Well Santa has come and gone, at least for the largest proportion of the world’s population. And, as we reach the end of the year, it is inevitably time to review recent trends and the prospects for 2016.

By many standards, 2015 has been a terrible year

The war in Syria and Iraq worsened as the...

As we approach 2016, we look back at the big stories of The Conversation’s education coverage over the past 12 months.

2015 was a year of much turmoil: higher education witnessed student activism not quite seen since the free speech movement of the 1960s.

The...

As we approach 2016, we look back at the big stories of The Conversation’s politics and society desk over the past 12 months.

ISIS, Syria and the migrant crisis

Perhaps the biggest international story this year was the rise of the Islamic State, or ISIS; the war in Syria; and the resulting crisis that lates...

As we approach 2016, we look back at the big – even world-changing – stories of The Conversation’s environment and energy coverage this year.

The biggest story of 2105 from the environment and energy desk is a...

As we approach 2016, we look back at the big stories of The Conversation’s economics and business coverage over the past 12 months.

The year began with fears of a “Grexit” and ended with the first increase in US interest rates in almost a decade....

With the New Year approaching, we highlight the top arts and culture stories from 2015.

Over the past year, there was no shortage of news events, artistic breakthroughs and cultural trends to write about. As always, we tried to provide an interesting twist to supplement existing coverage.

With...

As we eye a brand new year, it’s good to look back and see what stories 2015 brought us. Here is a look at what kept the health and medicine desk busy over the past year.

Thinking about the immune system

At this time last year, a measles outbreak was brewing in...

There are a number of definitions of science, as both a process and a body of knowledge. At root, it’s an effort to understand the world around us via observation and...

Just days after the Paris terrorist attacks on November 13, the iconic mask of Guy Fawkes appeared – again – in two videos released in French by the hacktivist techno-social collective Anonymous. This time, they declared a total war on the Islamic State, or ISIS,...

On December 21, the company SpaceX made history by successfully launching a rocket and returning it to a safe landing on Earth. It’s also the day that SpaceX founder Elon Musk was nominated for a Luddite Award.

The nomination came as part of a campaign by the Information...