The Conversation
Raw Story
Contact The
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by The:
‘We just discovered the impossible’: how giant baby galaxies are shaking up our understanding of the early Universe
“Look at this,” says Erica’s message. She is poring over the very first images from the brand new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It is July 2022, barely a week after those first images from the revolutionary super telescope were released. Twenty-five years in the making, a hundred to a thousand... → Read More
Here's what happens to your brain when you give up eating sugar
Anyone who knows me also knows that I have a huge sweet tooth. I always have. My friend and fellow graduate student Andrew is equally afflicted, and living in Hershey, Pennsylvania – the “Chocolate Capital of the World” – doesn’t help either of us. But Andrew is braver than I am. Last year, he g... → Read More
How to talk to someone about conspiracy theories in 5 simple steps — according to experts
People’s first instinct when engaging with conspiracy believers is often to try and debunk their ideas with factual and authoritative information. However, direct confrontation rarely works. Conspiracy theories are persuasive, often playing on people’s feelings and sense of identity. Even if deb... → Read More
Three reasons local climate activism is more powerful than people realize
Global warming has increased the number of extreme weather events around the world by 400% since the 1980s. Countries know how to stop the damage from worsening: stop burning fossil fuels and shift to renewable energy, electrify transportation and industry, and reduce the carbon intensity of agricul... → Read More
Pope Benedict XVI: A man at odds with the modern world
Benedict XVI leaves behind a complex legacy as a Pope and theologian. To many observers, Benedict, who died on Dec. 31, 2022 at the age of 95, was known for criticizing what he saw as the modern world’s rejection of God and Christianity’s timeless truths. But as a scholar of the diversity of global ... → Read More
Joe Biden is meeting African leaders
African leaders face a dilemma over trade relations with the United States. Should they push for the extension of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) or for each country’s bilateral trade deal with the world’s biggest economy?AGOA was the signature economic policy of the Bill Clinton admini... → Read More
Two huge and unusual impact craters shed light on the mystery of 'marsquakes'
Most of the worlds of our Solar System are pockmarked with impact craters. These bear testament to the violence of the early days of the Sun, when asteroids, comets and entire planets routinely collided with and annihilated each other.Our own Moon was most likely formed by one of these collisions, a... → Read More
An indictment wouldn’t end Trump’s run for the presidency – he could even campaign from a jail cell
Donald Trump announced his 2024 run for the presidency on Nov. 15. In his address he railed against what he perceived as the “persecution” of himself and his family, but made scant mention of his legal woes. Confirmation of Trump’s White House bid comes at a curious time – a week after a lacklus... → Read More
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ continues the series’ quest to recover and celebrate lost cultures
As someone who teaches and writes about Afrofuturism, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” I’m particularly excited about the introduction of Namor and the hidden kingdom of Talokan, which he leads.The first “Black Panther” film adhered to a longstanding practi... → Read More
What is Mastodon? A social media expert explains how the ‘federated’ network works and why it won’t be a new Twitter
In the wake of Elon Musk’s noisy takeover of Twitter, people have been looking for alternatives to the increasingly toxic microblogging social media platform. Many of those fleeing or hedging their bets have turned to Mastodon, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of new users since Twitter’s a... → Read More
A vascular neurologist explains Fetterman’s struggles with language and his path to recovery
John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for a hotly contested U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, has been drawing scrutiny for his performance in his first post-stroke broadcast interview and most recently, his Oct. 25, 2022, Senate debate against Republican Mehmet Oz.Fetterman suffered a stroke on th... → Read More
It’s taking more time to cast a ballot in US elections – and even longer for Black and Hispanic voters
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the November 2020 election brought out about 155 million voters. That represented 67% of Americans over 18, and it was the highest voter turnout of any modern election.Americans also set records in the percent and number of people voting early and by mail, continuing a... → Read More
Anthony Bourdain and the farce of the ‘unauthorized’ biography
“The agents of reticence,” wrote the English poet Ian Hamilton in “Keepers of the Flame,” “have no truck with the agents of disclosure.”Thwarted by J.D. Salinger as he tried to write the story of the novelist’s life, Hamilton was out for revenge when he penned this work on literary estate management... → Read More
Clarence Thomas' conservative activism defies 'a fundamental principle' of US democracy
With the opening of the U.S. Supreme Court’s new session on Oct. 3, 2022, Clarence Thomas is arguably the most powerful justice on the nation’s highest court.In 1991, after Thomas became an associate justice and only the second African American to do so, his power was improbable to almost everyone ... → Read More
Astronomers have discovered a stunning fact about so-called 'Super Earths'
Astronomers now routinely discover planets orbiting stars outside of the solar system – they’re called exoplanets. But in summer 2022, teams working on NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite found a few particularly interesting planets orbiting in the habitable zones of their parent stars.One ... → Read More
A seismic change has taken place at the Supreme Court
In the summer of 2022, the U.S. witnessed a dramatic change in how the majority of Supreme Court justices understand the Constitution.At the end of a single term, the court rejected the long-standing constitutional right to abortion, expanded gun rights and ruled that religion can have a bigger rol... → Read More
The Justice Department's big dilemma
As the 2022 midterm campaigns approach Election Day on Nov. 8, 2022, a federal probe into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents is testing an unwritten policy of the U.S. Justice Department.Some legal analysts have suggested that the so-called 60-day rule requires federal ... → Read More
New York’s $250 million lawsuit against Donald Trump is the beginning, not end, of this case
New York Attorney General Letitia James hit former president Donald Trump with a US$250 million lawsuit on Sept. 21, 2022, citing “staggering” amounts of falsified business information and fraud.The civil lawsuit alleges that Trump, his company – the Trump Organization – and three of his children li... → Read More
A fossil baby helped scientists explain how mammals thrived after the dinosaur extinction
Sixty-two million years ago, a mother gave birth to a baby. Overcoming the shock of birth in a matter of minutes, the baby began to explore the world around it. The baby started to suckle from its mother, a natural instinct shared by all animals of its kind, the mammals.Each day it grew, and after a... → Read More
Ukraine war: Russia’s problems on the battlefield stem from failures at the top
For authoritarians like the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, the military can serve a number of functions. Not only is it a key aspect of maintaining control and projecting power, but in Putin’s case it has served as a key national resource to plunder for personal wealth and to enrich key allies. ... → Read More