The Latest Breaking News from The Conversation

For Valentine’s Day, we asked five of our academic experts to tell us about the most romantic artwork they’ve ever encountered. From first dates to sleeping lovers, these are the paintings that have touched their hearts.

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is a loose (very loose) adaptation of Emily Brontë’s novel. The film is, as the director has attested, the intense, “unhinged”, gothic story she remembers reading as a 14-year-old. As such, it is full of imagined passages and heightened romance and violence. It’s truly Fennellian in…

An increasing number of people are dying of colorectal cancer at a young age, including those as young as 20. Actor James Van Der Beek, who was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2023, died at age 48 on Feb. 11, 2026, bringing the disease back into the limelight.

A multi-billion dollar boost to GP funding has lifted bulk-billing rates across the country, especially in many areas that need fee-free care the most.

Cicero, the Roman Stoic, once wrote to his friend Varro, pending a visit to his home: “If you have a garden in your library, we shall have all we want.” This same desire for good books and natural beauty is at the heart of Byung-Chul Han’s In Praise of the…

This article was first published in The Conversation UK’s World Affairs Briefing email. Sign up to receive weekly analysis of the latest developments in international relations, direct to your inbox.

Men tend to lose the Y chromosome from their cells as they age. But because the Y bears few genes other than for male determination, it was thought this loss would not affect health.

When the Federal Aviation Administration closed the airport in El Paso, Texas, and the airspace around it on Feb. 10, 2026, the cause was, ironically, the nearby use of a technology that could be key to keeping airports and airspace open and safe.

This weekend’s National Rugby League clash between the Indigenous All Stars and the New Zealand Māori men’s and women’s sides marks a decade-and-a-half of recognising a unique aspect of the trans-Tasman game.