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Why the assault weapons debate is a culture debate

In June 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals of two lower court rulings that challenged assault weapons restrictions. The high court will decide whether the Second and 14th amendments protect the right to possess semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15. This marks a reversal for the court, which…

The Conversation · Oct 8

What the law says about armed officers at polling places

After high-level Trump administration officials said they might send armed officers to the polls during the upcoming midterm elections, and after months of administration efforts to wrest control of some aspects of voting from state officials and limit how people vote, there’s a lot of fear that armed federal officials…

The Conversation · Oct 8

Meet the ‘independent voters’ who will likely decide which party triumphs in the 2026 midterm elections

As midterm elections near, Democrats enjoy advantages in national “generic ballot” polling, suggesting they may secure majorities in the House of Representative or Senate, if not both chambers.

The Conversation · Oct 8

How Jim Bakker became the Johnny Carson of Christian TV

When I was researching my 2017 book, “PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s Evangelical Empire,” I interviewed dozens of former staffers and supporters of PTL, the ministry, television and theme park empire that the Bakkers built starting in the 1970s.

The Conversation · Oct 8

‘Airport malaria’ is rare, but can be deadly when doctors don’t expect it

A few days after landing at Frankfurt Airport, several people who had never left Germany developed a fever. None had travelled anywhere near a malaria zone – but the mosquitoes that infected them had.

The Conversation · Oct 8

Florence Buchanan: the pioneering physiologist whose face was lost to history

For more than a century, we could see Florence Buchanan’s science but not Florence Buchanan. Her papers and electrical traces survived, and her work placed her alongside some of the most influential physiologists of the early 20th century. Yet until recently, no authenticated portrait of Buchanan was known.

The Conversation · Oct 8

Grief, anger and elections: Israel marks three years since October 7 attacks as nation prepares to vote

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and leading opposition figure Gadi Eisenkot took to social media as their country marked three years since the devastating Hamas attacks of October 7. As the country mourned, the rival politicians played the blame game.

The Conversation · Oct 8

Anne Carson wins Nobel prize in literature – how she discovered new possibilities within language

For over four decades, Anne Carson has been quietly redrawing the map of contemporary literature. Poet, translator, classicist, essayist, performer and visual artist, she has produced a body of work that refuses easy categorisation.

The Conversation · Oct 8

A biologist queries whether AI ‘borrowed’ his work to make major discovery – an expert explains the rules

AI company Anthropic recently announced that its popular system Claude had identified an unusual family of biological molecules. These molecules were enzymes, a type of protein that speeds up chemical reactions in living organisms.

The Conversation · Oct 8

Hospital appointments can make greener travel harder

The timing of a hospital appointment does more than tell you when to see a doctor. It can also shape how you get there. For some older patients, an early appointment can fall before their concessionary bus pass, which provides free bus travel, becomes valid. An unreliable bus service can…

The Conversation · Oct 8