The Conversation: In-depth analysis, research, news and ideas from leading academics and researchers.

Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, gestures to the crowd as he gives a speech.

US snatches Maduro in raid on Caracas: what we know so far

Andrew Gawthorpe, Leiden University

Trump’s new world order is taking shape in Venezuela. Five keys to understanding the US military attacks

Juan Luis Manfredi, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

A predawn op in Latin America? The US has been here before, but the seizure of Venezuela’s Maduro is still unprecedented

Alan McPherson, Temple University

A man on a motorcycle drives past a mural of a man's face.

How Venezuela has been preparing for a US invasion for more than two decades

Gemma Ware, The Conversation

Listen

Nicolas Maduro looking through binoculars

Tower blocks in the city of Schwe Kokko.

Huge online scam operations are flourishing in war-torn Myanmar – I travelled there to find out why

Xu Peng, SOAS, University of London

Brigitte Bardot defined the modern woman and defied social norms

Ben McCann, University of Adelaide

A composite of Sudanese generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and some of their respective soldiers

Sudan’s civil war: A visual guide to the brutal conflict

Christopher Tounsel, University of Washington

Donald Trump’s first step to becoming a would-be autocrat – hijacking a party

Justin Bergman, The Conversation

Syria’s incomplete security transition has left gaps for Islamic State to exploit

Haian Dukhan, Teesside University and Rahaf Aldoughli, Lancaster University

A member of Syria's internal security forces stands guard on the streets of Aleppo.

From record warming to rusting rivers, 2025 Arctic Report Card shows a region transforming faster than expected

Matthew L. Druckenmiller, University of Colorado Boulder; Rick Thoman, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and Twila A. Moon, University of Colorado Boulder

Two people walk across snow and ice with areas of water evident and mountains in the background.

How Hannah Arendt can help us understand this new age of far-right populism

Christopher J. Finlay, Durham University

A woman in a white suit and glasses reading some papers next to a newpaper reporter.

Bird flu warnings are being ignored. I’ve seen this pattern before

Nikki Ikani, Leiden University; King's College London

Firefighters in protective suits attending a farm in Czech Republic where bird flu had broken out.

Photographers and journalists in 'press' jackets lying on the ground as if dead

The enduring power of journalism in a world of more media and less freedom

James Rodgers, City St George's, University of London

Revolutionary rap: Nigerian star Falz has kept protest music alive

Paul Onanuga, Federal University, Oye Ekiti

A painting of a supper with a futurist backdrop. Men and women and children laugh and partake, at the head of the table an African man in a gold headpiece raises a gold goblet.

China and Mongolia are battling to control massive dust storms

Thomas White, King's College London; Andreas Baas, King's College London, and Han Cheng, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

People in China wearing masks because of a major dust storm.

A black and white image shows a young girl, naked, running from a napalm attack during the Vietnam War, with other distressed children around her. Soldiers are visible in the background.

Who really photographed Napalm Girl? The famous war photo is now contested history

Kate Cantrell, University of Southern Queensland and Alison Bedford, University of Southern Queensland

Black and white film still. Men wave over the bow of a ship.

Battleship Potemkin at 100: how the Soviet film redrew the boundaries of cinema

Alexander Howard, University of Sydney

How rogue nations are capitalizing on gaps in crypto regulation to finance weapons programs

Nolan Fahrenkopf, University at Albany, State University of New York

A mash-up of a North Korean flag and the bitcoin emblem.

Hong Kong pro-democracy publisher convicted of sedition, in major blow to press freedom

Yao-Tai Li, UNSW Sydney

Merchandise in support of Jimmy Lai is displayed before a news conference

Trump is close to naming the new Federal Reserve chief. His choice could raise the risk of stagflation

Henry Maher, University of Sydney

President Donald Trump hands a document of cost figures to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell during a visit to the Federal Reserve in July.

Trump tariffs and warming India-China ties have silenced the Quad partnership … for now

Hyeran Jo, Texas A&M University and Yoon Jung Choi, Texas A&M University; Sejong Institute

Women standing outside looking at someone not in the photo.

Epstein’s victims deserve more attention than his ‘client list’

Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin, Boise State University

2 superpowers, 1 playbook: Why Chinese and US bureaucrats think and act alike

Daniel E. Esser, American University School of International Service; Heiner Janus, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS); Mark Theisen, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), and Tim Hailer-Röthel, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

Coup contagion? A rash of African power grabs suggests copycats are taking note of others’ success

Salah Ben Hammou, Rice University and Jonathan Powell, University of Kentucky

A group of men in army fatigues and holding guns stand behind a desk.

Chile elects most right-wing leader since Pinochet – in line with regional drift, domestic tendency to punish incumbents

Andra B. Chastain, Washington State University

People hold flags and a picture of their leader at a political rally.

Marriage and migration: what happens when men return to the family home in Botswana

Unaludo Sechele, University of the Free State

Group of women wearing chequered blankets and patterned headscarves

West Bank violence is soaring, fueled by a capitulation of Israeli institutions to settlers’ interests

Arie Perliger, UMass Lowell

A groups of protestors with a large white and blue flag walk towards a man in uniform.

In this age of global uncertainty, where in the world can we look for guidance?

Ian Scoones, Institute of Development Studies

Illustration showing US flag, shipping containers and a tariff sign.

Internet shutdowns are increasing dramatically in Africa – a new book explains why

Tony Roberts, Institute of Development Studies

Getting peace right: Why justice needs to be baked into ceasefire agreements – including Ukraine’s

Valerie Morkevicius, Colgate University

Four men in blue and black suits shake hands as they cluster outside a door with the number 10 on it.

Two men look at an information board in front of a panoramic view.

Pandas, pingpong and ancient canals: President Xi’s hosting style says a lot about Chinese diplomacy

Xianda Huang, University of California, Los Angeles

AI-generated political videos are more about memes and money than persuading and deceiving

Lisa Fazio, Vanderbilt University

images of three men, two in business suits flanking on in a military pilot's suit and wearing a crown

Asia’s scamming gangs target Timor-Leste as their next frontier – but they may have misjudged the small island nation

Gemma Ware, The Conversation

Millions of hectares are still being cut down every year. How can we protect global forests?

Kate Dooley, The University of Melbourne

A tree on a ridge in a steamy tropical forest.

Germany’s plan to deport Syrian refugees echoes 1980s effort to repatriate Turkish guest workers

Michelle Lynn Kahn, University of Richmond

How short-form videos could be harming young minds

A 2,000-year-old building site reveals the raw ingredients for ancient Roman self-healing concrete

A detail of the neatly aligned ceramic roof tiles and tuff blocks in a newly excavated site in Pompeii, documenting the storage of building materials during renovation.

Hundreds of iceberg earthquakes detected at the crumbling end of Antarctica’s Doomsday Glacier

Satellite photo of a glacier meeting the sea

Kidnapping for ransom in the Sahel: analysis of 24 years of data shows a new trend

Alexander M. Laskaris, University of Florida and Olivier Walther, University of Florida

People in camouflage and khaki uniforms, carrying weapons

A grainy image shows a large vessel at sea.

Black-market oil buyers will push Venezuela for bigger discounts following US seizure – starving Maduro of much-needed revenue

Francisco J. Monaldi, Rice University

How we unlocked the secrets of Denmark’s oldest plank boat – with the help of an ancient fingerprint

Mikael Fauvelle, Lund University

Painting of ancient Scandinavian sailors in a rough sea.

We watched these coral colonies succumb to black band disease. 6 months later, 75% were dead

‘Rage bait’ is the Oxford Word of the Year, showing how social media is manufacturing anger

Laurence Grondin-Robillard, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

Ukraine peace talks reveal a world slipping back into an acceptance of war

A Ukrainian soldier walks down a damaged street on a foggy day.

Africa’s power grabs are rising – the AU’s mixed response is making things worse

Armed men standing on the back of a truck that is part of a convoy driving through a street

Hope and hardship have driven Syrian refugee returns – but many head back to destroyed homes, land disputes

Mena and women crowd onto a convoy of vehicles.

How crime in Brazil drags down the economy and heaps economic pain on the nation’s poor

Men in fatigues with guns standf outside a glass building

With Nvidia’s second-best AI chips headed for China, the US shifts priorities from security to trade

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang shakes hands with US President Donald Trump

Understand what's going on in the world

Get the best of The Conversation in your inbox

Life and art

In a cynical industry, Rob Reiner’s films taught us the power of sincerity

Adam Daniel, Western Sydney University

Jane Austen’s happiness was complicated – her last heroine in Persuasion knew why

Two women walking down a beach arm in arm

Sabrina Carpenter’s and Chappell Roan’s sexy pop hits have roots in the bedroom ballads of Teddy Pendergrass and Philly soul

Black-and-white photo of couple singing while seated at a round dining table with a rose in a vase in the center

The Ladykillers at 70: how one film turned British whimsy into a darkly comic masterpiece

Black-and-white scene from film The Ladykillers showing an older woman surrounded by five men who watch her closely, with one man standing in a doorway in the background.

Environment

Polar bears are adapting to climate change at a genetic level – and it could help them avoid extinction

Alice Godden, University of East Anglia

A polar bear on a grassy snow landscape.

Storms in the Southern Ocean are producing more rain – and the consequences could be global

Iran’s record drought and cheap fuel have sparked an air pollution crisis – but the real causes run much deeper

3 reasons China wants global green leadership after COP30

Two men rolling up a Chinese flag in front of the China stand at COP30.

Health

Can you wear the same pair of socks more than once?

Primrose Freestone, University of Leicester

A woman plugs her nose and grimaces, looking at a smelly white sock she's holding in her other hand.

Dick Van Dyke credits his longevity to his positive outlook – and research says optimists live longer

Jolanta Burke, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences

Dick Van Dyke smiles for the camera at an event.

More women are using steroids – and many don’t know the risks

A woman with strong shoulders is seen from behind at a gym.

What’s the difference between a tumour and cancer?

Science and Technology

What the hyperproduction of AI slop is doing to science

Vitomir Kovanovic, University of South Australia

AI-generated image of a human-sized shrimp in a lab coat holding a beaker full of green liquid.

Can bigger-is-better ‘scaling laws’ keep AI improving forever? History says we can’t be too sure

Abstract images of lines and curves on a black background

What AI earbuds can’t replace: The value of learning another language

four diverse young people sit at a table at a cafe and talk

New Nasa lunar contest could pit Elon Musk against Jeff Bezos, as US fears China will win race to Moon

Illustration of Blue Origin's Mk1 lunar lander.

Business and economy

Congress has been dodging responsibility for tariffs for decades. Now the Supreme Court will decide how far presidents can go

A photoillustration juxtaposes the Supreme Court building with hundred-dollar bills.

Africa’s trade deal with the US was left in limbo: what exporters can do about it

New study finds luxury tourism is a risky strategy for African economies

An aerial photo of a curved structure with large curved pool right on a beach and the sea, where a speedboat is seen.

The price of gold is skyrocketing. Why, and will it continue?

Gold and silver bullion are seen at Pallion in Marrickville, Sydney

The Conversation Weekly Podcast

The American fixation on white Afrikaners in South Africa stretches back nearly a century