By John Dearing, University of Southampton; Gregory Cooper, University of Sheffield; and Simon Willcock, Bangor University | – Across the world, rainforests are becoming savanna or farmland, savanna is drying out and turning into desert, and icy tundra is thawing. Indeed, scientific studies have now recorded “regime shifts” like these in more than 20 different […]
Islam’s call to prayer is ringing out in more US cities – affirming a long and growing presence of Muslims in America
By Leila Tarakji, Michigan State University | – Minneapolis recently became the first major U.S. city to allow the “adhan,” or Muslim call to prayer, to be broadcast from mosques five times a day. In April 2023, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a change to the city’s sound ordinance, effectively eliminating time constraints that […]
Hurricanes push heat deeper into the Ocean than Scientists realized, boosting long-term Ocean Warming
By Noel Gutiérrez Brizuela, University of California, San Diego and Sally Warner, Brandeis University | – (The Conversation) – When a hurricane hits land, the destruction can be visible for years or even decades. Less obvious, but also powerful, is the effect hurricanes have on the oceans. In a new study, we show through real-time […]
Teaching Juneteenth: One Black Family’s Struggle for Freedom Offers lessons for Texas lawmakers trying to Erase History from the Classroom
By Jeffrey L. Littlejohn, Sam Houston State University and Zachary Montz, Sam Houston State University | – (The Conversation) – The news was startling. On June 19, 1865, two months after the U.S. Civil War ended, Union Gen. Gordon Granger walked onto the balcony at Ashton Villa in Galveston, Texas, and announced to the people […]
How the Exposure of highly classified Documents could harm US Security – and why there are Laws against storing Them insecurely
Gary Ross, Texas A&M University When Donald Trump pled not guilty on June 13, 2023, to federal criminal charges related to his alleged illegal retention of classified documents, it was his first opportunity to formally answer charges that he violated the Espionage Act. The Justice Department alleges that, after his presidency, Trump held, in an […]
The Case for Recognising Palestine
By Gareth Evans, Australian National University | – Since a United Nations General Assembly Resolution vote in November 2012, Palestine has had the status of a state within the UN system. It is not a full member state but, like the Holy See, a non-member observer state. Australia – after a heady debate within the […]
Oceans absorb 30% of our CO2 Emissions; Phytoplankton are Central to its Climate Impacts
By Tyler Rohr, University of Tasmania; Anthony Richardson, The University of Queensland; and Elizabeth Shadwick, CSIRO | – The ocean holds 60 times more carbon than the atmosphere and absorbs almost 30% of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from human activities. This means the ocean is key to understanding the global carbon cycle and thus our […]
‘We are gambling with the future of our Planet for the sake of Hamburgers’: Peter Singer on Climate Change
By Peter Singer, Princeton University | – (The Conversation) – I wasn’t aware of climate change until the 1980s — hardly anyone was — and even when we recognised the dire threat that burning fossil fuels posed, it took time for the role of animal production in warming the planet to be understood. Today, though, […]
‘If you want to die in jail, keep talking’ – Two National Security Law Experts discuss the special Treatment for Trump and offer him some Advice
By Thomas A. Durkin, Loyola University Chicago and Joseph Ferguson, Loyola University Chicago | – (The Conversation) – Lawyer Thomas A. Durkin has spent much of his career working in national security law, representing clients in a variety of national security and domestic terrorism matters. Joseph Ferguson was a national security prosecutor in the U.S. […]