Category: Academic Reportage

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Hatim Sharif, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at San Antonio A Kerrville, Texas, resident watches the flooded Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025. Eric Vryn/Getty Images Texas Hill Country is known for its landscapes, where shallow rivers wind among hills…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Alicja Paulina Krubnik, PhD Candidate, Political Science, McMaster University The United Nations’ Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) recently concluded in Seville, Spain. It gathered global leaders from government, development, academia and civil society to discuss key barriers to sustainable development and shape collaborative…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Cassandra Burke Robertson, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Professional Ethics, Case Western Reserve University Some immigration courts have allowed ICE attorneys to conceal their names during proceedings. Jacob Wackerhausen/iStock via Getty Images Something unusual is happening in U.S. immigration courts. Government lawyers…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Maria Strack, Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo The Grande Plée Bleue bog, near Québec City in June 2023. This peatland with pools is one of the largest wetlands in eastern Québec. (Maria Strack) Though Canada is often known as a land…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Songbo Hu, PhD Candidate, University of Cambridge Language technologies like generative artificial intelligence (AI) hold significant potential for public health. From outbreak detection systems that scan global news in real time, to chatbots providing mental health support and conversational diagnostic tools improving access to primary…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Fidele B. Ebia, Postdoctoral fellow, Duke Africa Initiative, Duke University The manufacturing of African print textiles has shifted to China in the 21st century. While they are widely consumed in African countries – and symbolic of the continent – the rise of “made in China” has…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Alexander Carpenter, Professor, Musicology, University of Alberta In 2023, Forbes published an article about Taylor Swift that included the following mind-boggling statistic: 55 per cent of adults in the United States identify themselves as Swift fans. In the wake of her recent epic world tour —…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sean Spence, Security Risk Management Pracitioner & Researcher, Royal Military College of Canada In April 2025, a man drove an SUV through a crowd of people attending a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver, killing 11 people and injuring dozens more. In response, the British Columbia government…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Güneş Murat Tezcür, Professor and Director of the School of Politics and Global Studies, Arizona State University Bedouin fighters at Mazraa village on the outskirts of Sweida city, during clashes in southern Syria on July 18, 2025. AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed In July 2025, clashes between…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Andrej Prša, Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Villanova University In a binary star system, two stars orbit around each other. ESO/L. Calçada, CC BY Stars are the fundamental building blocks of our universe. Most stars host planets, like our Sun hosts our solar system, and…