Why is Israel continuing to attack Lebanon, despite the ceasefire? Expert Q&A
The ceasefire in the Middle East is on shaky ground. Israel continued its bombardment of Lebanon on Wednesday, claiming its activities there are not part of the deal with Iran. These attacks killed at least 254 people across Lebanon and injured over 800 more in what was Israel’s largest offensive of the war so far. […]
The pseudoscientific attractiveness scale that grew out of incel forums and is now making money for looksmaxxing influencers
If you have teenagers in your life, they’ll probably have heard of the PSL scale. Or at least the language associated with it. Chad. Stacy. Normie. Subhuman. The PSL scale is a pseudoscientific attractiveness rating system used by looksmaxxers, men in a part of the manosphere who sometimes use extreme methods to change their appearance. […]
Hungary election: how a new opponent has forced Viktor Orbán into the first genuinely competitive race in 16 years
For the first time since Viktor Orbán came to power in 2010, the Hungarian electorate is faced with a genuinely competitive campaign ahead of the 2026 general election on April 12. For the past 16 years, Prime Minister Orbán’s party Fidesz has dominated. Faced with smear campaigns and attacks portraying opponents as a threat to […]
The more commodified your job, the more likely AI can do it – lessons from online freelancing
Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock Not long ago, if you needed a speech polished, a document translated or a logo designed, you would probably have hired a freelancer online. Millions of people did exactly that. They went to platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork and paid someone (maybe on the other side of the world) to do the job. […]
The human body isn’t a masterpiece of design – it’s a patchwork of evolutionary compromise
Our bodies are a living archive of evolution. ZCOOL HelloRF/ Shutterstock The human body is often described as a marvel of “perfect design”: elegant, efficient and finely tuned for its purpose. Yet, when we look closer, a rather different picture emerges. Far from being a flawless machine, the body reads more like a patchwork of […]
Could revisiting Asimov’s laws help us avoid AI’s ‘Chernobyl moment’?
The conflict in Iran – but also the war in Ukraine – show not only that AI is radically changing the economics of war (which may be good news), but also that we may be heading towards some kind of “Chernobyl moment”. We may soon experience a disaster that will force us to belatedly realise […]
Outside academia, people aren’t well informed about PhD research – and that’s a problem
Smallroombigdream/Shutterstock Around 1% of the global population has a PhD. It’s the highest academic qualification, the result of years spent on original research. But – and this is a question that many PhD students will have faced, at some time or another – what’s the point? The number of PhDs being undertaken globally is rising. […]
Why small discoveries (as well as big ones) have the power to inspire
This roundup of The Conversation’s environment coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter, Imagine. In 1968 a photo of the Earth was taken by the crew of Apollo 8 as they orbited the Moon. It’s hard for us to imagine today what that would feel like for both the crew and […]
How AI’s language barrier limits climate disaster responses
The Nigerian village of Mmiata Anam in Anambra state, completely submerged by floods. Chinedu Chime/Shutterstock A message appears online during heavy flooding: “This rain no be small o, everywhere don red.” Someone unfamiliar with the phrasing might hesitate. But for people in Nigeria, this message is immediate and clear: the flooding is severe and worsening. […]
Long COVID associated with higher risk of heart disease
Women with long COVID had more than double the risk of developing cardiovascular disease compared with women without long COVID. TetianaKtv/ Shutterstock Most people who get COVID recover within a few weeks. But for some, symptoms persist for months – a condition now known as long COVID. While it’s often associated with fatigue, breathlessness and […]