The Conversation

Ticks are the backyard threat southwestern Pennsylvania homeowners keep ignoring

Written by Danielle Tufts, Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology and Immunology, University of Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania consistently ranks among the top three states in the country for reported Lyme disease cases each year.Ladislav Kubeš/istock via Getty Images Plus

As spring unfolds, new research highlights an issue for southwestern Pennsylvania residents: Most people know ticks are in their backyard, but few believe they’re actually at...

Benefits of mindfulness meditation go far beyond relaxation – here’s what it is and how to practice it

Written by Yuval Hadash, Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University

Mindfulness meditation is a process of noticing difficult thoughts and feelings rather than shutting them out.Marco VDM/E+ via Getty Images

Imagine being asked to sit alone in a quiet room for 15 minutes with nothing to do – no phone, no music, no external distraction. In a well-known 2014 study, many participants found that task so...

Artemis II’s long countdown – a space historian explains why it has taken over 50 years to return to the Moon

Written by Emily A. Margolis, Curator of Contemporary Spaceflight, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

The Artemis I crew and service modules with the Moon and Earth in the distance on Nov. 28, 2022.NASA

While I was leading a tour of the National Air and Space Museum in January 2026, a visitor posed this insightful question: “Why has it taken so long to return to the Moon?”

After all, NASA had the know-how and technology to send humans...

How sea mines threaten global trade, and how navies detect them

Written by John Femiani, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering, Miami University

Iranian forces have used small speedboats to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz.Tasnim News Agency, CC BY

U.S. intelligence officials have assessed that Iranian forces have deployed a small number of mines in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical choke point for global shipping, according to reports. The move gives the Iranians a means, along with...

Decades of hostility between Iran and the US were preceded by a little-remembered century-long friendship

Written by Daniel Thomas Potts, Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and History, New York University

The ouster of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh marked a turning point in U.S.-Iran relations.AP Photo

The British- and American-backed plot to overthrow Iran’s prime minister in 1953 laid the groundwork for the 1979 Iran hostage crisis and decades of hostility with the U.S. that have now culminated in a war launched on Iran by the U.S. and...

NASA wants to build a base on the Moon by the 2030s – how and why it plans to build up to a long-term lunar presence

Written by Michelle L.D. Hanlon, Professor of Air and Space Law, University of Mississippi

NASA's Space Launch System rocket that will take an astronaut crew around the Moon rolls out to the launchpad. Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images

The next U.S. trip to the Moon isn’t about planting a flag. It’s about learning how to live and work there.

NASA has just reset its Artemis program, marking a clear strategic shift: Space...

Basic income’s appeal today is similar to its roots in 18th-century England – it’s a way to compensate people for a common good taken for private gain

Written by Will Glovinsky, Research Assistant Professor of Humanities, Binghamton University, State University of New York

The first basic income proposals were a reaction to the seizure of common fields by English landlords.George Stubbs/The Yorck Project, CC BY

A story has been going around about artificial intelligence for the past decade: At some point, AI advances, robots and self-driving cars will throw countless people out of work.

The rich folks who control AI...

Are multiverses real? An astrophysicist explains why it depends on how you define ‘real’

Written by Zachary Slepian, Associate Professor of Astronomy, University of Florida

Physics has multiple theories and interpretations of the existence of a multiverse.Yana Iskayeva/Moment 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.

Are multiverses real? If so, what do they look like? How do you get...

Panicking scientists, canceled experiments – federal funding cuts turned my work as a research dean into crisis management

Written by Nara Parameswaran, Senior Associate Dean for Research, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University

Cuts to federally funded research slow the progress of scientific innovations and new treatments.Michigan State University College of Human Medicine

Fielding frantic faculty emails and panicked texts was not how I had hoped my 2025 would begin. Little did I imagine that my role as a research dean at a medical school would be taken over by...

Sex test used in IOC’s new transgender ban more likely to exclude from Olympics intersex women who were assigned female at birth

Written by Ari Berkowitz, Presidential Professor and Graduate Liaison for biology programs; Director, Cellular & Behavioral Neurobiology Graduate Program, University of Oklahoma

Sex testing in elite sports has had a long, inconsistent history.anton5146/iStock via Getty Images Plus

The International Olympic Committee announced a new policy on March 26, 2026, for women’s competitions: Every athlete must be tested for a gene called SRY, usually found on the Y chromosome. Males typically have a Y chromosome and females...