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

A grassy area covered with leaves sits next to a sign saying 'leave the leaves.'

Why fall yard care could start with doing less – but not nothing

Manjot Kaur Sidhu, University of Maine

How Hurricane Isaias broke through to become the first Atlantic hurricane in an eerily quiet 2026 season

Christopher Davis, UMass Amherst

Two men place boards on the windows of a shop.

Why faculty diversity at universities still lags far behind the changing demographics of college students

Rodney Coates, Miami University

An image shows a Black older man standing with his hands extended toward a large group of college students who are seated and watching him.

Three committee members sit at a table under a screen displaying the names and headshots of the two Nobel-winning scientists

A molecule’s ‘handedness’ can determine whether it’s an effective drug – 4 examples of pharmaceuticals where chirality matters

Cedric Schaack, Wake Forest University and Mallory Green, Wake Forest University

A Banner saying 'Protect students, not rapists" hangs on the outside of a stone college building

Sexual assault survivors’ stories may shift over time – a psychologist explains why it doesn’t mean they’re lying

Michele Patterson Ford, Dickinson College

Karl Deisseroth after winning the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology.

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Nobel laureate Karl Deisseroth on how light is changing what we know about the brain

Gemma Ware, The Conversation

Iraqi Kurds sees opportunities – and risks – in the withdrawal of US troops

Firmesk Rahim, UMass Boston

A car drives past a large graffiti mural depicting soldiers.

Students from military families are often misunderstood in US public schools – a retired military officer and behavioral health expert explains what schools can do

Nikki R Wooten, University of South Carolina

A man wearing a military uniform sits and holds a small boy on his lap, while a girl and boy sit close to him.

Data centers make heat all year long – here’s how the ground can hold onto it until winter

Moones Alamooti, University of North Dakota

A large drilling rig sits next to a metal building.

The oil market that sets today’s gas prices was invented in western Pennsylvania

Brian C. Black, Penn State

A group of businessmen in a black and white photo.

A pregnant person in a hospital gown and wristband, with an IV taped to one hand, rests in a hospital bed.

When abortion and surrogacy law collide, contracts can’t answer the hardest questions

Sonia Suter, George Washington University and Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia

An American flag is waved at a naval ship.

What we talk about when we talk about US strategic ‘credibility’ – from Vietnam to Iran

Christopher Nichols, The Ohio State University and Kaveri Sarkar, The Ohio State University

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The IceCube research station, a rectangular building with three pillars attached, sitting on snowy ground.

IceCube is built on decades of research into tiny ‘ghost particles’ – but it was the first to find neutrinos coming from deep space

Doug Cowen, Penn State

Middle-aged man wearing a suit and wide-framed eyeglasses gestures and grins while holding a microphone.

How Jim Bakker became the Johnny Carson of Christian TV

John Wigger, University of Missouri-Columbia

Three people stand in front of voting booths.

Meet the ‘independent voters’ who will likely decide which party triumphs in the 2026 midterm elections

Julio Borquez, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Handling of rape allegations at Cornell shows why so many assaults go unreported – victims don’t trust the institutions that are supposed to help them

Kaitlyn M. Sims, University of Denver; Institute for Humane Studies

A demonstrator holds a sign reading "WE ARE JANE DOE"

Leap seconds have helped keep clocks synchronized with Earth’s rotation, but their time may be over – here’s why

Vahe Peroomian, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

A zoomed-in shot of the upper right corner of a clock, from 12 to 3, with all three hands pointing between 12 and 1

‘Make this face look gay’: AI models alter faces to give people stereotypical ‘gay,’ ‘straight’ or ‘criminal’ features

Ashique KhudaBukhsh, Rochester Institute of Technology

thrree wooden blocks with letters and line drawings on a surface

AI is changing pilgrims’ journeys, but sacred journeys have always adapted to new technology

Shay Rabineau, Binghamton University, State University of New York

People walking along a trail lined with lush green trees, seen from behind.

What the law says about armed officers at polling places

Danielle Friedman, University of Wisconsin-Madison

A 'VOTE HERE" sign in three languages, at a polling place.

Why the assault weapons debate is a culture debate

Robert Spitzer, State University of New York Cortland

An image of an assault rifle in crosshairs with a red background.

Your cells keep a record of every workout you’ve ever done – and those gains persist even after a break from exercise

Diego Hernandez-Saavedra, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Yi-Heng (Hank) Huang, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Person lying half on a treadmill, half on the ground

These state supreme court races could decide abortion access and trans rights

Rachel Rebouché, The University of Texas at Austin

A polling station is seen with two voting booths with American flags and the word 'vote' on them.

Latest videos

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Would you go in a room with 100 hungry mosquitoes?

Global health

The death of a Russian plague researcher, explained by a microbiologist

Thomas Jeffries, Western Sydney University

79 deaths a day: South Africa’s diabetes crisis needs a new strategy

Patrick Ngassa Piotie, University of Pretoria

A person checking their blood sugar levels

Global health research makes America richer and healthier

Joshua R. Ehrlich, University of Michigan

two doctors talking in front of a map of the world

Teenage girls may know how to prevent pregnancy – that doesn’t mean they have the power to do it

Deevia Bhana, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Women are turning to testosterone, but what does the science actually say?

Daniel Kelly, Sheffield Hallam University

A woman's hands opening a testosterone gel product.

Public health news and analysis, direct from experts around the world

Midterms 2026

A black-and-white photo of three men dressed in black.

2 midterm elections that brought on new eras in US politics

Robert A. Strong, University of Virginia

Why Hispanic Americans are losing faith in the American Dream

Diana Orcés, American University

Two people wearing and holding American flags walk down the middle of a street in a parade, facing away from the camera.

What to do if your vote is challenged: Practical advice for midterm elections

Karen Figueroa-Clewett, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Three voting booths and an American flag.

From the Freedom Caucus to the democratic socialists, small groups inside parties can wreak havoc with leaders’ agenda in Congress

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

Supporters for Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier celebrate during an election night watch party, June 23, 2026, in New York.

Why the Supreme Court blocked Trump and the Postal Service from restricting mail-in voting for the midterms

John J. Martin, Quinnipiac University

An illustration with the American flag, scales of justice and a person placing a ballot in a ballot box.

U.S.-Iran war

A lighted sign shows diesel fuel costs $6.39 a gallon.

Iran war pushes diesel – the economy’s lifeblood – to record high prices, with no relief on the horizon

Morgan Bazilian, Colorado School of Mines and Jamie Webster, Colorado School of Mines

Houthi advance boosts Iran’s leverage over the US and Saudi Arabia – but may cost rebel group its legitimacy back in Yemen

Mahad D. Darar, Colorado State University

Armed men patrol in an open-top vehicle.

Rapid Houthi advances in Yemen pose massive strategic risks for Saudi Arabia in the Gulf

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University

A new Houthi front and expanded Iranian attacks risk sinking Gulf nations’ choke-point workaround and widening shipping risks

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University

Men in army fatigues stand with large guns.

Amid grinding war, protesting Ukrainians still want their voices and values heard at home

Sarah Wilson Sokhey, University of Colorado Boulder; Gerard Toal, Virginia Tech, and John O’Loughlin, University of Colorado Boulder

A protester holds up a sign saying 'We support Fedorov.'

Extreme weather and natural disasters

Antarctica’s ice loss is locked in, and extra snowfall won’t save it – that’s bad news for low-lying coastal areas elsewhere

Yucheng Lin, City University of Hong Kong and Robert Kopp, Rutgers University

Why the nor'easter’s storm surge was so high, and what it says about the El Niño winter ahead

Brian Tang, University at Albany, State University of New York

People from a pizza shop pick up equipment from knee-deep flood water.

Another hurricane just sideswiped Hawaii – why the islands’ usual force field seems to be down in 2026

Nicholas Grondin, University of Tampa

A satellite view of the hurricane and Hawaii.

As cities prepare for 2026’s super El Niño, some crucial blind spots can’t be ignored

Bethany Tietjen, Tufts University

A man carrying several items walks through cement passage with water in it under a bridge

Game delays for lightning may be annoying, but they save lives – a sports meteorologist explains the risk

Chris Vagasky, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Lightning strikes near a soccer match, viewed from a safe angle, on Aug. 16, 2025, in Orlando, Florida.

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International

Several monks in saffron robes pray with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

What the Eiffel Tower controversy reveals about a Hindu monastic practice – known as ‘brahmacharya’

Bhakti Mamtora, University of Arizona

Ethiopia is sliding back toward war – a look at what is driving the fighting and why it matters

Alemayehu Fentaw Weldemariam, Indiana University

Men in army fatigues walk down the street

The Mecca alliance meets the Red Sea – Saudi Arabia’s new defense pact faces its first major test

John Calabrese, American University

Men in business attire gather at a meeting.

In ‘NAZA,’ Israeli whistleblowers’ revelations about civilian deaths in Gaza reflect a longer history of Palestinian isolation

Drew Paul, University of Tennessee

Push for Creole courses in schools stokes historic anti-Haitian feeling in Dominican Republic

Kendall Medford, Penn State

New research in health and science

Microscopy image of thin, small translucent rods colored purple, blue and white scattered across the screen.

Hibernating bacteria can invade hospitals and survive outer space – but their high energy bill is a weakness that scientists can strike

Canan Karakoç, Georgia Institute of Technology

Menopause is a major health milestone, yet health records barely track it - new research

Audrey Hendricks, University of Colorado Anschutz and Nanette Santoro, University of Colorado Anschutz

A group of middle-aged women lay and talk on a windy beach

Cholesterol control gets personalized – a cardiologist explains how new guidelines tailor treatment to your unique risk profile

William Cornwell, University of Colorado Anschutz

Two large blocks of butter stacked on top of a butter package with a silver knife on the left side.

Fiber is both diet fad and fixture for good health – a doctor explains why there is no one-size-fits-all way to increase your intake

Jean Liew, Boston University

Wooden cutting board with the word 'FIBER' written in flour, surrounded by various high-fiber fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, grains

The higher your body fat %, the less accurate your smartwatch is at measuring calories

Jason Kostrna, Florida International University

two men putting smartwatches on a man wearing mask sitting on a bike

Artificial intelligence

Yellow brain graphic floats above a tablet with various circuits in the background

AI behaves more like a brain than a database – cognitive science’s role in its origin story helps explain why

Michael Hout, New Mexico State University and Arryn Robbins, University of Richmond

Want to use AI to improve your work? Have it disagree with you

Monideepa Tarafdar, UMass Amherst

cartoon image of a humanoid robot and a man both wearing boxing gloves and facing each other, arms raised

AI can help with academic research but doesn’t always get it right – here are some tips to check the information you receive

Allison Faix, Coastal Carolina University and Samantha Duncan, Coastal Carolina University

A graphic image with a purple background shows an open laptop with text on it, and a hand holding up a microscope that says 'AI.'

As AI political deepfakes go viral, lawmakers struggle to keep up – 2 states’ laws show limits of what they can do

Stefani Langehennig, University of Denver

A woman looks at a hand-held computer screen with two men depicted on it.

The ‘WarGames’ problem: Computer science has long understood what it takes to keep AI under control

Deven Desai, Georgia Institute of Technology

a dark room with a set of very large display screens

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