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The Conversation
How a little-known clergyman studying worms by candlelight in the 1700s inspired Charles Darwin – but didn’t get the credit he deserved

How a little-known clergyman studying worms by candlelight in the 1700s inspired Charles Darwin – but didn’t get the credit he deserved

Kevin Richard Butt, University of Central Lancashire

Man holding tennis racquet surrounded by junk

Hoarding can start in childhood – here’s why early intervention is so crucial for all age groups

Victoria Ruby-Granger, De Montfort University

Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, with Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in February 2024.

Mounting tension and instability in the western Balkans is playing into Russia’s hands

Andi Hoxhaj OBE, UCL

An illustration of of people interacting with oversized items associated with elections, including a ballot box, ballot paper and podium.

Generative AI model shows fake news has a greater influence on elections when released at a steady pace without interruption

Dorje C. Brody, University of Surrey

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reveals why he has a raspy voice – spasmodic dysphonia explained

Adam Taylor, Lancaster University

Robert F Kennedy Jr. speaking at an event
Japan: the yen plunges to 34-year low despite interest rate hike

Richard Werner, University of Winchester

Japan flag with stock market trend graph.
AI has the power to revolutionise lending, but at a cost to people with lower credit scores

Christopher Amaral, University of Bath

Robot arm holding a piggy box
Back to Black: new biopic only bolsters the Amy Winehouse ‘trainwreck’ narrative carved out by noughties tabloid media

Nathalie Weidhase, University of Surrey

Amy Winehouse in the studio

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Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro holding a red book with Venezuela flags waving around him.

Venezuela: why Maduro is ramping up his attack on free speech

Nicolas Forsans, University of Essex

Man who caught virus from a monkey in a critical condition – B virus explained

Colin Michie, University of Central Lancashire

A rhesus monkey sitting on a red sign in Hong Kong
Not all young trans people want medical intervention – what is social transitioning, and how should schools handle it?

EJ-Francis Caris-Hamer, University of Essex

View from behind of six young students dressed in colourful clothing and backpacks, running into a school building
Curb Your Enthusiasm bows out after 24 years – or does it?

Nathan Abrams, Bangor University

Larry David sits at a desk with his hands behind his head
The secret world of earthworms: meet the tiger worm and the nightcrawler

Kevin Richard Butt, University of Central Lancashire

Close up of earthworm on fertile soil
A mural in Tel Aviv depicts US president Joe Biden as a superhero defending Israel.

Gaza war: Iran’s attack on Israel has brought Washington back on side – for now

Paul Rogers, University of Bradford

A white man with yellow hair and a suit sits at a table with other people in formal clothing him around him and looks toward the camera with a serious face.

Trump’s New York felony charges are going to trial – what the images might show when the business fraud case kicks off

Mary Angela Bock, The University of Texas at Austin

A timer can shorten your shower even when you have no incentive to save water – new study

Pablo Pereira-Doel, University of Surrey and Xavier Font, University of Surrey

A timer can shorten your shower even when you have no incentive to save water – new study
Rihanna’s religious imagery is a protest against feminine ideals of respectability and decency

Chris Greenough, Edge Hill University

Rihanna’s religious imagery is a protest against feminine ideals of respectability and decency
More adults are being diagnosed as neurodivergent. Here’s how employers can help in the workplace

Dougal Sutherland, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

woman with a puzzle brain
What happens when I stop taking a drug like Ozempic or Mounjaro?

Natasha Yates, Bond University

Woman weighs herself in living room

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Surreal view as a man walking on a pavement road and a suspended clock on his back hanging from the sky.

How logic alone may prove that time doesn’t exist

Matyáš Moravec, University of St Andrews

East Africa’s ‘soda lakes’ are rising, threatening their iconic flamingos

Aidan Byrne, King's College London

Flamingos flying above a shallow lake
Why robots can be culturally insensitive – and how scientists are trying to fix it

Henry Taylor, University of Birmingham and Masoumeh Mansouri, University of Birmingham

Robot dressed in Japanese gown bows
Chewing gum has been linked to better diets – but it’s no way to improve your health

Sandra Sunram-Lea, Lancaster University

Chewing gum has been linked to better diets – but it’s no way to improve your health
Four rising Welsh music acts to set your playlist ablaze

Paul Carr, University of South Wales and Robert Smith, University of South Wales

A woman in a tall black hat plays an accordion on stage.
Three missiles pointing at the sky in front of four Iranian flags.

Why Iran’s failed attack on Israel may well turn out to be a strategic success

Gavin E.L. Hall, University of Strathclyde

Whales and dolphins now have legal personhood in the Pacific – but one treaty won’t be enough to protect them

Elliot Doornbos, Nottingham Trent University and John Whitehead, Nottingham Trent University

seascape, blue sky with mountains in distance, whale tail above the surface to right of pic
How the pandemic deepened an existing wellbeing crisis in headteaching – new research

Emily Marchant, Swansea University; Orkan Okan, Bielefeld University, and Tom Crick, Swansea University

A huge pile of paperwork in the foreground with the blurred out background shows people working at desks.
Enzo Mari at the Design Museum explores how the giant of Italian design saw his work as a political act

Giuliana Pieri, Royal Holloway University of London

Enzo Mari in front of an apple and pear cutout.
Leaving the European convention on human rights won’t stop the boats – but it will create other problems for the UK

Joelle Grogan, King's College London

View from directly above of a small boat filled with people, surrounded by deep blue water
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Banner for The Conversation's Curious Kids podcast

The Conversation’s Curious Kids – new podcast where kids get answers direct from experts

Gemma Ware, The Conversation

Research highlights

Cutout of Byron over a handwritten letter, with rainbow light

Byron’s letters reveal the real queer love and loss that inspired his poetry

Sam Hirst, University of Nottingham

How a brawl in 18th-century Constantinople changed what we know about the Vikings

Tonicha Upham, School of Advanced Study, University of London

Ahmad ibn Fadlan in front of Viking ships.
Victorian London was a city in flux: architectural models helped the public visualise the changes

Matthew Wells, University of Manchester

An archival photograph in black and white of a Victorian building complex.
The great tits in this Oxford wood are adapting their breeding times as climate changes – here’s how

David López Idiáquez, University of Oxford

six tiny black chicks with yellow beaks in nest, four open beaks asking for food, surrounded by green moss
How the national living wage helps the UK’s poorest households: new research

Giulia Giupponi, Bocconi University

Young woman and construction worker next to one another against a glass panel

Global affairs

A drawing of a man standing in front of a tank straightening his jacket.

Inside the global arms industry: what a secretive London trade fair reveals about international weapons sales

Jill Gibbon, Leeds Beckett University

Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel was a strategic miscalculation. Can all-out war now be averted?

Ran Porat, Monash University

Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel was a strategic miscalculation. Can all-out war now be averted?
Is the shine coming off Japan’s bullet trains?

Taku Tamaki, Loughborough University

A Shinkansen bullet train running past Mount Fuji in Japan.
The idea that US interest rates will stay higher for longer is probably wrong

Alan Shipman, The Open University

Three toy workmen working on a keyboard percent sign
Gaza war: Israel using AI to identify human targets raising fears that innocents are being caught in the net

Elke Schwarz, Queen Mary University of London

A staged photo of a military officer using AI
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Expert reviews

Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse singing into a microphone.

Back to Black: Amy Winehouse biopic reviewed by an alcohol expert

Sadie Boniface, King's College London

Scoop: Netflix depiction of Prince Andrew interview is a welcome addition to the journalism film canon

Sarah Lonsdale, City, University of London

Still image of Sewell and Anderson in character, seated in red chairs doing the infamous Newsnight interview beneath tv cameras and lights
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – this Chinese-US blockbuster maximises the global appeal of the MonsterVerse

Rayna Denison, University of Bristol

Godzilla and Kong running side by side
You Are Not Alone: powerful new film documents how women’s protest against misogyny helped change Spain’s rape laws

Abigail Loxham, University of Liverpool and Deborah Shaw, University of Portsmouth

A young woman leaning against a wall looking pensive, eyes downcast.
Hideko Takamine at 100: six of the Japanese actor’s films that captured a nation in flux

Till Weingärtner, University College Cork

Hideko Takamine as Carmen with bright red lipstick and a scarf in her hair
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So much to catch up on. Your time is precious. Get our expert picks of film, TV, music, exhibitions, books and more

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The Conversation Weekly Podcast

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Insights long reads

Man dressed in white suit stands inside white temple bedecked with flowers.

India elections: ‘Our rule of law is under attack from our own government, but the world does not see this’

Sandhya Fuchs, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

For people with mental illness, drugs and alcohol can be a key survival strategy. I’ve learned they shouldn’t have to ‘get clean’ to get treatment

Simon Bratt, Staffordshire University

Man drinking from a bottle of alcohol, with more empty bottles in the foreground.
I’ve spent time with refugees in French coastal camps and they told me the government’s Rwanda plan is not putting them off coming to the UK

Sophie Watt, University of Sheffield

People queue for food.
The Turkish holiday resort that’s become an emergency dental centre for Britons who can’t get treated at home

Diana Ibanez-Tirado, University of Sussex

A billboard outside a dental treatment centre in Antalya, Turkey
Descendants of Holocaust survivors explain why they are replicating Auschwitz tattoos on their own bodies

Alice Bloch, University of Manchester

A woman wearing jeans and a black shirt holds out her arm on which is tattooed a number.
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Make better decisions

Eye infections might seem like a minor complaint – but in some cases they can cause blindness and even death

Eye infections might seem like a minor complaint – but in some cases they can cause blindness and even death

Adam Taylor, Lancaster University

Five tips to help you start new hobbies in retirement

Alison Bishop, University of East London

A running group of older men.
Pubic hair: beyond brazilians, more than manscaping

Dan Baumgardt, University of Bristol

Pubic hair: beyond brazilians, more than manscaping
What millennials and gen Z professionals need to know about developing a meaningful career

William E. Donald, University of Southampton

A young man sitting at a counter, looking focused at his laptop and taking notes on a clipboard
Early spring brings a ‘hungry gap’ for bees – here’s how you can help

Tonya Lander, University of Oxford and Matthias Becher, University of Exeter

A bumblebee hovers by a white blossom.

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In case you missed it

Head and shoulders portrait of grey-haired scientist, Peter Higgs

Peter Higgs was one of the greats of particle physics. He transformed what we know about the building blocks of the universe

Harald Fox, Lancaster University

‘April showers’ – a rainfall scientist explains what they are and why they are becoming more intense

Rob Thompson, University of Reading

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Boeing: what the next CEO needs to do to ensure quality and turn things around

Bart MacCarthy, University of Nottingham

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Russ Cook: what running across Africa does to the human body

Dan Gordon, Anglia Ruskin University

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The vast majority of GPs resisted the founding of the NHS – here’s why

Michael Lambert, Lancaster University

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The power of POV: five films that put you in the shoes of otherwise unrelatable characters

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Save our seabed – the bottom of the ocean needs to become a top priority, and the UN agrees

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Is the shine coming off Japan’s bullet trains?

Taku Tamaki, Loughborough University

Is the shine coming off Japan’s bullet trains?
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Drinking apple cider vinegar may help with weight loss but its health benefits are overstated

Stephen Hughes, Anglia Ruskin University

Drinking apple cider vinegar may help with weight loss but its health benefits are overstated
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How your vision can predict dementia 12 years before it is diagnosed – new study

Eef Hogervorst, Loughborough University; Ahmet Begde, Loughborough University, and Thom Wilcockson, Loughborough University

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Phonics isn’t working – for children’s reading to improve, they need to learn to love stories

Willem Hollmann, Lancaster University; Cathie Wallace, UCL, and Gee Macrory, Manchester Metropolitan University

Phonics isn’t working – for children’s reading to improve, they need to learn to love stories
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Pubic hair: beyond brazilians, more than manscaping

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