The Conversation U.S. - News written by researchers and scientists to help you understand

Houses covered in mud, several blocks from a river.

When a mountain falls: How ice and rock triggered Nepal’s catastrophic flood – and why climate change is raising the risks

Umesh Haritashya, University of Dayton

Young man wearing a black sweatshirt pours yellow pills into his open palm while seated in front of a computer monitor and keyboard.

Professional gaming is brutal on the body – inside the growing field of treating esports injuries

Erica D. Henn, Temple University

Dolly Parton took control of her career by making men the butt of the joke

Stephanie Vander Wel, University at Buffalo

Woman with billowing, blonde hair gazes to her left while slyly grinning.

Making the Fed more accountable to Congress and the public may be just what it needs to fend off Trump’s threats to its independence

Simon Bowmaker, New York University and Paul Wachtel, New York University

The seal of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, set in the floor at the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington, D.C., id depicted in a photo close-up.

Lake Ontario to Lake America – who gets to decide what goes on maps?

Innisfree McKinnon, University of Wisconsin-Stout Polytechnic

A map labeling Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' is displayed in the Oval Office as President Donald Trump presents an executive order.

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jumble of disparate images like question marks, supreme court building, two silhouettes kissing and smiley faces

Dolly Parton was more than a musical idol – for some fans, she was a spiritual icon

Sarah Dees, Iowa State University

A heap of flowers, notes and photos lie on top of a star-shaped stone that says 'Dolly Parton.'

Galápagos corals show El Niño events are more extreme now than in past 1,000 years – here’s how my team made the discovery

Julia Cole, University of Michigan

A scuba diver takes a coral sample from the ocean bottom.

US-Canada trade war deepens as Trump revives Depression-era trade tool – what’s at stake for consumers and the midterms

Kent Jones, Babson College

Two flags – one red and white with a red maple leaf, the other with white stars on a blue background and red and white stripes – wave next to a bridge with cars on it.

Communicating uncertainty in research is hard, so we worked on how best to do it – here’s what you can watch out for

Matthew Facciani, Yale University; Aleeza Gerstein, University of Manitoba; Kristi Heather Kenyon, University of Winnipeg, and S. Michelle Driedger, University of Manitoba

A woman wearing a lab coat presenting scientific research.

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A small red birdhouse hangs on a chain-link fence topped with razor wire outside a stone building.

Immigration enforcement is supplying a long-standing economic market for prisoners

Ella Siegrist, Washington University in St. Louis

Nepal-Tibet floods: when disaster strikes before communities recover from previous climate extremes, crisis escalates

Taha Rezaei, University of Exeter and Mark Maslin, UCL

A set of teeth set in what appears to be a yellow rocklike material

Revolutionary War battlefields often romanticize combat, but this mass grave just outside Philadelphia shows the violence soldiers actually experienced

Jennifer Janofsky, Rowan University and Wade Catts, Rowan University

Extreme heat is taking a toll on firefighters as wildfires stretch crews to the limit

Julian L. Gallegos, Purdue University

Firefighters working behind a low line of flames.

‘Must I take all my antibiotics?’ Why infectious disease experts are rethinking this longstanding rule

Amy J. Mathers, University of Virginia

Close-up of a person's hands holding a glass of water and pill on blurred background.

Mars rovers give scientists a ground-level view of the red planet – peek inside their NASA control room

Ashwin R. Vasavada, NASA

The Curiosity rover is parked in front of rock outcrops on Mars.

Breakthrough drug nearly doubles survival with advanced pancreatic cancer – an oncologist explains how daraxonrasib overcame an ‘undruggable’ disease

Christopher Lieu, University of Colorado Anschutz

Microscopy image of two pancreatic cancer cells, resembling an egg sunny side up with a long extension to another fibrous lump

Changes to Facebook and Instagram are key part of Meta’s $17B settlement with the states over harm to teens

Carolina Rossini, UMass Amherst

a man with curly hair wearing a business suit and tie surrounded by several other men outside a stone building

NASA is gearing up to launch its next flagship space telescope – combining spy technology with sophisticated infrared detectors

Don Figer, Rochester Institute of Technology

An illustration of the Roman telescope against purple light. It looks like a tube with panels coming off the sides

‘Mad honey’ that can stop your heart is now being sold online worldwide

Prayan Pokharel, University of Hohenheim

man dangles from rope on hillside to harvest honey

USS Abraham Lincoln’s record deployment highlights shortfalls of US military readiness

Monica Duffy Toft, Tufts University

A warship is seen as a small aircraft lands on it.

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U.S.-Iran war

Men in army fatigues stand with large guns.

A new Houthi front and expanded Iranian attacks risk sinking Gulf nations’ choke-point workaround and widening shipping risks

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University

Amid grinding war, protesting Ukrainians still want their voices and values heard at home

Sarah Wilson Sokhey, University of Colorado Boulder; Gerard Toal, Virginia Tech, and John O’Loughlin, University of Colorado Boulder

A protester holds up a sign saying 'We support Fedorov.'

The danger of US-Iran ceasefire agreement is what it leaves out

Monica Duffy Toft, Tufts University

Several ships appear with a motorboat on a stretch of ocean.

Trump’s US-Iran ceasefire deal is a costly return to prewar conditions – and resolving nuclear questions will run into the ‘indivisibility problem’

Farah N. Jan, University of Pennsylvania

How are Saudis viewing the US-Iran war? Our polling suggests Gulf kingdom is split on key issues

Robert Kubinec, University of South Carolina and Alexis Montambault-Trudelle, Université Laval

A group of people in traditional Saudi dress walk up stairs.

Extreme weather and natural disasters

A young man on a dusty road with many sheep behind him.

Relentless heat and drought take a toll on herders’ physical and mental health, in Kenya and the US

Anne Pisor, Penn State and Bonface Osindi, Washington State University

Severe flooding raises deadly overdose risk in rural Appalachia, study finds – and the harm lasts for years

Kristina P. Brant, Penn State

An office building and two houses partially filled with flood water with a mountain in the background.

Colorado River water conservation efforts get only halfway to a solution

Sarah Porter, Arizona State University

A person stands at an overlook, from which a lake is visible in the distance, with a wide dry area all around it.

Dealing with disasters increasingly requires a smartphone – losing access can be a nightmare, but there are ways to prepare

Lee Ann Rawlins Williams, University of North Dakota

A woman standing knee-deep in flood water puts a hand to her forehead while trying to make a call.

Ancient forests took 100,000 years to recover from past global warming – Wyoming fossils reveal what happened

Regan E. Dunn, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

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International

In taking Syria off state sponsor of terrorism list, US is putting its faith in al-Qaida alumni – that presents risks and opportunities

Jason M. Blazakis, Middlebury College

Why the US-Canada trade war could change how American farmers grow their crops for years

Jayash Paudel, University of Oklahoma

a field with long rows of green soybean plants at sunrise, with some indistinguishable buildings on the horizon

Crocodiles as prison guards: Israeli moat plan dehumanizes Palestinian prisoners

Irus Braverman, University at Buffalo

A seemingly technical change to international student visas could disrupt teaching and research at US universities

Abigail Boggs, Wesleyan University

A cartoon image shows three people wearing graduation caps and pulling suitcases walking past a blue circles with other circles nearby it with an airplane nearby it.

Antarctic krill fishing is now concentrated in the exact pattern conservation rules were designed to prevent

Kim S. Bernard, Oregon State University

A large ship in the middle of the ocean has booms out with lines running into the water.

New research in health and science

Hand wearing white nitrile glove holding a vial labeled (CANCER mRNA vaccine) between two fingers

Cancer vaccines could transform treatment and prevention – but misinformation about mRNA vaccines threatens their potential

Dannell D. Boatman, West Virginia University

Using thunderquakes to X-ray Earth – a new study shows urban seismology in action

Nolan Roth, The Ohio State University and Tieyuan Zhu, Penn State

Lightning turns the sky purple over a city, with buildings in the foreground and apartment lights on.

New therapies help people with schizophrenia – but access is woefully inadequate

Matthew Kurtz, Wesleyan University

Senior Asian woman leaning forward on a couch during a therapy session, looking concerned.

Quitting alcohol changes the brain and can increase the risk of compulsive drinking – new research in mice

Danny G. Winder, UMass Chan Medical School and Marie Doyle, UMass Chan Medical School

Exploring the Moon will require rovers that can think for themselves – an upcoming NASA mission will test whether they can

Wanjiku Chebet Kanjumba, University of Florida

An illustration of three small robotic rovers, which have a flat body, solar panel wings and four wheels.

Artificial intelligence

Dot dot dot symbols inside speech bubbles hover above humanoid chatbot robot working at computer.

I surveyed workers to see if AI had caused job losses and was surprised by the findings

Jeffrey C. Dixon, College of the Holy Cross

Disappearing lakes and AI are helping scientists map Arctic permafrost thaw in near-real time

Anna Liljedahl, University of Alaska Fairbanks and Ingmar Nitze, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research

A scientists carrying a rifle walks along a trough pond that has drained.

The importance of teaching students what AI can’t do

Billy J. Stratton, University of Denver

Colorful painting of a young woman lying on her back in the grass, propping her head up with one of her hands.

AI companies look to the ocean as a place to put more data centers

Nir Kshetri, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

A large cylinder covered in marine debris is hosed off while sitting on a barge.

Teens are turning to AI chatbots for emotional support – here’s how to keep kids safe

Phoebe S. Moore, UMass Chan Medical School; Megan Kelly, UMass Chan Medical School, and Yael Dvir, UMass Chan Medical School

Teen holding smartphone with chat conversation late at night at home.

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