The Conversation - Parenting an 'emerging adult'

China’s influence grows at COP29 climate talks as US leadership fades

Lucia Green-Weiskel, Trinity College

The annual UN climate conference ended with a weaker deal than many countries hoped for, and with calls to overhaul the climate talks for the future.

Taxpayers spend 22% more per patient to support Medicare Advantage – the private alternative to Medicare that promised to cost less

Grace McCormack, University of Southern California; Erin Duffy, University of Southern California

Rather than finding efficiencies and saving money all around, the private companies that administer the Medicare Advantage option to Medicare are profiting at seniors’ – and taxpayers’ – expense.

How the gladiators inspired evangelicals’ sense of persecution

Cavan W. Concannon, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

To early Christians, ancient gladiators were potent symbols of martyrdom, embodying virtue and bravery despite being enslaved.

Students go to hell and back in this course that looks at depictions of the damned throughout the ages

Robert Gordon Joseph, University of Dayton

A course explores how ancient apocalypses find their way into movies and TV shows.

Amid lull in tit-for-tat missile exchange, Iran and Israel seek to control the online narrative

Shirvin Zeinalzadeh, Arizona State University

The longtime foes have so far been able to put the lid on an all-out war. But their mutual battle over narrative and information is raging hot as ever.

Election reform was on the ballot – voters largely said ‘no’

Matthew May, Boise State University

Voters proved hesitant to overhaul the election systems they were already familiar with, as almost all of the reforms in nine ballot measures across seven states and Washington failed to pass.

I am a scholar of the Rosenberg case. I didn’t always think Ethel was innocent − but I now believe she was not a spy

Lori Clune, California State University, Fresno

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in 1953 for conspiring with the Soviets. A newly declassified memo debunks the government’s case against Ethel, and her sons want their mother exonerated.

Polling in the age of Trump highlights flawed methods and filtered realities

Spencer Goidel, Auburn University; Eliana DuBosar, Auburn University; Zoe Nemerever, Auburn University

Democrats’ surprise at the results of the 2024 presidential election is partly a result of pollsters’ inaccuracies and partly of partisan filter bubbles.

Tiny laboratories that fit in your hand can rapidly identify pathogens using electricity

Blanca H. Lapizco-Encinas, Rochester Institute of Technology

Pathogens have distinct electrical charges, shapes and sizes. Measuring how quickly they move through an electric field can help researchers separate different species in a sample in minutes.

As Trump touts plans for immigrant roundup, militias are standing back, but standing by

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ case raises questions about the many observers who might have ignored his alleged crimes

Presidents often claim mandates − especially when they want to expand their power or are on the defensive