The Conversation

Gray whales are dying in San Francisco Bay at an alarming rate – this isn’t normal

Written by Josie Slaathaug, Graduate Student in Marine Biology, Sonoma State University

Gray whales have unique markings, making it possible to track each one in the bay.Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images

At least six gray whales have died in San Francisco Bay from mid-March to early April 2026. These deaths follow a pattern over the past few years, and they are raising concerns among marine biologists like...

The enduring legacy of medieval Christian depictions of Islam in today’s political discourse

Written by Anna Piela, Visiting Scholar in Religious Studies and Gender, Northwestern University

A stained-glass window in the Cathedral of Brussels depicting the 'Siege of Jerusalem' by the Crusaders in the 11th century. Jorisvo/iStock / Getty Images Plus

The war with Iran is not just a geopolitical conflict. We see religious rhetoric used to cast strategic interests as a moral or sacred matter.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson described...

District school boards have become political hotbeds for book bans and more – here’s what they actually do

Written by Carrie Sampson, Assistant Professor in the Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation, Arizona State University

People hold signs during a Grossmont Union High School District board meeting in El Cajon, Calif., in July 2025. Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images

Election races for local school boards have become hotly contested in many states as they have become forums for debates over gender-identity discussions, immigrant students and...

4 ways the war in Iran has weakened the United States in the great power game

Written by Jeffrey Taliaferro, Professor of Political Science, Tufts University

China and Russia view the U.S. grand strategy as increasingly out of focus.AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

Napoleon Bonaparte’s maxim may well have been in the minds of policymakers in Moscow and Beijing these past weeks, as the U.S. war in Iran dragged on. And now that a...

Artemis II crew used modern photography to tell the visual story of their lunar journey – and update some classic Apollo images

Written by Jennifer Levasseur, Curator of the National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

NASA astronaut Christina Koch gazes at Earth on April 2, 2026, taken with an iPhone 17 Pro Max.NASA

At this point in NASA’s human spaceflight story, researchers have a substantial amount of material – documents, artifacts and images – with which to tell the stories of past flights to space. But with NASA’s Artemis II mission...

Artemis II moonshot reflects a spacefaring vision present in Jules Verne’s 19th-century novel

Written by Anastasia Klimchynskaya, Assistant Professor of English, Illinois Wesleyan University

The 'Earthset' photo from the Artemis II crew's lunar flyby in April 2026. NASA

With the launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission on April 1, 2026, human beings have finally returned to the Moon for the first time in 50 years – since the age of Apollo.

When Apollo 11 first landed on the lunar surface, the astronauts portrayed their...

US ceasefire with Iran: What’s next? A former diplomat explains 3 possible scenarios

Written by Donald Heflin, Executive Director of the Edward R. Murrow Center and Senior Fellow of Diplomatic Practice, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Iranians hold national flags in Tehran's Revolution Square on April 8, 2026, after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump on April 7, 2026, announced a ceasefire between the United States and Iran, after more than a month of war marked by U.S. and Israeli strikes against Ira...

In his efforts to remake federal architecture, Trump repudiates the ‘republican ideals’ that have long informed it

Written by Kevin D. Murphy, Professor and Chair of History of Art, Vanderbilt University

Work crews prepare for the construction of a new ballroom after the demolition of the East Wing of the White House in October 2025.Andrew Leyden/Getty Images

Sand was thrown in the gears of President Donald Trump’s grand White House ballroom plans on March 31, 2026, when U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ordered a pause on construction.

T...

I found a new meteor shower, and it comes from an asteroid getting broken down by the Sun

Written by Patrick M. Shober, Postdoctoral Fellow in Planetary Sciences, NASA

This composite image shows the Geminid meteors, captured in 2020 using Global Meteor Network software. Aleksandar Merlak

Across the Earth, every night, thousands of automated stargazers are waiting to take pictures of shooting stars. I am one of the scientists who study these meteors.

Most movies and news alerts focus on large asteroids that could...

As a philosopher, I’m convinced that Trump isn’t lying − he’s doing something worse

Written by Robert B. Talisse, W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University

Polls indicate mounting regret and disappointment among Trump supporters.Farknot_Architect, iStock/Getty Images Plus

For much of his political career, dishonesty has been without cost for Donald Trump. He entered into national politics with the birther lie, claiming that Barack Obama was not born in the U.S., and that did not prevent Trump from...