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From the editors at The Conversation, an independent news organization based in Boston that publishes articles written by academic experts and edited by a team of journalists.

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Many heavy atoms form from a supernova explosion, the remnants of which are shown in this image.

How do atoms form? A physicist explains where the atoms that make up everything around come from

Almost everything on Earth is made up of atoms, but where do these fundamental building blocks come from?

Is Mars really red? A physicist explains the planet’s reddish hue and why it looks different to some telescopes

Mars isn’t a bright, fire-engine red, but the iron oxide in its rocks makes it appear redder than other planets, especially from afar.

How many stars are there in space?

Scientists have a good estimate on the staggering number of stars in the universe.

AI literacy: What it is, what it isn’t, who needs it and why it’s hard to define

President Trump’s executive order calling for AI literacy highlights its importance. The order also underscores its amorphous nature. Here’s how to develop and measure effective AI literacy programs.

The assumption was that the wheel evolved from wooden rollers.

How was the wheel invented? Computer simulations reveal the unlikely birth of a world-changing technology nearly 6,000 years ago

People have long assumed that wheels evolved from simple wooden rollers. But how? And why? A new model focused on mechanical advantage and structural strength suggests some answers.

5 benefits Africa’s new space agency can deliver

Africa’s new space agency has an important role to play in coordinating satellite data and boosting connectivity.

Fossils show colonies of reptiles lived communally 250 million years ago: new South African study

A new fossil discovery suggests that reptiles lived together 20 million years earlier than previously thought.

Even bivalves looked different during the time of the dinosaurs, as these fossils of an ultra-fortified oyster, left, and armored cockle show. Smithsonian Institution

Ancient fossils show how the last mass extinction forever scrambled the ocean’s biodiversity

Not everything dies in a mass extinction. Sea life recovered in different and surprising ways after the asteroid strike 66 million years ago. Ancient fossils recorded it all.

In space, there are four dimensions: length, width, height and time.

Where is the center of the universe?

As the universe expands, it feels like it must be spreading out from some initial point. But a physicist explains why that’s not how it works. Hint: space-time is involved.

A visitor walks past the booth of Civilization VII at the Gamescom video games trade fair in Cologne, Germany, on Aug. 21, 2024.
Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images via The Conversation

Why Kissinger would have been a Fortnite champ − and other foreign policy lessons from the gaming world

A political scientist – with a penchant for gaming – explains how Minecraft, League of Legends and Civilization VII can help teach key international relations concepts.

Camille Flammarion's work imagined what might exist beyond Earth in the universe.

Early visions of Mars: Meet the 19th-century astronomer who used science fiction to imagine the red planet

In the 19th century, astronomers could see Mars through telescopes, but not clearly. Some used their imaginations to fill in what the blurry images couldn’t convey.

9 surprising facts about American video game habits

(BPT) - Video games are one of America's favorite pastimes with universal appeal across generations. According to the Entertainment Software Association's (ESA) annual Essential Facts About the U.S. …

50 facts and figures about D-Day

Stacker compiled a list of 50 facts and figures that defined D-Day, using resources like the D-Day Center and the Department of Defense.

New York City neighborhoods designated for revitalization with funding from the Model Cities Program.
The City of New York, Community Development Program: A Progress Report, December 1968.

Could a bold anti-poverty experiment from the 1960s inspire a new era in housing justice?

The Great Society’s Model Cities Program wasn’t perfect. But it offered a vision of what democratic, community-based planning could look like.

Light, whether from a star or your flashlight, travels at 186,000 miles per second.

Do photons wear out? An astrophysicist explains light’s ability to travel vast cosmic distances without losing energy

The speed of light is the fastest anything can travel. What happens to a photon from a galaxy 25 million light years away on its journey toward Earth?