The Conversation

Charles Colgan, Middlebury Institute of International Studies Ocean-related tourism and recreation supports more than 320,000 jobs and US$13.5 billion in goods and services in Florida. But a swim in the ocean became much less attractive in the summer of 2023, when the water temperatures off Miami reached as high as 101 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 Celsius). […]

Gabriel J. Chin, University of California, Davis After the May 30, 2024, conviction of former President Donald Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York, what comes next? Trump’s legal team will likely appeal the verdict. “We will fight for our Constitution,” Trump said following the jury’s announcement. “This is long […]

By Gaurav Khanna, Professor of Physics at the University of Rhode Island Physicists consider black holes one of the most mysterious objects that exist. Ironically, they’re also considered one of the simplest. For years, physicists like me have been looking to prove that black holes are more complex than they seem. And a newly approved […]

Christopher Niezrecki, UMass Lowell America’s first large-scale offshore wind farms began sending power to the Northeast in early 2024, but a wave of wind farm project cancellations and rising costs have left many people with doubts about the industry’s future in the U.S. Several big hitters, including Ørsted, Equinor, BP and Avangrid, have canceled contracts […]

Pedro DiNezio, University of Colorado Boulder One of the big contributors to the record-breaking global temperatures over the past year – El Niño – is nearly gone, and its opposite, La Niña, is on the way. Whether that’s a relief or not depends in part on where you live. Above-normal temperatures are still forecast across […]

Sinead McEneaney, The Open University For anybody interested in the history of the 1960s, the ongoing protests at US universities have a peculiar resonance. In the past weeks, riot police have entered several college campuses at the behest of administrators to break up unauthorised encampments of students protesting the war in Gaza and calling on […]

David Alff, University at Buffalo The Northeast corridor is America’s busiest rail line. Each day, its trains deliver 800,000 passengers to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington and points in between. The Northeast corridor is also a name for the place those trains serve: the coastal plain stretching from Virginia to Massachusetts, where over 17% of […]

Douglas Goodwin, Scripps College As the Moon casts its shadow across the Earth during the upcoming solar eclipse, cameras of all kinds will turn skyward. While professional photographers with specialized equipment will aim to capture the perfect shot, others will reach for their smartphones to immortalize this moment. While smartphone cameras can’t take a great […]

Gary Solar, Buffalo State, The State University of New York It’s rare to feel earthquakes in the U.S. Northeast, so the magnitude 4.8 earthquake in New Jersey that shook buildings in New York City and was felt from Maryland to Boston on April 5, 2024, drew a lot of questions. It was one of the […]

Gavin Naylor, University of Florida Human fear of sharks has deep roots. Written works and art from the ancient world contain references to sharks preying on sailors as early as the eighth century B.C.E. Relayed back to land, stories about shark encounters have been embellished and amplified. Together with the fact that from time to […]

Shuang-Ye Wu, University of Dayton National weather analysts released their 2023 billion-dollar disasters list on Jan. 9, just as 2024 was getting off to a ferocious start. A blizzard was sweeping across across the Plains and Midwest, and the South and East faced flood risks from extreme downpours. The U.S. set an unwelcome record for […]

Andrew Sperling, American University On a chilly Halloween night in late October 1950, dozens of Jewish teenagers and their friends gathered for merriment in the Boston neighborhood of Dorchester at the Hecht House, a Jewish community center that provided job training and hosted social events. While there, they celebrated the holiday with dancing, cake and […]

Charles O. Stanier, University of Iowa; Gregory Carmichael, University of Iowa, and Peter S. Thorne, University of Iowa Canada’s seemingly endless wildfires in 2023 introduced millions of people across North America to the health hazards of wildfire smoke. While Western states have contended with smoky fire seasons for years, the air quality alerts across the […]

Brad Reisfeld, Colorado State University Plunging into the ocean or a lake is one of the great joys of summer. But arriving at the beach to find water that’s green, red or brown, and possibly foul-smelling, can instantly spoil the party. As a toxicologist, I study health risks from both synthetic and natural substances. I’ve […]

Molly Jackson, The Conversation What’s Easter about? In some ways, the answer is pretty simple: Jesus Christ, and Christians’ belief that he rose from the dead. In other ways, though, the springtime holiday is far from straightforward. How did rabbits get involved? Where did the name “Easter” come from – and why is the English […]

Fritz Holznagel, The Conversation We hope you’ve enjoyed this first regular quiz from our new quizmaster, Fritz Holznagel, a past winner of the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. If you have feedback on the quiz, please send us an email at us.quiz@theconversation.com. Fritz Holznagel, Quizmaster, The Conversation This article is republished from The Conversation under a […]

By Jay L. Zagorsky, Boston University As summer draws to a close, it is time for many to think about back-to-school shopping, such as notebooks, backpacks and new clothes. As an economist who has studied consumer prices for years, I wondered how soaring inflation was affecting the costs of typical back-to-school gear. Consumer prices rose […]