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Most US book bans target children’s literature featuring diverse characters and authors of color

  • Written by Katherine Spoon, Ph.D. Candidate in Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder
imageA display of banned books sits in a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Pittsford, N.Y. AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey

Book bans in U.S. schools and libraries during the 2021-22 school year disproportionately targeted children’s books written by people of color – especially women of color – according to a peer-reviewed study we published....

Read more: Most US book bans target children’s literature featuring diverse characters and authors of color

Jails and prisons often fail to protect incarcerated people during natural disasters

  • Written by Benika Dixon, Assistant Professor of Public Health, Texas A&M University
imagePeople who are incarcerated can't protect themselves when a hurricane or wildfire threatens.Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The United States has almost 2 million people behind bars in prisons, jails and detention centers – the largest such population in any country. Although incarcerated people are locked away from the...

Read more: Jails and prisons often fail to protect incarcerated people during natural disasters

Missing link to Snowball Earth history emerges from some unusual rocks on Colorado’s Pikes Peak

  • Written by Liam Courtney-Davies, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
imageRocks can hold clues to history dating back hundreds of millions of years.Christine S. Siddoway

Around 700 million years ago, the Earth cooled so much that scientists believe massive ice sheets encased the entire planet like a giant snowball. This global deep freeze, known as Snowball Earth, endured for tens of millions of years.

Yet, miraculously,...

Read more: Missing link to Snowball Earth history emerges from some unusual rocks on Colorado’s Pikes Peak

Evidence from Snowball Earth found in ancient rocks on Colorado’s Pikes Peak – it’s a missing link

  • Written by Liam Courtney-Davies, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
imageRocks can hold clues to history dating back hundreds of millions of years.Christine S. Siddoway

Around 700 million years ago, the Earth cooled so much that scientists believe massive ice sheets encased the entire planet like a giant snowball. This global deep freeze, known as Snowball Earth, endured for tens of millions of years.

Yet, miraculously,...

Read more: Evidence from Snowball Earth found in ancient rocks on Colorado’s Pikes Peak – it’s a missing link

Soaring inflation helped lead Trump to victory – here’s why some of his policies might drive prices higher again

  • Written by Veronika Dolar, Associate Professor of Economics, Pace University
imageCould inflation pick back up?AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh

President-elect Donald Trump owes his political comeback in large part to voters’ concerns over the soaring price of everything from gasoline and housing to coffee and bagels.

Inflation has since come down to levels close to normal thanks in large part to a steep rise in interest rates. But in...

Read more: Soaring inflation helped lead Trump to victory – here’s why some of his policies might drive...

Trump voters said they were angry about the economy – many of them had a point

  • Written by Don Leonard, Assistant Professor of Practice in City and Regional Planning, The Ohio State University

Inflation has slowed down, and real incomes – typical wages adjusted for inflation – have bounced back to levels last seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Democrats campaigned in 2024 on the overall strength of the economy. President Joe Biden proclaimed in the days following the election that the U.S. economy is “the strongest in...

Read more: Trump voters said they were angry about the economy – many of them had a point

I’m a neuroscientist who taught rats to drive − their joy suggests how anticipating fun can enrich human life

  • Written by Kelly Lambert, Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Richmond
imageRats will choose to take a longer route if it means they get to enjoy the ride to their destination.Kelly Lambert, CC BY-ND

We crafted our first rodent car from a plastic cereal container. After trial and error, my colleagues and I found that rats could learn to drive forward by grasping a small wire that acted like a gas pedal. Before long, they...

Read more: I’m a neuroscientist who taught rats to drive − their joy suggests how anticipating fun can enrich...

Why does everything look flat even though the Earth is round?

  • Written by Kelly R. MacGregor, Professor of Geology, Macalester College
imageThis 2014 image of a tropical storm from the International Space Station clearly shows Earth's curvature.NOAA/Getty Imagesimage

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.

Why does everything look flat even though the Earth is round? –...

Read more: Why does everything look flat even though the Earth is round?

How the Taliban are seeking to reshape Afghanistan’s schools to push their ideology

  • Written by Enayat Nasir, Doctoral Research Assistant in Educational Policy, University at Albany, State University of New York
imageAfghan students will get more lessons in religion and resistance under the Taliban's proposed changes to their schools. Sanaullah Seiam

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 was a blow for education across the country – but especially for girls and women. Since then, the Taliban’s leaders have outlawed education for girls after...

Read more: How the Taliban are seeking to reshape Afghanistan’s schools to push their ideology

How updated Vatican rules on validating supernatural appearances of Mary will affect the famed pilgrimage site of Medjugorje

  • Written by Lisa Bitel, Dean’s Professor of Religion & Professor of History, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
imagePeople pray at a shrine to the Virgin Mary in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina.Zeljko Milicevic/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

For over 40 years, six people from Medjugorje, a small town in Bosnia-Herzegovina, have claimed to see and speak with the Virgin Mary. For almost as long, hordes of pilgrims have traveled to visit sites of the...

Read more: How updated Vatican rules on validating supernatural appearances of Mary will affect the famed...

More Articles ...

  1. Companies are buying up cheap carbon offsets − data suggest it may be more about greenwashing than helping the climate
  2. Companies are buying up cheap carbon offsets − data suggest it’s more about greenwashing than helping the climate
  3. ‘Inflation is radioactive’: Trump’s victory is part of a global populist wave of voters throwing out incumbents
  4. Voters in Arab American strongholds likely tipped Michigan in Trump’s favor
  5. Pennsylvania will keep its divided legislature thanks to split-ticket voters
  6. Boeing workers secure big gains after strike, but the future for organized labor under Trump is uncertain
  7. What should journalists do when the facts don’t matter?
  8. What’s the ‘standard deduction’? An accounting expert explains how it simplifies tax filing and saves most Americans money
  9. Trump’s plans to extend tax cuts and slash red tape will likely spur economic growth − but there’s a cost
  10. Disaster survivors want to rebuild safer, more sustainable homes, but cost misperceptions often stand in the way
  11. Strength training early in life can set up kids and adolescents for a lifetime of health and well-being
  12. 10 states had abortion measures on the ballot – where they passed, where they failed, and what it all means
  13. Compassion amid chaos − how one of America’s greatest poets became a lifeline for wounded soldiers
  14. The election is over − but what is a ‘lame duck’ anyway?
  15. Is AI dominance inevitable? A technology ethicist says no, actually
  16. New Apostolic Reformation evangelicals see Trump as God’s warrior in their battle to win America from satanic forces and Christianize it
  17. How Trump might target DACA recipients and other immigrant groups
  18. How Trump won Pennsylvania − and what the numbers from key counties show about the future of a pivotal swing state
  19. What Trump can do to reverse US climate policy − and what he probably can’t change
  20. The 4 ‘ashramas’ of Hinduism and what they can teach us about aging gracefully
  21. Religions talk about the value of humility − but it can be especially hard for clergy to practice what they preach
  22. Ballot measures to legalize recreational use of cannabis fail in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota
  23. ‘Yellowstone’ highlights Montana’s long-forgotten connection to the Confederacy
  24. Military veterans are disproportionately affected by suicide, but targeted prevention can help reverse the tide
  25. Microplastics promote cloud formation, with likely effects on weather and climate
  26. America’s glass ceiling remains − here are some of the reasons why a woman may have once again lost the presidency
  27. Iran’s currency was already tumbling − and then news of Trump’s victory broke
  28. Now the Electoral College votes for president – 4 essential reads
  29. What Buddhism can teach in this moment of deep divisions: No person is ‘evil,’ only ‘mistaken’
  30. This course uses crime novels to teach critical thinking
  31. Trump’s comeback victory, after reshaping his party and national politics, looks a lot like Andrew Jackson’s in 1828
  32. What is ‘ballot curing’? Election expert explains the method for fixing errors made when voters cast their ballots
  33. 2024’s quick win for Trump will go down in the history books alongside 1964 and 1980 Election Day landslides
  34. Will the lights go out on Cuba’s communist leaders? With fewer options to prop up economy, their future looks dimmer
  35. Kristallnacht’s legacy still haunts Hamburg − even as the city rebuilds a former synagogue burned in the Nazi pogrom
  36. Carl Sagan’s scientific legacy extends far beyond ‘Cosmos’
  37. Cells have more mini ‘organs’ than researchers thought − unbound by membranes, these rogue organelles challenge biology’s fundamentals
  38. Only 5.3% of welders in the US are women. After years as a writing professor, I became one − here’s what I learned
  39. Beefing up Border Patrol is a bipartisan goal, but the agency has a troubled history of violence and impunity
  40. Is the election making you feel adrift and wobbly? That’s ‘zozobra’ – and Mexican philosophers have some advice
  41. How Native Americans guarded their societies against tyranny
  42. Quincy Jones mastered the art of arrangement, transforming simple tunes into epic soundscapes
  43. The 27 Club isn’t true, but it is real − a sociologist explains why myths endure and how they shape reality
  44. What poll watchers can − and can’t − do on Election Day
  45. Political bickering and policy uncertainty take a toll on business investment, research shows
  46. I’m a Muslim immigrant and a psychiatrist living in Michigan – I haven’t decided how to vote yet
  47. How can Jupiter have no surface? A dive into a planet so big, it could swallow 1,000 Earths
  48. As the stars of hip-hop’s golden age approach their golden years, some confront questions about whether old blood can make new music
  49. Svalbard Global Seed Vault evokes epic imagery and controversy because of the symbolic value of seeds
  50. Osteoporosis, the silent disease, can shorten your life − here’s how to prevent fractures and keep bones healthy