Most people would sacrifice some life satisfaction in exchange for a more equal society
izzuanroslan/Shutterstock What kind of society would you rather live in: an equal one where everyone is just about getting by? Or an unequal one where most people are doing substantially better, but a small group consistently falls behind? Now imagine having to choose that society before you were even born, but with no idea of […]
The memoir that changed my mind – 11 experts share a perspective‑shifting read
Virinaflora/Shutterstock Our beliefs aren’t fixed. They’re shaped, stretched and sometimes overturned by the ideas we encounter as we move through life. For many of us, memoirs are the moments where that shift happens, through an argument that unsettles us or an inspiring story that re-frames how we see the world. We asked 11 academic experts […]
The government wants households to prepare for disaster – but the UK’s real test will be the NHS
shutterstock Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock What happens when the NHS is hit by an emergency it cannot predict? A heatwave can send thousands more people to hospital. A power cut can put patients who depend on electricity at risk. A cyber-attack can suddenly knock out systems that hospitals rely on to function. Government officials told reporters at the […]
Nasa’s new telescope is named after astronomer Nancy Grace Roman – but who was she?
Dr Nancy Grace Roman at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, around 1972. Nasa/Esa, CC BY Nasa has named its latest flagship space telescope after the American scientist Nancy Grace Roman. Roman’s contributions to astrophysics should have made her famous, yet many people will never have heard of her. For decades, astronomers have […]
How does a collapsing glacier turn into a lethal wall of mud and water? An expert explains what happened in Nepal
A collapsing glacier in Tibet led to a devastating wall of water and debris roaring through a valley in Nepal, leaving hundreds dead and many hundreds still missing. Stuart Dunning is a professor of applied geomorphology who researches disaster risk reduction in high mountain a areas nd has closely studied the 2021 Chamoli disaster, a […]
Nepal’s devastating floods reveal the danger of ‘cascading hazards’ in Himalayas
The devastating floods that have swept through the Nepal–Tibet border region are first and foremost a human tragedy. Hundreds of people have died or remain missing. But as scientists begin to reconstruct what happened, the event also exposes something fundamental about the way we understand natural hazards in high mountain regions. Mountains and rivers do […]
Dolly Parton changed country music by refusing to play by its rules
Dolly Parton has sung disco, pop, bluegrass and even metal – but for all her genre-hopping, she has always come back to country. From the disco bop of Baby I’m Burnin’ to the metal-influenced Bygones, featuring Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Parton’s career has repeatedly pushed beyond country’s boundaries while remaining firmly rooted in it. Although […]
Want to imagine a better future? Write a poem
Billion Photos/Shutterstock This roundup of The Conversation’s environment coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter, Imagine. At school, I was told by my teachers I wasn’t allowed to take art A-level alongside biology and chemistry. I’ve always regretted listening to them. The crossover between the arts and sciences fascinates me. The […]
Europe needs to fight back against US software dominance – and now is the time
Nokia still makes Android mobile phones Andrew Sozinov Europe’s relationship with American technology increasingly resembles an addiction. The patient knows it’s bad for them but cannot quite bring themselves to break it, because they don’t not know where to start. And yet everyone agrees that the longer the addict waits, the higher the price of […]
Andy Burnham the social chameleon? Why a leader with different personas can still be authentic
Burnham met President Zelensky in Portsmouth in July wearing his trademark black T-shirt and blazer. Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street, CC BY-NC-ND Shortly before entering Downing Street, Andy Burnham made a promise that appeared to be reassuring in its simplicity. “I won’t change,” he said. “I have a style. It’s my style.” Burnham’s political appeal […]