Putin's war may upend global supply chains

Oil price shocks have a long history, but today’s situation may be the most complex ever

Scott L. Montgomery, University of Washington

Price shocks are a feature of the global oil market, not a bug – and even when governments take many steps to grow supply or reduce demand, it can be years before prices ease.

How a hurricane fueled wildfires in the Florida Panhandle

David Godwin, University of Florida

Hurricane Michael left a jumbled mess of downed trees. Cleaning it up is even harder than it sounds, and now dead trees are burning.

The American founders could teach Putin a lesson: Provoking an unnecessary war is not how to prove your masculinity

Maurizio Valsania, Università di Torino

A leader’s machismo can lead to war, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has long displayed his version of hyper-masculinity. A historian says that for America’s founders, wars never fed their egos.

Humanitarian corridors could help civilians safely leave Ukraine – but Russia has a history of not respecting these pathways

Kirsten Gelsdorf, University of Virginia; Jacob Kurtzer, Georgetown University

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are using humanitarian corridors to leave the country. But these routes are often announced for political reasons and do not always offer safety

Endurance captain Frank Worsley, Shackleton’s gifted navigator, knew how to stay the course

Daniella McCahey, Texas Tech University

Accurately calculating a ship’s position by hand in 1915 was easy compared to what the New Zealand-born navigator Frank Worsley had to do next.

Guns, not roses – here’s the true story of penicillin’s first patient

Bill Sullivan, Indiana University School of Medicine

Albert Alexander was the first known person treated with penicillin. While his ultimately fatal case is well known in medical histories, the cause of his illness has been misattributed for decades.

Organs from genetically engineered pigs may help shorten the transplant wait list

David Kaczorowski, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences

Recent successes putting genetically modified pig organs into people have brought xenotransplantation back into the spotlight.

Why stagflation is an economic nightmare – and could become a real headache for Biden and the Fed if it emerges in the US

Veronika Dolar, SUNY Old Westbury

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and resulting sanctions are causing oil prices to spike, which is putting more pressure on inflation and increasing the risk of recession.

Why most teachers who say they plan to leave the profession probably won’t do so anytime soon

Christopher Redding, University of Florida; Allison Gilmour, Temple University; Elizabeth Bettini, Boston University; Tuan D. Nguyen, Kansas State University

Despite signals of increased turnover, the past two years have not experienced mass departures from the teaching profession.

The trauma of life in limbo for refugees and asylum seekers in immigration detention

Gemma Ware, The Conversation; Justin Bergman, The Conversation

Plus, Russia’s history of using refugees from Ukraine as geopolitical tools. Listen to The Conversation Weekly.

Ukraine’s cultural heritage faces destruction as Russian bombing continues

In the dark, freezing ocean under Antarctica’s largest ice shelf, we discovered a thriving microbial jungle

Turning down your thermostat really can ease a gas supply crisis – here’s how