Sign in
The Conversation
Dreamlike illustration of lone man surrounded by floating books.
Insights

Novelist J.G. Ballard was experimenting with computer-generated poetry 50 years before ChatGPT was invented

David Beer, University of York

Satellite map of northern Africa

Africa dramatically dried out 5,500 years ago – our new study may warn us of future climate tipping points

Martin H. Trauth, University of Potsdam; Asfawossen Asrat, Addis Ababa University, and Mark Maslin, UCL

Close up of a vaccine shot

Our new vaccine could protect against coronaviruses that haven’t even emerged yet – new study

Rory Hills, University of Oxford

Tents are pitched as part of a student pro-Palestine protest.

Gaza campus protests: why understanding 1960s student demonstrations and police reaction is relevant today

Sinead McEneaney, The Open University

Gaza war: as ceasefire talks break down the humanitarian crisis continues to escalate

Sarah Schiffling, Hanken School of Economics and Foteini Stavropoulou, Liverpool John Moores University

Palestinians fleeing Rafah in southern Gaza ahead of a possible IDF offensive.
War has plunged Israel’s tourism industry into a crisis it will struggle to recover from

Samuel Scanlon, University College Dublin

A crowd of tourists entering an old church.
Assisted dying: why Scotland should be wary of changing the law

Mary Neal, University of Strathclyde

Blue buttons with the words 'Dignity in Dying Scotland'
Latin America: several countries look to combat gang violence by fighting fire with fire

Amalendu Misra, Lancaster University

A group of heavily tattooed gang members in their prison cell.
A record player with a Specials 2Tone album playing.

How 2-Tone brought new ideas about race and culture to young people beyond the inner cities

Ian Gwinn, Bournemouth University

Our editors bring you stories no one else can. Try our daily newsletter

Subscribe now
Rishi Sunak sitting in front of a union flag

Rishi Sunak claims the UK is heading for a hung a parliament – let’s check his maths

Paul Whiteley, University of Essex

Most Gypsy and Traveller sites in Great Britain are located within 100 metres of major pollutants, shows research

Alice Bloch, University of Manchester and Katharine Quarmby, University of West London

A mobile home sits atop a shipping container in a brown field.
We’ve researched trans inclusion for nearly a decade – how we do our work has changed

Rosa Marvell, University of Portsmouth and Luke Fletcher, University of Bath

Group of people in discussion
Reducing energy demand and improving efficiency will help prevent the next gas crisis

Louis Fletcher, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

blue gas ring flames lit, background with computer generated pink and blue stock chart graph to indicate rising costs
If using LinkedIn makes you feel like an imposter at work, here’s how to cope

Sebastian Oliver, University of Southampton

A young woman sits dejected in front of a closed laptop
Donald Trump (right) and Jens Stolenberg standing in front of flags.

What a second Trump presidency might mean for the rest of the world

Christopher Featherstone, University of York

Trump promises to deport all undocumented immigrants, resurrecting a 1950s strategy − but it didn’t work then and is less likely to do so now

Katrina Burgess, Tufts University

A man with a police hat lifts up the hood of an old car to reveal a man lying there in a black and white photo.
The number of religious ‘nones’ in the US has soared, but not the number of atheists – and as social scientists, we wanted to know why

Christopher P. Scheitle, West Virginia University and Katie Corcoran, West Virginia University

An open dictionary page with the word 'atheist' circled in red ink.
Exploitation, brutality and misery: how the opium trade shaped the modern world

Kevin Foster, Monash University

Exploitation, brutality and misery: how the opium trade shaped the modern world
Terminal lucidity: why do loved ones with dementia sometimes ‘come back’ before death?

Yen Ying Lim, Monash University and Diny Thomson, Monash University

Woman and old lady
Man in grey jumper facing camera, wide empty sandy beach and sea in background

‘Everywhere we looked we found evidence’: the godfather of microplastics on 20 years of pollution research and the fight for global action

Richard Thompson, University of Plymouth

There's no fake news here. Help us combat misinformation. Invest in experts you can trust by supporting The Conversation today.

Donate today
A global plastic treaty will only work if it caps production, modelling shows

Costas Velis, University of Leeds

A worker in protective mask walks across a waste dump with birds and a bulldozer in the background.
Plastic is climate change in a bottle – so let’s put a cap on it

Jack Marley, The Conversation

Plastic bottles on an assembly line.
Starliner: Boeing prepares to launch its first crewed spacecraft as it chases after SpaceX

Gareth Dorrian, University of Birmingham

Starliner
Can an organ transplant really change someone’s personality?

Adam Taylor, Lancaster University

Middle aged man with headphones on
What is energy made of? The Conversation’s Curious Kids podcast

What is energy made of? The Conversation’s Curious Kids podcast

Eloise Stevens, The Conversation

Read more

Global affairs

The students' protest camp at Columbia University in New York.

US student Gaza protests: five things that have been missed

Robert P. Jackson, Manchester Metropolitan University

US election: why it’s not the protesters’ votes that the Democrats should worry about

Thomas Gift, UCL

A large Palestinian flag and students protesting.
Some experts say the US economy is on the up, but here’s why voters don’t think so

Jessica Eastland-Underwood, University of Warwick

Shoppers at a supermarket.
The EU’s new ecocide law may still let environmental criminals get away with it

Filippos Proedrou, University of South Wales and Maria Pournara, Swansea University

Waste on ground, polluting chimneys in background
Russia: arrest of deputy defence minister on corruption charges reveals bitter factional infighting among the elite

Stephen Hall, University of Bath

Russia's deputy defence minister, Timur Ivanov, faces court wearing his full military uniform
Read more

Subscribe to our fortnightly recap of expert analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Get our newsletter

Research highlights

Painting of plato and his students

Ancient scroll reveals new story of Plato’s death – here’s why you should be suspicious of it

Bert van den Berg, Leiden University

What being a teenage girl in 1960s Britain was really like

Penny Tinkler, University of Manchester

An archival black and white photograph of young people dancing in the street.
The ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky and how I used modern astronomy to explore her link with the Milky Way

Or Graur, University of Portsmouth

Ancient depiction of Nut
How one 18th-century sermon triggered England’s first celebrity crush – with merchandise

Hannah Yip, University of Manchester

A satirical drawing from the 18th century.
Are young people smarter than older adults? My research shows cognitive differences between generations are diminishing

Stephen Badham, Nottingham Trent University

Young woman and older man looking at ipad.

Podcasts

An illustration of a woman with underlying digital measurements.
The Conversation Weekly 🎙️

Computer science culture often means anybody’s data is fair game to feed the AI algorithm, but artists are fighting back

Gemma Ware, The Conversation

Artist design of an astronaut jumping on the Moon with Earth in the background.
Curious Kids 🎙️

How high can I jump on the Moon?

Eloise Stevens, The Conversation

More podcasts

Make better decisions

Dua Lipa smiling with a pattern behind her

Radical Optimism is Dua Lipa’s philosophy for dealing with life’s chaos – but radical openness is a better approach

Joshua Forstenzer, University of Sheffield

How to spot fake online reviews (with a little help from AI)

Nick Hajli, Loughborough University and Nick Jennings, Loughborough University

Phone with screen invitation offer an experience rating.
How extreme dieting can affect bone health

Adam Taylor, Lancaster University

Actress Jameela Jamil poses on a red carpet.
Measuring your food waste for six weeks can change your habits – new study

Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, Anglia Ruskin University

A truck in a landfill with seagulls.
Vaping now more common than smoking among young people – and the risks go beyond lung and brain damage

Amira Guirguis, Swansea University

A close up of a hand holding a vape with the other hand holding a mobile phone.

Expert reviews

Beyonce in a stetson smoking a cigar.

The genius of Cowboy Carter is Beyoncé’s accent – a musicologist explains

Conor Caldwell, University of Limerick

A Spy Like Me: Kim Sherwood’s evocative and thrilling addition to the James Bond canon

Monica Germanà, University of Westminster

A Maze with the book cover.
Love Lies Bleeding: this vengeful queer romance is a visceral cinematic experience

Kate McNicholas Smith, University of Westminster

Two women in a gym looking at each other affectionately
South West Bank: Venice Biennale exhibition explores how Palestinians have become ‘foreigners everywhere’

Clare Carolin, King's College London

Mounted photo of a young boy eating a watermelon
Queen Macbeth by Val McDermid: an invigorating romp that cleaves to the real history of Macbeth’s wife

Marion Gibson, University of Exeter

Painting of women with long red hair and green robes holding crown above her head
Read more

So much to catch up on. Your time is precious. Get our expert picks of film, TV, music, exhibitions, books and more

Subscribe to our arts newsletter

More newsletters

Imagine
Subscribe
Weekly email: Imagine. The planet with climate action
Ukraine Recap
Subscribe
Ukraine Recap
Global Economy and Business
Subscribe
Global Business & Economy
Global
Subscribe
Biweekly email The Conversation Global

Insights long reads

A group of uniformed men carry a coffin along a path out of woods

The murder of Giacomo Matteotti – reinvestigating Italy’s most infamous cold case

Andrea Pisauro, University of Plymouth and Gianluca Fantoni, Nottingham Trent University

Hard work and happy accidents: why do so many of us prefer ‘difficult’ analogue technology?

Michael Beverland, University of Sussex and Giana M. Eckhardt, King's College London

Technology enthusiasts work on modular synthesizers at an analogue tech festival
How a little-known clergyman studying worms by candlelight in the 1700s inspired Charles Darwin – but didn’t get the credit he deserved

Kevin Richard Butt, University of Central Lancashire

How a little-known clergyman studying worms by candlelight in the 1700s inspired Charles Darwin – but didn’t get the credit he deserved
India elections: ‘Our rule of law is under attack from our own government, but the world does not see this’

Sandhya Fuchs, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Man dressed in white suit stands inside white temple bedecked with flowers.
For people with mental illness, drugs and alcohol can be a key survival strategy. I’ve learned they shouldn’t have to ‘get clean’ to get treatment

Simon Bratt, Staffordshire University

Man drinking from a bottle of alcohol, with more empty bottles in the foreground.
Read more

In case you missed it

Boris Johnson drinking from a mug.

Boris Johnson: if even the prime minister who introduced voter ID can forget his, do we need a rethink?

Toby James, University of East Anglia

These local council results suggest Tory decimation at the general election ahead

Paul Whiteley, University of Essex

Rishi Sunak drinking a glass of water, looking tense.
Blackpool South byelection: the size of the swing to Labour made this such an unpleasant night for Rishi Sunak

Martin Farr, Newcastle University

Keir Starmer laughing in a crowd.
Gut microbiome: meet E coli – the infamous bacteria with an unfair reputation

Mel Lacey, Sheffield Hallam University

A digital drawing of _Escherichia coli_, depicting what the bacteria would look like under a microscope.
Decision to stick with single-word Ofsted judgments is all about control, not what is best for schools – former inspector

Colin Diamond, University of Birmingham

Man with Ofsted lanyard writing on clipboard
Swapping payments for vouchers won’t fix disability benefits – here’s what’s needed instead

Richard Machin, Nottingham Trent University

Close up of a man and woman sitting side by side, he is in a wheelchair and she is resting her hand on his, their faces are not visible in the photo
Supermarket Iceland is producing a manifesto on behalf of customers – but should retailers meddle in politics?

Andrew Crane, University of Bath

Iceland store front
Four major threats to press freedom in the UK

William Horsley, University of Sheffield

Side view of news cameras assembled at an event
‘Jeremy Hunt is probably right to oppose the finance watchdog’s plans to name and shame firms under investigation’ – expert Q&A

Alper Kara, Brunel University London

Jeremy Hunt answering questions

Most read this week

1.
How your vision can predict dementia 12 years before it is diagnosed – new study

Eef Hogervorst, Loughborough University; Ahmet Begde, Loughborough University, and Thom Wilcockson, Loughborough University

How your vision can predict dementia 12 years before it is diagnosed – new study
2.
Electric cars pile up at European ports as Chinese firms struggle to find buyers

Tom Stacey, Anglia Ruskin University

Electric cars pile up at European ports as Chinese firms struggle to find buyers
3.
Maths degrees are becoming less accessible – and this is a problem for business, government and innovation

Neil Saunders, City, University of London

Maths degrees are becoming less accessible – and this is a problem for business, government and innovation
4.
The UK has become the world’s fourth largest exporter, but can it maintain this momentum?

Ibiyemi Omeihe, University of the West of Scotland

The UK has become the world’s fourth largest exporter, but can it maintain this momentum?
5.
What your feet can tell you about your health

Dan Baumgardt, University of Bristol

What your feet can tell you about your health
6.
‘Britain could soon lose control of its defence industry’ – expert Q&A

Keith Hartley, University of York

‘Britain could soon lose control of its defence industry’ – expert Q&A

Events

Teenage Kicks: Girls growing up in Britain in the sixties

University of Manchester

Teenage Kicks: Girls growing up in Britain in the sixties

We exist to share knowledge and inform decisions.

The Conversation is the world's leading publisher of research-based news and analysis. It is a unique collaboration between academics and journalists. 

We'll always be free to read and free to republish.

Our charter

Our partners

Leeds Beckett UniversityDublin City UniversityLoughborough UniversityAberystwyth UniversityKing's College LondonAston UniversityUniversity of SheffieldUniversity of St AndrewsUniversity of East London
View all partners