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

Lightning turns the sky purple over a city, with buildings in the foreground and apartment lights on.

Using thunderquakes to X-ray Earth – a new study shows urban seismology in action

Nolan Roth, The Ohio State University and Tieyuan Zhu, Penn State

Tub of protein powder spilled over, the word 'PROTEIN' traced in the powder

More protein in your breakfast or snacks won’t give you more muscle without more work – a biologist separates the science from the marketing

Linda M. Boland, University of Richmond

Jason Arday and the new politics of plagiarism

Roger J. Kreuz, University of Memphis

A photo of a young Black man with dreadlocks affixed to a black fence, surrounded by colorful flowers and handwritten notes.

The importance of teaching students what AI can’t do

Billy J. Stratton, University of Denver

Colorful painting of a young woman lying on her back in the grass, propping her head up with one of her hands.

Is it illegal for the president to spend ‘patriotic’ donations on a White House ballroom or anything else?

Ellen P. Aprill, University of California, Los Angeles

Two large protrusions made of concrete stand atop a large construction project with many workers milling about.

Darline Graham’s inherited Senate seat revives the ‘widow’s mandate’ with a sibling twist

Gibbs Knotts, Coastal Carolina University and Christopher A. Cooper, Western Carolina University

Antarctic krill fishing is now concentrated in the exact pattern conservation rules were designed to prevent

Kim S. Bernard, Oregon State University

A large ship in the middle of the ocean has booms out with lines running into the water.

A seemingly technical change to international student visas could disrupt teaching and research at US universities

Abigail Boggs, Wesleyan University

A cartoon image shows three people wearing graduation caps and pulling suitcases walking past a blue circles with other circles nearby it with an airplane nearby it.

How well have you been following the news?

Fritz Holznagel, The Conversation's Quizmaster

Take the quiz

jumble of disparate images like question marks, supreme court building, two silhouettes kissing and smiley faces

Classical music lovers can be as fanatical as Swifties – just read their letters

Kate Guthrie, University of Bristol

Get context to understand the news, in your inbox daily or weekly

Subscribe to our newsletters

A group of teenagers sit around a table outside.

16% of Pennsylvania teens have considered suicide – but everyday connection may help

Xue Zhang, Penn State and Jonathan Wright, Penn State

A woman holds oxygen mask over her baby's face in a hospital

Why millions of people around the world will contract measles in 2026

Kathryn H. Jacobsen, University of Richmond

A person stands at an overlook, from which a lake is visible in the distance, with a wide dry area all around it.

Colorado River water conservation efforts get only halfway to a solution

Sarah Porter, Arizona State University

Cursive is making a comeback. But does it deserve one?

Mary Jean Tecce DeCarlo, Drexel University

A child's hand holds a pen and is seen writing cursive letters on a white page in a book.

White supremacists spin a Justice Department indictment against a hate-monitoring group to legitimize extremism and expand recruitment

Art Jipson, University of Dayton

Two men dressed in suit and ties stand on a stage, one in front of a podium.

Why working-class people account for around 1% of lawmakers in the US – and only 2% in the average democracy around the world

Noam Lupu, Vanderbilt University and Nicholas Carnes, Duke University

A smiling man clasps hands with another man holding a 'Troy Jackson' campaign sign at a political rally.

Why social media algorithms send you posts you don’t like

Ziv Epstein, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Farnaz Jahanbakhsh, University of Michigan, and Michael Bernstein, Stanford University

Illustration of man looking at phone with an angel pulling positive emojis from one side of his head and a devil pulling negative ones from the other

Christian nationalists’ professed support for religious pluralism is often drowned out by perceptions that Christians are under threat

Brooklyn Walker, University of Tennessee and Paul Djupe, Denison University

A crucifix in front of an American flag.

Personal bankruptcy filings are soaring in 2026, signaling growing economic distress

Jay L. Zagorsky, Boston University

An outstretched arm pokes through a pile of paper, holding a white flag signaling surrender.

Puerto Rico is rationing water, but many residents stopped trusting the tap long before the drought

Ivis García, Texas A&M University

Hands holding several water jugs under spigots

After Supreme Court setback, Trump again targets immigration by expanding definition of birthright citizenship

Austin Sarat, Amherst College

A man seated at a desk speaks as another many standing in the background looks at him.

Read all our latest articles

Latest videos

A clear plastic cup filled halfway with water is held up. A snippet of DNA is floating inside. The cup is surrounded by bits of DNA.

Watch

Hidden DNA clues in the environment

U.S.-Iran war

Men in army fatigues stand with large guns.

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

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University

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.'

The danger of US-Iran ceasefire agreement is what it leaves out

Monica Duffy Toft, Tufts University

Several ships appear with a motorboat on a stretch of ocean.

Trump’s US-Iran ceasefire deal is a costly return to prewar conditions – and resolving nuclear questions will run into the ‘indivisibility problem’

Farah N. Jan, University of Pennsylvania

How are Saudis viewing the US-Iran war? Our polling suggests Gulf kingdom is split on key issues

Robert Kubinec, University of South Carolina and Alexis Montambault-Trudelle, Université Laval

A group of people in traditional Saudi dress walk up stairs.

250th anniversary of American independence

An American flag, with only 13 stars, arrayed in a circle.

After 1776, the founders designed a government that accounts for ‘a degree of depravity in mankind’

Donovan Fifield, University of South Carolina

How did it feel to be an American colonist in 1776? Probably itchy, achy and slightly nauseated

Katherine Ott, Smithsonian Institution

illustration of people in colonial garb with muskets

As the US turns 250, a forgotten founding influence helps explain its current unease

Robert A. Ballingall, University of Maine

Delegates at the signing of the U.S. Constitution

How a tiny Caribbean island made American independence possible

R. Grant Gilmore III, College of Charleston

painting of a ship approaching St. Eustatius

Muslims were part of America’s story long before the republic began

Iqbal Akhtar, Florida International University

Men and women stand in separate rows, bowing their heads in prayer.

Extreme weather and natural disasters

An office building and two houses partially filled with flood water with a mountain in the background.

Severe flooding raises deadly overdose risk in rural Appalachia, study finds – and the harm lasts for years

Kristina P. Brant, Penn State

Dealing with disasters increasingly requires a smartphone – losing access can be a nightmare, but there are ways to prepare

Lee Ann Rawlins Williams, University of North Dakota

A woman standing knee-deep in flood water puts a hand to her forehead while trying to make a call.

Ancient forests took 100,000 years to recover from past global warming – Wyoming fossils reveal what happened

Regan E. Dunn, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Wildfires can contaminate nearby homes and water systems – here’s what Spokane’s returning residents need to know

Andrew J. Whelton, Purdue University

A row of homes stands behind the debris remaining of blocks of houses that burned.

Wildfire-damaged historic buildings may not be as ruined as they appear, but saving them means acting fast

Rebecca Napolitano, Penn State; Giorgia Giardina, Delft University of Technology, and Tiago Miguel Ferreira, Universidade de Lisboa

A stone chapel on a hillside with wildfire smoke around it.

Are you an academic expert who wants to share your knowledge?

Pitch an article

International

An Indian child holds a placard listing Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity, with the word "Indian" running through the names.

A Hindu soldier and a Muslim poet show how religious identities overlapped in 19th-century India

Aishwarya Lakshmi, Rice University

How Imperial Japan turned to the sardine to help build a war machine

Pei-Hsu Lin, Washington University in St. Louis

Emerging anti-immigration sentiment in Japan obscures a surprising history of strategic engagement with Islam

Mimi Hanaoka, University of Richmond

Two women wearing headscarves smile as they look at something together.

Criminal gangs have diversified across Latin America, making them more resilient – but not untouchable

Robert Muggah, Instituto Igarapé; Princeton University

Two people on a motorbike ride past a man in army uniform carrying a large gun.

Lightning strikes kill thousands globally each year, but for those who survive, the storm is far from over

Daile Zhang, University of North Dakota

Person with an umbrella walking as lightning strikes in the background.

New research in health and science

Senior Asian woman leaning forward on a couch during a therapy session, looking concerned.

New therapies help people with schizophrenia – but access is woefully inadequate

Matthew Kurtz, Wesleyan University

Quitting alcohol changes the brain and can increase the risk of compulsive drinking – new research in mice

Danny G. Winder, UMass Chan Medical School and Marie Doyle, UMass Chan Medical School

Exploring the Moon will require rovers that can think for themselves – an upcoming NASA mission will test whether they can

Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, University of Florida

An illustration of three small robotic rovers, which have a flat body, solar panel wings and four wheels.

White House plan for a ‘golden age’ of science ignores the structures that made the US a scientific superpower

H. Christopher Frey, North Carolina State University

White House lit up with golden light with dark purple sky around

A lot of casual friends, or only a few you’re really close with? New research questions that trade-off

Jessica D. Ayers, Boise State University and Diego Guevara Beltran, University of Arizona

Artificial intelligence

A large cylinder covered in marine debris is hosed off while sitting on a barge.

AI companies look to the ocean as a place to put more data centers

Nir Kshetri, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

Teens are turning to AI chatbots for emotional support – here’s how to keep kids safe

Phoebe S. Moore, UMass Chan Medical School; Megan Kelly, UMass Chan Medical School, and Yael Dvir, UMass Chan Medical School

Teen holding smartphone with chat conversation late at night at home.

An AI agent spent your money – can anyone prove you authorized it?

Aashis Luitel, University of the Cumberlands

Layoffs tied to AI hurt worker productivity – and the reason may surprise managers

Mark Ma, University of Pittsburgh

An advertisement in San Francisco, Calif., for the AI company Artisan depicts a smiling woman against a purple background and reads: "Artisans won't complain about work-life balance."

China is shaping the future of open-source technology – including AI

Christopher K. Tong, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

people behind and in front of a booth at a trade show

Our partners and funders

The Conversation is a nonprofit organization and our work is made possible by the generosity of our readers, foundations, and university and college members. They make it possible for us to bring this journalism to the public without paywalls or licensing fees.

View all our partners and funders

View all our Founding Partners

View all our Funding Partners

View all our Member Partners

Find out more about us