scientists had a responsibility to speak out

William J. (Bill) Kovarik, Radford University

A man in a chambray shirt and sun hat stands outdoors, feeding a bird from his hand.

What an ancient Chinese philosopher can teach us about Americans’ obsession with college rankings

Stephen Chen, Wellesley College

A girl in a red skirt looks up at a wall full of Chinese script in large characters, against a white background.

Iran war and other tough topics give K-12 teachers chance to teach students how, not what, to think

Boaz Dvir, Penn State

A large crowd of people stand in a street with red, white and green flags and a large billboard that shows a man wearing a robe, waving to people holding their arms up to him.

I was teaching virtue and knowledge while lying on the side

Katherine Moses, University of Mississippi

A woman drives a car at night with her eyes visible through the rearview mirror.

Extreme weather and natural disasters

Lakes the color of turquoise gem stones stand out against the white glaciers that send meltwater into them.

Alaska’s glacial lakes are expanding, increasing the risk of destructive outburst floods

Dan McGrath, Colorado State University

Making sense of a chaotic planet: How understanding weather and climate risks depends on supercomputers like NCAR’s

Antonios Mamalakis, University of Virginia

Warming winters are disrupting the hidden world of fungi – the result can shift mountain grasslands to scrub

Stephanie Kivlin, University of Tennessee; Aimee Classen, University of Michigan, and Lara A. Souza, University of Oklahoma

An outdoor view of a lake, snow on trees and mountains in the background

Sixth year of drought in Texas and Oklahoma leaves ranchers facing wildfires and bracing for another tough year

Joel Lisonbee, University of Colorado Boulder and William Baule, Texas A&M University

A farmer walks toward cattle in a very dry landscape under a blue sky.

Tahoe avalanche: What causes snow slopes to collapse? A physicist and skier explains, with tips for surviving

Nathalie Vriend, University of Colorado Boulder

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ICE and immigration

Black woman wearing a medical mask holds sign that reads, "ICE Out Of Pennsylvania."

ICE buys $87M warehouse in Pennsylvania − can local officials block a detention facility?

Aaron Walayat, University of Dayton

Why ICE’s body camera policies make the videos unlikely to improve accountability and transparency

Stephanie Lessing, UMass Boston

When ICE sweeps a community, public health pays a price – and recovery will likely take years

Nicole L. Novak, University of Iowa and William D. Lopez, University of Michigan

People in winter hats hold signs protesting against ICE in Minneapolis.

How the 9/11 terrorist attacks shaped ICE’s immigration strategy

Pawan Dhingra, Amherst College

A man dressed in military gear and holding a rifle is surrounded by tear gas.

A terrorism label that comes before the facts can turn ‘domestic terrorism’ into a useless designation

Brian O'Neill, Georgia Institute of Technology

A woman speaks in front of a podium as an image of a gun appears on a video screen behind her.

Trump administration

A man in a suit uses scissors to cut strings holding money bags up.

Tax changes taking effect in 2026 may boost the number of donors but lead to the US missing out on an estimated $5.7B a year in charitable giving

Jon Bergdoll, Indiana University and Patrick Rooney, Indiana University

In its hunt for critical minerals, the US is misconstruing what is and is not America’s

Coalter G Lathrop, Duke University

A photo of a mechanical claw from a submersible and surrounding seafloor that appears almost paved in nodules.

Congress still has ways to throttle back Trump’s war with Iran – and to ask questions

SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor, University of Virginia and Charlie Hunt, Boise State University

A photo of the US Capitol dome and an Iranian flag superimposed on it.

Venezuela’s fragile environment faces rising risks as US pushes for oil and critical minerals and illegal gold mining spreads

Antonio Machado Allison, Wesleyan University

A young Venezuelan miner works in an open pit gold mine in Bolivar State, Venezuela, in 2023.

Trump offered a restrictive deal to universities that almost all rejected – but the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education may not be entirely dead

Fred L. Pincus, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

A cartoon image shows a person looking inside a bird cage that has books in it

International

Two people gesture toward an approaching military vehicle.

Kurdish gains in Syria could disappear without international support − just as they did in Iraq decades ago

Lily Hindy, University of California, Los Angeles

China’s muted response over war in Iran reflects Beijing’s delicate calculus as a concerned onlooker

John Calabrese, American University

Hezbollah − degraded, weakened but not yet disarmed − destabilizes Lebanon once again

Mireille Rebeiz, Dickinson College

Far from random, China’s global port network is clustering near the world’s riskiest trade routes

Dylan Spencer, Georgia Southern University; Gohar Petrossian, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Stephen Pires, Florida International University

The silhouettes of container cranes against a sunset

La Jefa: the wife of slain drug kingpin El Mencho and the women at the heart of the cartels

Adriana Marin, Coventry University

A stock image of a Latino woman putting a wad of US dollars in her pocket.

New research in health and science

Middle-aged man reviewing a financial document in front of his laptop.

Health insurance jargon can be frustrating and confusing – here’s how to navigate it

Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, UMass Amherst and Michal Horný, UMass Amherst

Power outages in heat waves and storms can threaten the lives of medical device users – we looked at who is most at risk

Matthew D. Dean, University of California, Irvine and Katherine Asmussen, University of Tennessee

An older adult writes while using a machine with a face mask that assists with breathing.

Millions of CT scans are done every year – most leave important data behind

Peter Gunderman, Indiana University

Doctor running CT scan from the next room, with patient entering a CT scanner in the background.

Researchers develop biodegradable, plant-based packaging from natural fibers – new research

J. Carson Meredith, Georgia Institute of Technology

Crumpled up plastic wrap against a black background

My research on wheelchair basketball challenges one of the biggest assumptions about sex differences in sports

Leanne Snyder, Loyola University Chicago

Players from Spain's and Australia wheelchair basketball team during the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games

Artificial intelligence

A circle that says AI has a graduation cap on it hovers above a desk, which has books, an apple and a small tree on it in a cartoon image.

More and more teachers and students are using AI – even though it might do more harm than good

Tal Slemrod, California State University, Chico

With AI finishing your sentences, what will happen to your unique voice on the page?

Gayle Rogers, University of Pittsburgh

A hand holding a pencil and writing binary code on lined paper.

The long history of silent meditation retreats and the individuals who helped shape them

Daniel M. Stuart, University of South Carolina

A brightly lit pagoda standing within a green-painted wall, surrounded by trees.

A writing professor’s new task in the age of AI: Teaching students when to struggle

Kristi Girdharry, Babson College

As the Oscars approach, Hollywood grapples with AI’s growing influence on filmmaking

Holly Willis, University of Southern California

A glitchy-looking golden Oscar statuette set up against a black backdrop.

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