Democracy on the line in state election lawsuits

Elon Musk is poised to take Twitter private – here’s what that means for the company and its future success

Erik Gordon, University of Michigan

The world’s richest man says he intends to complete the $44 billion deal by the Oct. 28 deadline, but that may be the easy part.

Americans who aren’t sure about God are a fast-growing force in politics – and they’re typically even more politically active than white evangelicals

Ryan Burge, Eastern Illinois University

Winning elections isn’t just a matter of how many players you have. It’s how engaged they are.

What is the rosary? Why a set of beads and prayers are central to Catholic faith

Kayla Harris, University of Dayton

Rosaries are meant to be used wherever, whenever – and each one tells a story.

The first televised World Series spurred America’s television boom, 75 years ago

James Walker, Saint Xavier University

Just five days before the first pitch of the 1947 World Series, a deal was struck to air the Series on television.

To help protect newly hatched baby sea turtles, we designed a tool for sensing activity inside their nests

Erin Clabough, University of Virginia

Scientists don’t know what prompts turtle hatchlings to emerge from their nests and head for the water, but vibrations appear to play a role.

The Ukraine conflict is a war of narratives – and Putin’s is crumbling

Ronald Suny, University of Michigan

People understand the world through the stories they are told and tell, a historian writes. In the case of the war in Ukraine, narratives can create problems.

Crime is on the ballot – and voters are choosing whether prosecutors with reform agendas are the ones who can best bring law, order and justice

Jessica S. Henry, Montclair State University

A new wave of prosecutors, known as progressives, say that public safety can exist with policies like eliminating cash bail for people charged with low-level offenses.

Most voters skipped ‘in person on Election Day’ when offered a choice of how and when to vote

Paul Herrnson, University of Connecticut

Nearly two-thirds of all votes cast in the 2020 presidential election were made through early in-person voting or by mail, rather than by people who visited their local polling places on Election Day.

Newly discovered species of bacteria in the microbiome may be a culprit behind rheumatoid arthritis

Meagan Chriswell, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

A new species of bacteria that doesn’t normally live in the gut may trigger an immune response so strong that it spreads to the joints.

From radiation to water pollution to cities, humans are now a driver of evolution in the ‘natural’ world

Daniel Merino, The Conversation; Gemma Ware, The Conversation

In this week’s episode of The Conversation Weekly, we speak with three scientists who study the ways plants and animals evolve in a world dominated by humans.

To search for alien life, astronomers will look for clues in the atmospheres of distant planets – and the James Webb Space Telescope just proved it’s possible to do so

School shootings are already at a record in 2022 – with months still to go

Pit bulls went from America’s best friend to public enemy – now they’re slowly coming full circle