Patriotism means pride in country, but what are we proud of? A former national park ranger suggests that visiting historic sites can remind Americans of the heritage, good and bad, that they share.
The institution’s west dormitory is depicted in this 1942 photograph. Scudder demanded that no walls be erected on the prison grounds.
AP Photo
States like California have been at the forefront of privacy innovation in recent decades. A possible federal law could bring their experimentation to a halt, harming consumers.
A school of juvenile bocaccio in the midwaters of Platform Gilda, Santa Barbara Channel, Calif.
Scott Gietler
Californians love their coast and strongly oppose offshore drilling. Will they support converting old oil rigs to artificial reefs – a policy that benefits both marine life and oil companies?
West Coast opponents of fossil fuel exports have blocked industry plans for years.
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
Decades of wildfire suppression have allowed flammable fuels to pile up in US forests. Scientists and managers say careful use of planned fires can reduce risks of large, out-of-control burns.
The Mohave rattlesnake — poster child for venom variation among rattlesnakes.
W. Wüster
The Mohave rattlesnake is famous for its variable venom – but the reasons behind that variation are not as straightforward as we thought.
Guards take apart the death penalty chamber at San Quentin State Prison on Wednesday, March 13, 2019.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP
Many communities are banning single-use plastic shopping bags to reduce pollution, but a study in California shows that some consumers responded by purchasing more heavy plastic trash bags.
How to select your next wine bottle? Turn to an expert? Yes? But which expert?!
Shutterstock
Do you turn to a wine expert to help you chose your bottle of wine? Wine experts may have different evaluations depending on the school of thought in which they were trained.
City Farm is a working sustainable farm that has operated in Chicago for over 30 years.
Linda from Chicago/Wikimedia
Urban farming can make it easier for city residents to obtain healthy, affordable food. But to raise big yields from small pieces of land, farmers need training and support.
Teenager Alex Weber and friends collected nearly 40,000 golf balls hit into the ocean from a handful of California golf courses.
Alex Weber
Snorkeling off the California coast, a high school student found heaps of golf balls on the ocean floor. With a marine scientist, she showed that golf courses were producing tons of plastic pollution.
Nancy Pelosi of California, once more Speaker of the House.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
First elected in 1987, Pelosi offers decades of experience at building coalitions and she excels as a Democratic fundraiser. Still, the vote was closer than expected.
Youth detention center in Atlanta.
AP Photo/David Goldman
A neuroscientist explains how detention can affect a developing mind, as a new law in California sets the highest age limit in the US for minors to be held criminally responsible, at age 12.
An image from the International Space Station captures plumes of smoke from California wildfires on August 4, 2018.
NASA
Bryan Keogh, The Conversation e Nicole Zelniker, The Conversation
In the last year, workplace culture faced major upheaval for working women. We at The Conversation put together our reporting on that very topic from 2018.
One of the many would-be sites for fossil fuel exports in Washington state.
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
The ‘thin green line’ of resistance against any new infrastructure for shipping oil, gas and coal abroad has won many battles. But it faces a new source of pressure: the Trump administration.
Many California wildfires spread from structure to structure, fed by the winds.
Cal Fire
Faith Kearns, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources e Max Moritz, University of California, Santa Barbara
The dry, hot, downslope Santa Ana winds of Southern California fan late fall wildfires that have largely traveled through – and are fueled by – homes and other structures.
A firefighter in California. Firefighting is getting more and more expensive as fires get more destructive.
PETER DASILVA
The California fires are just the most recent in a series of major wildfires. Together, they suggest we need to look at alternative ways of living with fire.
Valero’s Benicia Refinery, less than 40 miles from San Francisco.
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli
Wildfire Specialist at the University of California Cooperative Extension; Adjunct Professor Bren School of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Distinguished Blue Planet Prize Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Founding Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis
Adjunct Assistant Professor and a founder of the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles