The Conversation

Your local fishing hole is getting browner, changing which fish species thrive and which ones struggle

Written by Allison M. Roth, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia

Increased carbon in runoff from land is turning freshwaters darker.Andrew P. Hendry via Flickr

The lakes, streams and ponds you’ve visited for years are likely looking more brown than they used to. And people who are fishing those waters are likely catching different species and sizes of fish than in the past.

Our research has identified a link...

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

Written by John E. Jones III, President, Dickinson College

The wall between church and state appears increasingly thin.hayesphotography/iStock Getty Images Plus

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is engaging in “a proselytizing Christian campaign” in his job, according to The Washington Post.

Hegseth hosts prayer services at the Pentagon and virtually crusades as a Christian, praying at the...

Thousands of AI-written, edited or ‘polished’ books are being sold – an eerie echo of Orwell’s ‘novel-writing machines’

Written by Laura Beers, Professor of History, American University

When it comes to machine-produced 'literature,' does it really matter whether the outputs can pass for original art?J Studios/Digital Vision via Getty Images

At some point in the next several months, I am hoping to receive a modest check as a member of the class covered in the class-action settlement Bartz v. Anthropic.

In 2025, the artificial...

Strait of Hormuz: Why the US and Iran are sailing in very different legal waters

Written by Elizabeth Mendenhall, Associate Professor of Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island

A vessel heads toward the Strait of Hormuz on April 8, 2026.Shady Alassar/Anadolu via Getty Images

The Strait of Hormuz exists in the eye of the beholder.

While everyone agrees that, geographically speaking, it is a strait – a narrow sea passage connecting two places that ships want to go – its political and legal status is rather more...

The Islamabad talks were doomed to failure – and Hormuz blockade has thrown another obstacle to any Iran-US deal

Written by Farah N. Jan, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Pennsylvania

U.S. Vice President JD Vance leaves Islamabad on April 12, 2026. Jacquelyn Martin - Pool/Getty ImagesJacquelyn Martin/Getty Images

Twenty-one hours of direct negotiations. The highest-level face-to-face engagement between Washington and Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

And yet, U.S. Vice President JD Vance boarded Air Force Two in Islamabad...

AI companions can give constant support – but distort ideas about what a relationship really is

Written by Oluwaseun Damilola Sanwoolu, Ph.D. Candidate in Philosophy, University of Kansas

Human love is valuable precisely because it's limited – we can't be everything to everyone all the time.Maria Korneeva/Moment via Getty Images

When the movie “Her” debuted in 2013, its plot felt like science fiction. The protagonist, Theodore, is a jaded man with no vigor for life. He comes alive after talking daily with his...

Antibiotics can trigger bacteria to release bubbles of inflammation tinder, making it harder to treat infection

Written by Panteha Torabian, Ph.D. Candidate in Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology

_E. coli_ is mostly harmless and sometimes beneficial – but some strains can cause serious infection.Photo by Eric Erbe, Colorization by Christopher Pooley/USDA ARS

Antibiotics are designed to kill harmful bacteria and help the body recover from infection. But some antibiotics may also push bacteria to release tiny particles that can make...

How debate about gender identity could undermine global efforts to protect victims of violence

Written by Jenna Norosky, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University, State University of New York

A transgender woman takes part in an International Day For The Elimination Of Violence Against Women demonstration in El Salvador on Nov. 25, 2019.Camilo Freedman/APHOTOGRAFIA/Getty Images)

Aided by the Trump administration, debate over gender identity has gone from being a touchstone of domestic culture wars to infiltrating the work of...

A justice department opinion arguing the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional could revert the nation to a time when presidents freely burned their papers

Written by Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College

At least one past president burned his papers.Stephen Hyun/Getty Images

Prior to 1978, U.S. presidents could do what they pleased with the records from their time in office. They owned them.

But in 1978, the Presidential Records Act established new rules for the official records of a president. Passed in the wake of Watergate, when President Richard...

What if Texas’ destructive Tax Day flood had centered on inner Houston instead? It’s why cities should plan for the improbable

Written by James R. Elliott, Professor of Sociology, Rice University

A couple battle floodwaters as they evacuate their Houston apartment complex on April 18, 2016.AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Ten years ago, the infamous Tax Day storm swamped the Houston area with off-the-charts rainfall. Nearly 2 feet of rain fell in less than 15 hours in parts of the region, starting on April 17, 2016. The rain flooded thousands of...