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The Latest Breaking News from The Conversation

Antonio Gramsci: his philosophy explained

Marxist, journalist, political leader and social theorist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) was a small, disabled, chronically ill man from a poverty-stricken Sardinian background. He was also someone about whom the Italian fascist state famously declared: “We must prevent this brain from functioning for twenty years.”

The Conversation

Threats may change, but geography doesn’t. It’s time for Australia to be a good neighbour to the Pacific

In the past week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has signed security and defence agreements with Vanuatu and Fiji, visited Fiji and Solomon Islands, and hosted leaders from Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga in Brisbane.

The Conversation

Giant kangaroos survived until 6,500 years ago on the New Guinea coast

Roughly 50,000 years ago, a kangaroo unlike any alive today lived in the mountain rainforests of New Guinea.

The Conversation

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Sydney’s 1789 smallpox epidemic came from the First Fleet and killed up to 220,000 Indigenous Australians: new research

We warn readers that the content of this study is confronting and may be distressing.

The Conversation

Canada’s proposed clean water act needs stronger protections for Indigenous communities

The Canadian government has just reintroduced long-awaited First Nations drinking water legislation, tabling Bill C-37 in the House of Commons in June.

The Conversation

Friday essay: ‘cultural Marxism’ is a conspiracy theory for our time

June 17, 1969. Prominent left-wing German political philosopher Herbert Marcuse is delivering a lecture at the Teatro Eliseo in Rome. Marcuse is in mid-flow when someone in the audience interrupts him:

The Conversation

Do your dreams have smells? New study on ‘blind minds’ reveals vast differences in imagination

It’s common to think we all have similar experiences of life. But the more we learn about the hidden thoughts of other people, the more evidence shows this is untrue.

The Conversation

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A big El Niño is likely. Australia needs to get ready now for drought, fire and the unknown

This year’s El Niño is expected to be strong to very strong, tilting the odds toward a hotter, drier winter and spring across southern and eastern Australia. Droughts, water shortages and a dangerous fire season become more likely.

The Conversation

Young people are being exposed to gambling too early. Here’s what we can do

Our country has a gambling problem.

The Conversation

How Australia’s new negative gearing rules might accidentally favour some property investors

For the best part of a century, Australian property investors have enjoyed a generous tax arrangement found in few other countries: the infamous “negative gearing”.

The Conversation

Renewed NATO co-operation and defence spending are about strategy, not obeying Trump

The NATO meeting in Turkey, fraught with tension, has concluded. United States President Donald Trump said at the start of the meeting in Ankara that he might not have attended had it not been hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose authoritarianism Trump admires.

The Conversation

New provincial laws are making it harder to access government records in Canada

Access to information and freedom of information (FOI) laws allow citizens to request records held by public bodies, including governments. FOI legislation is founded on the idea that Canadian citizens have the right to know what their governments are doing, and to hold them accountable for it.

The Conversation

Earthquakes in Venezuela expose a severely under-resourced and unprepared healthcare system

Twin earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24, 2026, causing major damage in Caracas and a nearby coastal city, La Guaira. At the time of publication, 3,685 people have been declared dead, and more than 30,000 remain missing.

The Conversation

Earth’s deep memory is thawing with the Arctic permafrost, degrading records of our ancient world

Permafrost usually hits the news as a hazard; a planetary risk. When this ice-rich ground thaws, it damages roads and building foundations. It drains lakes and tips trees into drunken forests. It releases greenhouse gases that have been locked in carbon-rich soils for thousands of years, amplifying warming, driving further…

The Conversation

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Hummingbirds and pineapples: why this ancient relationship hits the evolutionary sweetspot

High above the rainforest floor, tiny ponds form in the leaves of plants perched on tree branches. Frogs breed in these ponds, alongside insects, microbes and even tiny crustaceans, creating miniature ecosystems suspended high in the canopy. These are the bromeliads – the remarkable plant family that also gave us…

The Conversation

Making scientific knowledge free for all

Scientific research publishing is a particularly lucrative industry. The most recent estimates suggest that it generates around 19 billion US dollars (or 16.67 billion euros) in annual turnover, with margins of around 40 per cent. These staggering figures largely reflect the fact that the “Big Five” commercial publishers, such as…

The Conversation

The real mystery behind Moana: after 1,700 years, why did Polynesians suddenly sail east?

The same question drives both the plot of Moana and decades of archaeological research: why, after centuries of relative stability, did Polynesian voyagers suddenly begin settling islands thousands of kilometres away across the Pacific?

The Conversation

What World Cup football can teach us about managing fatigue in extreme conditions

A football player standing over a penalty in a hot, high-altitude stadium is dealing with more than pressure. His body is trying to keep cool. His heart and breathing may be working harder. Less oxygen is reaching his muscles. One poor decision can end his team’s World Cup.

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The Conversation

The secret life of roots: how plants fight back against salty soils

To people, salt is a kitchen staple. But to crops, too much of it can be devastating.

The Conversation

Is recursive self‑improvement the dawning of AI superintelligence?

The US AI research company Anthropic has become known for building powerful AI models while simultaneously warning about their dangers.

The Conversation

Taylor Swift joins celebrities using the law to fight back against AI deepfakes

When Taylor Swift launched her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, in October 2025, she recorded two short clips to promote it. One for Amazon Music began with “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift”. Another, for Spotify with “Hey, it’s Taylor”.

The Conversation

Racial stereotypes of African footballers persist. A World Cup is a good time to talk about them

With a Somali referee being denied entry into the US, and the surge of online racist abuse after 2026 World Cup matches, racism and exclusion in football are once again in the news.

The Conversation

Ruth Ellis: what her posthumous pardon tells us about Britain’s view of abuse then, and now

Ruth Ellis became the last woman to be hanged in Britain on July 13 1955. Her execution was a national event. A crowd, reported to be 1,000-strong, gathered outside Holloway Prison in London that morning. Anti-death penalty protesters held signs, some people prayed and some wept. Ellis’s story had deeply…

The Conversation

Football headers: growing evidence suggests this skill is damaging to brain health

Whether it’s at practice or during a Fifa World Cup match, football players could unknowingly be putting their brain health at risk every time they take to the field.

The Conversation

How Iran used Ali Khamenei’s funeral as a political and diplomatic tool

Ali Khamenei, who served as Iran’s supreme leader until his assassination in a US-Israeli operation in February 2026, was finally laid to rest on July 9. His burial brings a week of public mourning ceremonies and processions to an end, and comes as hostilities between the US and Iran are…

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