How do we know what dinosaurs looked like?
Daniel Eskridge/Shutterstock When all we have left of dinosaurs is their fossilised bones, how do we know what they looked like on the outside? That’s what nine-year-old Kara from London wanted to know. She joins our host Eloise and paleobiologist Neil Gostling on The Conversation’s Curious Kids podcast to find out all the ways scientists […]
Elon Musk says AI will make a ‘historically accurate’ Odyssey – here’s why that’s impossible
Elon Musk has promised that before the year is out, his AI tool Grok Imagine will produce a full-length film of Homer’s Odyssey that is, in his words, “historically accurate and true to the art of Homer”. The claim, posted on X in July alongside a three-minute AI-generated scene, arrived days after Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster […]
Some animals catch cancer from others in their species – here’s why humans aren’t one of them
Bullhead catfish. jack perks/Shutterstock.com Scientists in Vermont have just discovered something that shouldn’t really be possible: a skin cancer that’s spreading from catfish to catfish. It’s only the fourth transmissible cancer ever found in nature. Catfish now join Tasmanian devils, dogs and shellfish as the only animals known to carry naturally occurring cancers that can […]
Harmful bugs can thrive in your kitchen sponge for weeks – and you won’t be able to tell
Mike shots/Shutterstock.com That kitchen sponge sitting by your sink is not as innocent as it looks. It could be harbouring Salmonella enteritidis, E coli or Staphylococcus aureus – and there’s no way to tell just by looking at it or smelling it. New research from Germany grew bacteria from sponges in the lab, analysed their […]
Taylor Swift’s wedding was a clear display of the musicians’ huge power and influence
A.PAES/Shutterstock Taylor Swift getting married to Travis Kelce in New York this summer could easily be described as the ultimate celebrity event. There was hype, intrigue, tight media control and plenty of global attention. Some described it as being the US’s version of a royal wedding. But there is a key difference. A royal wedding […]
What vegan and vegetarian diets can and can’t tell us about eating disorders
ANDREA TOSI/Shutterstock “No thanks, I don’t eat meat.” This simple sentence can prompt very different reactions, but the question that often follows is: “Why?” The answer may reflect concern for animals, the environment, religion or personal health. Families and healthcare professionals may also wonder whether giving up meat offers a socially acceptable way to restrict […]
The historic German housewives who laid the groundwork for today’s tradwives
Over the past few years, “tradwife” content has moved from niche corners of social media into mainstream cultural debate. Tradwives present themselves as embracing a “traditional wife” lifestyle centred on domesticity, motherhood and clearly defined gender roles within marriage. This content is typically framed through curated images of homemaking, hyper-femininity and nostalgic visions of family […]
Small talk acts like social glue – here’s how to get better at it
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock “Good weekend?” “Bit hot today, isn’t it!” “Back in the office again…” We rely on small talk like this, and being good at it is even seen as a mark of conversational competence. Yet its content can feel superficial. Once you notice formulaic expressions such as “how are you” aren’t asking the question genuinely, […]
A photo of kindness on a Lesbos beach hid a deeper story
Greek and Armenian refugee children near Athens in 1923. Wikimedia At the height of the 2015 refugee crisis, a moment of human kindness captured the world’s attention. A young Syrian mother, newly landed by small boat on a beach in Greece, was struggling to feed her child when Militsa (Emilia) Kamvisi, who was then 83, […]
Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua plans to scrap elections – what that says about today’s autocrats
Since being elected for a second term as Nicaraguan president in 2006, Daniel Ortega – the former Sandinista freedom fighter-turned-authoritarian leader – has extended his term of office several times. But last week he announced a new strategy for holding on to power. He declared that there will no longer be elections in the Central […]