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The Conversation

Placebo effect can work as well as real medicine – but your body may need permission to use it

  • Written by Phil Starks, Associate Professor of Biology, Tufts University
imageFrom empty pills to homeopathy to sham surgery, placebos have powerful effects on the body.Irina Marwan/Moment via Getty Images

The first time the placebo effect really got under my skin was when I read that roughly one-third of people with irritable bowel syndrome improve on placebo treatments alone. Usually this statistic is presented as a...

Read more: Placebo effect can work as well as real medicine – but your body may need permission to use it

Don’t just plant trees, plant forests to restore biodiversity for the future

  • Written by John Parker, Senior Scientist in Community Ecology, Smithsonian Institution
imageA long-running experiment is testing tree mixes to develop the healthiest forests.Mickey Pullen/Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Around the world, people plan to plant more than 1 trillion trees this decade in an ambitious effort to slow climate change and reduce biodiversity loss. But if the past is prologue, many of those planted trees wo...

Read more: Don’t just plant trees, plant forests to restore biodiversity for the future

We designed the turf for soccer’s biggest World Cup ever – here’s how we created the same playing experience across 3 countries

  • Written by John N. Trey Rogers, Professor of Turfgrass Research, Michigan State University
imageWorld Cup pitches take a beating.AP Photo/Bernat Armangue

With 104 matches in 16 stadiums across Canada, the United States and Mexico, the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be soccer’s biggest event ever.

It’s our job as turfgrassresearchershired by FIFA, the game’s governing body, to make sure those pitches feel the same for players and...

Read more: We designed the turf for soccer’s biggest World Cup ever – here’s how we created the same playing...

Intimate partner homicide has clear warning signs – and is often preventable, research shows

  • Written by Kathryn Spearman, Assistant Professor of Nursing, Penn State
imageTaking away access to firearms is one of the few effective interventions for reducing intimate partner homicide.Nastco/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Dr. Cerina Wanzer Fairfax was an accomplished dentist and a loving mom to two teenage children. On April 16, 2026, she was killed by her estranged husband, former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who...

Read more: Intimate partner homicide has clear warning signs – and is often preventable, research shows

Is the science that we do today truth, likely to be a lie, or is it undetermined?

  • Written by Greg Eghigian, Professor of History, Penn State
imageScience is what scientists do – it's an activity and a process, not a single thing. Solskin/DigitalVision via Getty Images

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.

Is the science that we do today truth, likely to be a lie, or is...

Read more: Is the science that we do today truth, likely to be a lie, or is it undetermined?

It’s a myth that baby boys are less social than girls – a new look at decades of research shows all babies are born to connect

  • Written by Lise Eliot, Professor of Neuroscience, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

Girls and boys are equally social at birth.

This finding, based on my team’s synthesis of six decades of research, may come as a surprise. Gender differences in adults’ social sensitivity are famous. Women outperform men at recognizing faces and emotions, and they score modestly higher on measures of empathy. They are likelier to take...

Read more: It’s a myth that baby boys are less social than girls – a new look at decades of research shows...

Most people do not realize when a personal message they receive was written by AI, study finds

  • Written by Andras Molnar, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan
imagePeople tend to be offended when they get a personal note written by AI – if they know.Ekaterina Buravleva/iStock via Getty Images

Two new experiments show that most people do not even consider that a personal message could be AI-generated, even when they themselves use artificial intelligence to write.

To see how people judge someone based on...

Read more: Most people do not realize when a personal message they receive was written by AI, study finds

Schools are supposed to limit using restraint and seclusion to discipline kids – but parents I spoke with say the practice is wildly misused

  • Written by Charles Bell, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Sciences, Illinois State University
imagePlacing a student in seclusion is meant to be used as an emergency response to dangerous behavior, but it happens in other circumstances, too. EyeEm Mobile GmbH/iStock Getty Images Plus

“Jessica,” the adoptive mother of a third grade student, was shocked when she discovered that her daughter had spent over 100 hours locked in a room...

Read more: Schools are supposed to limit using restraint and seclusion to discipline kids – but parents I...

ICE’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement was tried once before – by Arizona’s notorious sheriff Joe Arpaio in the early 2000s

  • Written by Jonathan van Harmelen, Visiting Assistant Professor, Oberlin College and Conservatory
imageMaricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio orders undocumented immigrants handcuffed together and moved into a separate area of Tent City in Phoenix on Feb. 4, 2009.AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File

For the past 13 years, Maricopa County in Arizona has attempted to reform its sheriff’s department after Joe Arpaio made it into a national flash point for...

Read more: ICE’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement was tried once before – by Arizona’s notorious sheriff...

1914 Ludlow Massacre took lives of 25 miners and family members during bitter strike for fair wages and conditions

  • Written by Robert Forrant, Professor of U.S. History and Labor Studies, UMass Lowell
imageThe Ludlow Massacre in 1914 on this site brought congressional attention to miners' labor rights in Colorado.Denver Public Library

On a spring morning in 1914, miners in Ludlow, Colorado, were celebrating Greek Easter when the Colorado National Guard and a private security agency opened fire on their camp with a machine-gun-equipped armored car...

Read more: 1914 Ludlow Massacre took lives of 25 miners and family members during bitter strike for fair...

More Articles ...

  1. When oil prices spike, where does the money go?
  2. Hampshire College’s demise is yet another blow to creative, outside-the-box options in higher education
  3. Why the future of marijuana legalization remains hazy despite high public support
  4. Trump sidelined Congress’ authority over war on Iran – and lawmakers allowed it, extending a 75-year trend
  5. Trump’s coercive tactics in Latin America evoke era of gunboat diplomacy – and the rise of anti-imperialism it helped spur
  6. I’ve fired one of America’s most powerful lasers – here’s what a shot day looks like
  7. About half of young Americans can’t name a single Holocaust site, repeating a pattern of ignorance seen in postwar Germany
  8. Ancient teeth reveal clues to the environment humans’ early ancestors evolved in millions of years ago
  9. How Islamophobic rhetoric leaves an impact on the mental health of Muslim Americans
  10. ‘Right to race’ laws and the battle over America’s local racetracks
  11. Cannabis sales and use are high in Michigan – but federal law means research lags behind
  12. Christian satellite TV has broadcast evangelical faith – and end-times prophecies – into Iran for decades
  13. Seeing women govern encourages support for women in politics – with no apparent backlash among men
  14. Students expect their university will mishandle sexual misconduct, if they ever report it
  15. One-way attack drones: Low-cost, high-tech weapons ‘democratize’ precision warfare
  16. Health information delivered as a video game can bridge the communication gap between patients and providers
  17. Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas not only recorded an anthem for the civil rights era – they fought for fair pay and proudly called themselves divas
  18. As renaissance fairs become big business, can they retain their counterculture roots?
  19. Washington DC’s 240 million-gallon sewage spill is a symptom of nationwide trouble
  20. How Trump’s repeated efforts to fire Federal Reserve Chair Powell harm the economy – and make battling inflation harder
  21. Iran’s military forces combine state-of-the-art drones and hackers with out-of-date conventional weapons
  22. Trump’s clash with the pope reenacts a 1,000-year-old question: What happens when sacred and secular power collide?
  23. Salty drinking water could be increasing your blood pressure – people living in coastal areas are most at risk
  24. Why women in groups face a ‘collaboration penalty’ that solo female stars like Taylor Swift and Coco Gauff escape
  25. Ads for GLP-1 drugs are flooding the internet – here’s how to know if it’s safe to buy them online
  26. Your local fishing hole is getting browner, changing which fish species thrive and which ones struggle
  27. Why Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon prayer services challenge traditional notions of separation of church and state – but might be blessed by the Roberts Supreme Court
  28. Thousands of AI-written, edited or ‘polished’ books are being sold – an eerie echo of Orwell’s ‘novel-writing machines’
  29. Strait of Hormuz: Why the US and Iran are sailing in very different legal waters
  30. The Islamabad talks were doomed to failure – and Hormuz blockade has thrown another obstacle to any Iran-US deal
  31. AI companions can give constant support – but distort ideas about what a relationship really is
  32. Antibiotics can trigger bacteria to release bubbles of inflammation tinder, making it harder to treat infection
  33. How debate about gender identity could undermine global efforts to protect victims of violence
  34. A justice department opinion arguing the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional could revert the nation to a time when presidents freely burned their papers
  35. What if Texas’ destructive Tax Day flood had centered on inner Houston instead? It’s why cities should plan for the improbable
  36. New federal figures reveal 1 in 3 US households struggle to pay energy bills, but the reality is likely even worse
  37. Using atomic nuclei could allow scientists to read time more precisely than ever – what this research could mean for future clocks
  38. What if Texas’ destructive Tax Day storm had centered on inner Houston instead? It’s why cities should plan for the improbable
  39. Industries most exposed to AI are not only seeing productivity gains but jobs and wage growth too
  40. Why rural hospitals in Pennsylvania and across the country are closing in increasing numbers – 5 myths about rural health care
  41. Trump’s exchange with Pope Leo reflects deep-rooted tensions between the Vatican and the United States: 4 essential reads
  42. How a new mapping tool helps Florida planners protect wildlife corridors as the state grows
  43. Cannabis legalization spurs innovation, but not always in ways that benefit patients or public health
  44. AIs have ‘personalities’ – here’s how they affect you more deeply than you may realize
  45. Artemis II crew brought a human eye and storytelling vision to the photos they took on their mission
  46. ‘Bouncing back’ is a myth – resilience means integrating hard experiences into your life story, not ignoring them
  47. 25 million people lost Medicaid after the COVID-19 pandemic — and state policies shaped who stayed covered
  48. Gray whales are dying in San Francisco Bay at an alarming rate – this isn’t normal
  49. The enduring legacy of medieval Christian depictions of Islam in today’s political discourse
  50. District school boards have become political hotbeds for book bans and more – here’s what they actually do