A genetic researcher who has spent a decade studying how new drugs are developed (after decades doing it himself) writes that NIH funding is crucial to the process, and has been a huge driver of innovation and economic growth. The White House has proposed a 40% budget cut for 2026.
The Conversation
How the NIH became the backbone of American medical research and a major driver of innovation and economic growth
The agency’s budget has grown steadily since the 1960s, fueling an industry that creates lifesaving medicines and attracts billions of dollars in...
How China’s President Xi’s does diplomacy with pandas, pingpong and ancient canals. A cultural historian of modern China explains:
The Conversation
Pandas, pingpong and ancient canals: President Xi’s hosting style says a lot about Chinese diplomacy
During a recent visit to China, French President Emmanuel Macron was given the diplomatic works.
Coup contagion? A rash of African power grabs suggests copycats are taking note of others’ success
The Conversation
Coup contagion? A rash of African power grabs suggests copycats are taking note of others’ success
Since 2020, there have been 11 successful coups across Africa, and five thwarted attempts.
2025’s extreme weather had the jet stream’s fingerprints all over it, from flash floods to hurricanes. An environmental geosciences professor explains these unusual patterns:
The Conversation
2025’s extreme weather brought intense flash flooding, but no hurricane landfalls in the US – the jet stream is a big reason why
The US had a rare year without a hurricane make landfall, but it saw too much extreme rainfall and flash flooding across the country.
Sir Isaac Newton's followers turned abstract mathematics into coffeehouse spectacles, selling tickets and branded instruments. It wasn’t so different from what scientists do today on TikTok, explains a marketing scholar trained in economic sociology.
The Conversation
Science has always been marketed, from 18th-century coffeehouse demos of Newton’s ideas to today’s TikTok explainers
Science has always been part of a marketplace of ideas, where claims vie for audiences, resources and belief, and where power, persuasion and statu...
92% of Gen Z workers want jobs where they can discuss mental health openly. A new study reveals what employers need to do to keep high performers with chronic mental illness engaged and productive.
The Conversation
Best way for employers to support employees with chronic mental illness is by offering flexibility
Employers that don’t support employees with mental illness risk missing out on the talents and skills that such employees can provide.
The NIH has funded research underlying about 99% of newly approved medicines while saving the pharmaceutical industry nearly $3 billion per drug in development costs. A proposed 40% budget cut threatens this engine of American innovation and economic growth.
The Conversation
How the NIH became the backbone of American medical research and a major driver of innovation and economic growth
The agency’s budget has grown steadily since the 1960s, fueling an industry that creates lifesaving medicines and attracts billions of dollars in...
When the universe was born, there were almost equal amounts of matter and antimatter. They met and annihilated each other. Fortunately, just a tiny bit more regular matter survived to make stars, planets and all of us. A physicist explains:
The Conversation
How are dark matter and antimatter different?
Normal matter – which makes up everything we see and touch – isn’t the only type of matter present in the universe.
From civil disobedience to networked whistleblowing: What national security whistleblowers reveal in an age of crackdowns
The Conversation
From civil disobedience to networked whistleblowing: What national security truth-tellers reveal in an age of crackdowns
Whistleblowers’ stories show how accountability is shifting from formal legal institutions to solidarity networks built outside the state.
President Trump’s deadline for Ukraine to accept his peace plan came and went, but setting a deadline isn’t necessarily the ideal strategy. A scholar of just war philosophy argues that proposed plans have ignored a crucial element: justice must be built into any lasting agreement.
The Conversation
Getting peace right: Why justice needs to be baked into ceasefire agreements – including Ukraine’s
Just war theory, a centuries-old field of ethics, deals with how and when to start conflicts. It can also guide decisions about how and when to end...