Comic: how to have better arguments about the environment (or anything else)

By Jutta Beher Et Al

From climate change to armed conflict, our world is struggling with urgent global issues. But disagreements about how to solve them can spiral out of control. The only way to resolve intractable conflicts is to overcome...

Some public schools get nearly 6 times as much funding, thanks to parents

By Emma Rowe Et Al

More advantaged public secondary schools across Australia generate nearly six times the amount of funding contributions from parents than less advantaged schools receive. Our study, published in The Australian...

A long time ago... why prequels are taking us back to the future in popular film

By Siobhan Lyons

Last month, audiences got their first glimpse of the trailer for the upcoming film, Joker, which explores the origins of its iconic title character, last seen in the Batman franchise. The trailer came just weeks after...

Trump and the problem with pardons

By Andrew Bell

As a veteran, I was astonished by the recent news that President Trump may be considering pardons for U.S. military members accused or convicted of war crimes. But as a scholar who studies the U.S. military and combat...

How the new 'Aladdin' stacks up against a century of Hollywood stereotyping

By Evelyn Alsultany

Though critically acclaimed and widely beloved, the 1992 animated Aladdin feature had some serious issues with stereotyping. Disney wanted to avoid repeating these same problems in the live action version of Aladdin,...

Clashing rights: Behind the Québec hijab debate

By Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has introduced Bill 21, a law that would supposedly entrench religious neutrality in the province. It would do so by prohibiting providers of government services in...

Breastfeeding struggles linked to postpartum depression in mothers

By Stephanie Liu

As a doctor, I encourage mothers to breastfeed. Breastfeeding is affordable, helps with bonding and has health benefits for both the infant and mother. In my medical practice, many new moms come to see me because they...

Narendra Modi’s victory speech delivers visions of a Hindu nationalist ascetic

By Chandrima Chakraborty

In the recently concluded Indian parliamentary elections, the electorate gave a thumping majority to current Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to lead the nation for another...

We need new treaties to address the growing problem of space debris

By Alex Ellery

Space debris represents the spread of our scorched-earth habits into space. Earth and the orbital space around it are a global commons to which we have been laying waste. And whats worse, we appear powerless to prevent...

Women's hockey has avid fans but needs a corporate cash infusion

By Katie Lebel

Kawhi Leonard recently registered one of the most iconic moments in Toronto Raptors history with his Game 7 buzzer-beater against the Philadelphia 76ers. The thrilling shot was captured by five different camera angles, the...

There's still so much we don't know about the star-gazing beetle with a tiny brain

By Marcus Byrne

Edited extract from The Dance of the Dung Beetles published by Wits University Press. Dung beetles have been ever-present in the history of the West but oddly, less so elsewhere in religion, art, literature, science...

Most call centre jobs are a dead end for South Africa's youth

By Mohammad Amir Anwar

The South African government believes that the business processing industry is key to job creation. And the sector has indeed created thousands of jobs, in particular for the countrys youth a group that bears a...

Assange’s new indictment: Espionage and the First Amendment

By Ofer Raban

Julian Assange, the co-founder of WikiLeaks, has been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with a slew of Espionage Act violations that could keep him in prison for the rest of his life. The new indictment expands...

The impact of immigration on EU countries' nationalistic sentiments

By Simone Moriconi Et Al

From the United Kingdom to Italy, Austria, and other European countries, recent elections have shown that nationalist and populist parties are attracting an increasing number of voters. While specifics of each party can be...

Recycling: poorer countries can now refuse plastic waste imports – this could make the system fairer

By Jen Allan

The world generated 242 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2016 a figure thats expected to grow by 70% in the next 30 years. But this same plastic is also a commodity thats sold and traded in a global industry that...

Is throwing a milkshake an act of political violence? What political theory tells us

By Alexander Blanchard

That the word violence is a powerful piece of political rhetoric has been brought home by the welter of opinion pieces, editorials and tweets that have emerged about a recent spate of milkshakings in which prominent...

Doping soldiers so they fight better – is it ethical?

By Maxwell Mehlman

The military is constantly using technology to build better ships, warplanes, guns and armor. Shouldnt it also use drugs to build better soldiers? Soldiers have long taken drugs to help them fight. Amphetamines like...

We need lots more male nurses, but progress can come with bumps along the way

By Richard Craven

Its an uncharacteristically sunny Saturday at Starks Park football ground in Kirkcaldy, Fife in the east of Scotland. This is the home of Raith Rovers, a big fish of the lower Scottish leagues, who are in the hunt for a...

Frydenberg declares tax package must be passed 'in its entirety'

By Michelle Grattan

The governments tax relief package is shaping up as the first test of incoming opposition leader Anthony Albanese, with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg declaring on Friday it must be supported in its entirety when put to the new...

Eurovision: UK quitting the song contest would only be bad for brand Britain

By Henrik Linden Et Al

The organisers of the Eurovision Song Contest picked a really bad day to announce they had further reduced the low score the UK achieved this year in Israel. As the British public went to cast their ballots in the European...

In-car technology: are we being sold a false sense of security?

By Gemma Briggs Et Al

The retired football star David Beckham recently received a six-month driving ban after being photographed using his hand-held phone while driving. Unfortunately, Beckham is not alone in apparently thinking that time spent...

Benefits sanctions don't help people get into work – we found housing providers who show that proper support does

By Katy Jones Et Al

Theres mounting evidence to show that punitive benefits sanctions which reduce or cut a persons benefits when they dont meet certain requirements are less effective at getting claimants into work than giving them...

Banksy: graffiti has become more valuable for what it is than what it says

By Tyson Mitman

On the side of a garage in Port Talbot, south Wales, a new Banksy artwork appeared. The piece, titled Seasons Greetings, very quickly brought thousands of visitors to the town. And by January 2019 there was so much...

From gun control to HIV: six ingredients of successful public policy

By Joannah Luetjens Et Al

In the lead up to the recent federal election, there was plenty of negative rhetoric about current policy settings. Piecing together the various messages, it seems we have entered an armageddon of poor fiscal management,...

Gamers use machine learning to navigate complex video games – but it's not free

By Ben Egliston

Some of the worlds most popular video games track your activity as you play but theyre not just gathering data for business or marketing purposes. Theyre accumulating information about the way you and others play the...

EU elections: Six countries seen by six experts

By Anamaria Dutceac Segesten Et Al

In advance of the 2019 elections for the European Parliament, The Conversation France asked experts from six European countries to weigh in : The Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden, as well as...

Snack-sized 'candy' fish explain a coral mystery

By Simon Brandl Et Al

Youre swimming over a coral reef. What do you see? Most people will reply: fish. On a coral reef, fish are large, abundant, gaudily coloured and in-your-face impossible to miss. The waters around coral reefs must be...

Indian election: Modi win delivered thanks to faith in development pledges

By Jagannadha Pawan Tamvada

Indias electoral colossus has re-elected Narendra Modis BJP party, following the largest democratic exercise in the world. India has united to put Modi back in office. This is the second time since 1971 that a majority...

South Africa needs a functioning parliamentary budget office: now's the time to fix it

By Seán Mfundza Muller

South Africas Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) is in complete disarray. In the 10 years since it was established by law, and the five years it has been in operation, the Office has failed to adhere to key principles of...

How South Africa's universities are making more students multilingual

By Zakeera Docrat Et Al

South Africa is a multilingual, multicultural space. As is the case for many other countries in Africa, it has a number of official languages 11. Although the South African Constitution, other legislation and some...

Game of Thrones: what Machiavelli might have made of the politics in Westeros

By Toby James

Warning: this contains spoilers for Game of Thrones, series eight. Alongside many other aspects of the final series of Game of Thrones, the hand-break turn performed by Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons,...

US is already fighting a conflict with Iran – an economic war that is hurting the wrong people

By David Cortright

Many are worried about the risk of war with Iran after the Trump administration leaked discussions of a troop deployment in response to claimed threats to U.S. warships in the region. And in recent days, the rhetoric...

The Constitution dictates that impeachment must not be partisan

By Peter Brandon Bayer

Barely two decades since the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the people of the United States again are confronting the possibility that their president, now Donald Trump, could be impeached, meaning charged by the House of...

Arsenal's Mkhitaryan omission from Europa League Baku final highlights football’s global politics at its most fragile

By Simon Chadwick

When English Premier League sides Chelsea and Arsenal meet in UEFAs Europa League final on May 29, one of the latters big name players will not be with his team. Henrikh Mkhitaryan wont be playing in the match one of the...

Eastern China pinpointed as source of rogue ozone-depleting emissions

By Paul Krummel Et Al

A mysterious rebound in the emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals despite a global ban stretching back almost a decade has been traced to eastern China. Research published by an international team today in Nature...

Rethinking tourism so the locals actually benefit from hosting visitors

By Freya Higgins-Desbiolles

Tourism today has a problem and needs an entire rethink. Pundits are debating overtourism, peak tourism and tourismphobia. Cities such as Barcelona, Venice and Dubrovnik are witnessing a backlash against imposed forms of...

Zero-carbon electric transport is already in reach for small islands

By Tom Rogers Et Al

At a recent talk on the UKs energy sector, the head of an electric utility company claimed that the problem of decarbonising our electricity sector is fixed. Eyebrows were raised at this, but his point quickly became...

View from The Hill: Should Labor jump to new generation leader - and Morrison steal some Shorten policies?

By Michelle Grattan

Scott Morrisons spectacular win, against all expectations, is attributable to a potent mix of his strengths and Labors weaknesses. Morrison, it turns out, was made in some political heaven where they forge ideal...

Minor parties perform well in federal election and reconfirm the power of preference deals

By Chris Salisbury

This was an election brimming with surprises and shocks. An unexpected Coalition victory, and the inaccuracy of opinion poll predictions, have many scratching their heads in the post-election wash-up. What didnt defy...

Eurovision shock: is ironic appreciation unnecessary as slick singing styles reign?

By Matthew Sini

This years Eurovision Song Contest was perhaps the most controversial in its more than half a century history. Held in Tel Aviv, calls for boycotts rang out on social media and elsewhere because of Israels treatment of...

Tears and rage – the rise of the emotional release industry

By Leighanne Higgins Et Al

When Ariana Grande cried on stage recently, following her performance of an emotionally laden song, she later took to Twitter to apologise and thanked her fans for accepting her humaneness. Producing emotional tears is a...

States – not just Congress – should unlock student financial aid for people in prison

By Bradley D. Custer

When it comes to higher education in prison, much of the media and advocacy focus is on trying to get Congress to lift a longstanding ban on giving Pell Grants to people serving time. While a bipartisan effort to...

Ramadan: how a new generation of British Muslims are becoming more green

By Barylo Barylo

Muslims worldwide are about to enter the second half of Ramadan, a month widely known to the public as one for fasting. However, growing concerns around the environmental crisis and social struggles across the globe have...

We've declared a climate emergency – here's what universal basic income could do to help the planet

By Mark Maslin Et Al

Governments around the world are declaring climate and environmental emergencies to highlight the unsustainable ways in which humans, over a few generations, have transformed the planet. Weve made enough concrete to...

South Africans don't trust companies to protect their data privacy

By Adele Da Veiga

Consumers expect that organisations will respect their privacy. For instance, when you buy something online, you take it for granted that your bank details will be kept secure. Or if you provide your identity number at a...

European elections guide: how to vote if you support Brexit

By Chris Stafford

The European Elections werent supposed to involve the UK. But the UK is still a member of the EU, having failed to agree a Brexit deal, so it is obliged to hold elections for the European Parliament. Excluding the...

Viruses to stop cholera infections – the viral enemy of deadly bacteria could be humanity's friend

By Andrew Camilli Et Al

In the latest of a string of high-profile cases in the U.S., a cocktail of bacteria-killing viruses successfully treated a cystic fibrosis patient suffering from a deadly infection caused by a pathogen that was resistant...

The US could have ended up with a British-style health care system: Here is why it didn’t

By Simon F. Haeder

The role of government in the U.S. health care system has been contentious long before the recent emergence of Medicare-For-All proposals among Democratic presidential candidates. Advocates of so-called free-market health...

Hydropower dams can harm coastal areas far downstream

By Paula Ezcurra Et Al

Thousands of hydroelectric dams are under construction around the world, mainly in developing countries. These enormous structures are one of the worlds largest sources of renewable energy, but they also cause...

What's behind the belief in a soulmate?

By Bradley Onishi

The United States appears to be in a romantic slump. Marriage rates have plummeted over the last decade. And compared to previous generations, young single people today are perhaps spending more time on social media than...