By Bernadette McBride, Lecturer in Creative Writing, Liverpool Hope University
As the smell of smoke and burning drifts around my neighbourhood from wildfires in nearby north Wales and Manchester, I worry that the consequences of this climate crisis are getting closer.
The decline of our planet is no longer just a physical threat; it is a mental health emergency. The Climate Cares Centre – the world’s first research hub dedicated to climate change and mental health – warns that the climate crisis is affecting the mental wellbeing of hundreds of millions of people around the world.
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By Lisa Sugiura, Professor of Cybercrime and Gender, University of Portsmouth
When the world learned about the horrors inflicted upon Gisèle Pelicot by her husband and his fellow rapists in 2024, it was presented as a shocking anomaly.
I participated in a documentary about the case, and during filming was asked: “Could this happen again?”. My response was: “It already is, and is an extension of the domestic…
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By Jane Adkins, PhD candidate, School of Computing, Dublin City University
Every ancient language that has ever been deciphered needed an anchor. Usually that’s a bilingual text, like the Rosetta Stone, or a known relative to compare it to. Linear A, the writing system of the Bronze Age Minoan civilisation on the Greek island of Crete, has neither.
Linear A is described as a “language isolate” because it has no confirmed link to any known language, living or dead. As such, it has posed a significant challenge for linguists…
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By Gillian Murphy, Professor of Cognitive Psychology, University College Cork
Think back to your time at school. Were you hard-working, popular, anxious? And what exam grades did you get? Now, imagine someone pulls out your school reports from that time. How closely would they match the results you just brought to mind?
If your recollections match exactly, you might congratulate yourself on having an excellent memory. But as a psychologist who has spent years researching what people remember – and…
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By Art Jipson, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Dayton
For decades, terrorism researchers have generally distinguished terrorism from other forms of violence by one defining feature: the intention to intimidate a wider audience beyond immediate victims.
That distinction has shaped both academic research and criminal prosecutions in the U.S. Yet
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By Peter Kastor, Professor of History & American Culture Studies, Washington University in St. Louis
Air Force One shouldn’t be seen as only a cool piece of flying technology or a political flash point. Instead, writes a historian, the presidential plane has shaped and defined the modern presidency.
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By Kiki Crawford, Lecturer of Biological Sciences, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
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 makes the cells of the muscles contract? – Samarth, age 13, India
Muscles are amazing. They’re what let you strum a guitar, kick a soccer ball and high-five your friends. When you decide to move, your…
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By Christopher Davis, Professor of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences, UMass Amherst
Pennsylvania logged 852 severe weather reports from March through June – more than double the 30-year average. A meteorologist explains what keeps the storms coming.
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By Jennifer G. Andrews, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Morehouse College
With social media communities and naturalist apps, birding is easier to get into than ever. A psychologist explains why it may also be just what the doctor ordered.
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By Edward D. Melillo, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of History and Environmental Studies, Amherst College
Long before synthetic fertilizers, the global guano trade reshaped farming, fueled American expansion and exposed the hidden human costs of feeding the modern world.
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