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

Support expert insights and fact-based journalism.

Would you buy milk from a gene-edited cow? Consumers may be more open than you think

Damien Mather, University of Otago; Goetz Laible, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau, and Kara Xiaohui Ma, University of Otago

Will ‘move on’ orders for rough sleepers make NZ cities safer – or revive Victorian-era cruelty?

Kris Gledhill, Auckland University of Technology

Are the US and Iran back at war, or negotiating? Why bombing your way to peace won’t work

Jessica Genauer, UNSW Sydney

A missile launches from a US military ship

What are NZ’s chances of winning the World Cup? Not great, as this new math model shows

Steven Stern, Bond University

A replica World Cup soccer ball is seen with New York in the background.

Private space tourism is taking off – but laws on outer space are from another era

Anna Marie Brennan, University of Waikato

Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket which carried Katy Perry lifted off on April 14, 2025.

A colourful illustration of various faces

A philosopher’s take on NZ’s bill to define who counts as a woman or man

Patrick Girard, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

A mobile phone with circled social media elements being deleted with heavy machinery

Visual feature

The 5 simple tweaks to make social media less addictive

Dana McKay, Michael Cowling & The Conversation Digital Storytelling Team

Kids on social media more than two hours a day at higher risk of mental illness

Nandi Vijayakumar, Deakin University; Susan M. Sawyer, The University of Melbourne, and Sylvia C. Lin, Deakin University; Murdoch Children's Research Institute

A teenager lying on their bed, looking at a phone and wearing headphones.

‘Technostress’: why many older people feel shut out by the digital world

Melanie Stowell, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

How can we make buildings more resilient before – and after – earthquakes?

Ashkan Hashemi, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Demand for menopause hormone therapy is on the rise – but training gaps remain for doctors

Michelle Wise, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Women with her back to camera, with a estradiol patch on her shoulder

A kauri tree trunk with the canopy above

Warming winters are changing NZ’s landscapes, bringing insect pests, smaller fruit and carbon loss

Cate Macinnis-Ng, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Why the tax NZ never wanted to talk about is back on the political agenda in 2026

Irshad Ali, Auckland University of Technology

NZ’s new forestry rules promise consistency. Will they also increase environmental risk?

Steve Urlich, Lincoln University, New Zealand

Why a US ‘freeloading’ claim has put the heat on NZ’s independent foreign policy

Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato

Chris Penk speaking at a lecture at the defence summit in Singapore

A 5.3 million-year-old whale graveyard has been found on the floor of the Indian Ocean

Vanessa Pirotta, Macquarie University

Fragmentary whale bones on the bed of the Indian Ocean.

National insecurity: what happens when countries start to lose their sense of identity?

Nicholas Ross Smith, University of Waikato

Stylised image of a globe breaking up into individual jigsaw pieces

New research

Fossil fishes buried in the desert reveal a missing chapter in marine history

Sanaa El-Sayed, University of Michigan

A skeleton of a long, bony fish imprinted in rock, with a coin for scale.

We analyzed paper money printed by Ben Franklin to uncover his anti‑counterfeiting techniques and materials innovations

Khachatur Manukyan, University of Notre Dame

An illustration of Ben Franklin overlaid on vintage illustrations.

A ‘supereruption’ transformed NZ 350,000 years ago. We now know how it happened

Anna Miller, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Climate change may shift hailstorms towards Earth’s poles – new study

Timothy H. Raupach, UNSW Sydney and Steven Sherwood, UNSW Sydney

Read NZ's best experts in science, health, business and more

Get our free NZ Weekly newsletter

UN report warns AI could soon use 3% of world’s electricity and more water than we need to drink

Amanda Turnbull-McRae, University of Waikato

Babies with older siblings have a higher infection risk, but are less protected through vaccination

Thomas Schober, Auckland University of Technology

River wildlife moves freely once dams are removed – but so too can invasive species

Ellen J. Dolan, Queen's University Belfast; Jaimie Dick, Queen's University Belfast, and Ross Cuthbert, Queen's University Belfast

Jacinda Ardern turns her own imposter syndrome into self-help wisdom for young readers

Katie Pickles, University of Canterbury

Close-up of Jacinda Ardern in a crowded hallway

It costs a million dollars a day to keep low-risk defendants on remand. More prisons aren’t the answer

Antje Deckert, Auckland University of Technology

Wire mesh, with a satellite dish in the background

More Analysis and Comment

Are you an academic or researcher? Want to write for The Conversation?

Pitch an article

Share knowledge. Inform Decisions.

The Conversation is a unique collaboration between academics and journalists that is the world’s leading publisher of research-based news and analysis. The Conversation has a monthly audience of 18 million users and a reach of 42 million through Creative Commons republication.

About us

Jobs Board

Events

More Events