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The Conversation

A smartphone on a laptop keyboard, with the screen of the smartphone featuring the text 'yelp.'

As Yelp turns 20, online reviews continue to confound and confuse shoppers

Ann Kronrod, UMass Lowell

A man in a sweater and jacket and a woman in a dark red top pose in front of a sign that says 'Nobody Wants This' in red letters.

In ‘Nobody Wants This,’ rom-com gets century-old tropes with a new twist – the cute rabbi

Samira Mehta, University of Colorado Boulder

Up against Hank Greenberg, baseball’s first Jewish superstar, antisemitism struck out

Robert Gudmestad, Colorado State University

With the crowd in the background, a baseball player at the plate swings at the ball.
Voters without kids are in the political spotlight – but they’re not all the same

Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University and Zachary P. Neal, Michigan State University

A couple holding hands next to their two dogs in a field.
The contradictions of ‘Minnesota nice’

Giang Nguyen-Dien, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

A crowd of Asian people hold signs and chant.
Inside the collapse of Disney’s America, the US history-themed park that almost was

Jared Bahir Browsh, University of Colorado Boulder

A line of people and mascots hold hands and are surrounded by red, white and blue balloons.
Read our latest Arts and Culture articles

Sports

What White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf can learn from the last team to lose 120 games

Nick Hirshon, William Paterson University

Black and white photo of baseball manager and one of his players sitting in the dugout.
50 years after the first procedure, Tommy John surgery is more common than ever − especially for young athletes

Ted Spiker, University of Florida and Kevin W. Farmer, University of Florida

With thousands of baseball fans in the background, a left-handed pitcher on the mound prepares to fire the ball to home plate.
New NFL helmet accessory reduces concussions − but players and fans may not be ready to embrace safety over swag

Noah Cohan, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

Two football players wear helmets with shell caps fastened to them.
When Paralympic athletes fake the extent of their disability

Jaime Schultz, Penn State

Close-up of young man sitting in wheelchair holding a ball while wearing a white pinny that reads 'USA.'
Read more about sports

Movies

Shirtless young Black man smokes a cigar and winks while looking at his reflection in a mirror.

What James Earl Jones can teach us about activism and art in times of crisis

Dominic Taylor, University of California, Los Angeles

Even fictional presidents don’t look like Kamala Harris − although Black men and white women have been represented in the Oval Office

Peter Kastor, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

Two film lights and a group of filmmaking items.
ChatGPT and the movie ‘Her’ are just the latest example of the ‘sci-fi feedback loop’

Rizwan Virk, Arizona State University

A massive holograph of a pink-skinned, blue-haired young woman points at a small man who gazes up at her.
How ‘Dune’ became a beacon for the fledgling environmental movement − and a rallying cry for the new science of ecology

Devin Griffiths, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Sand dunes at sunset.
Bradley Cooper, Cillian Murphy and the myths of Method acting

Scott Malia, College of the Holy Cross

Man holding cigarette rests head on palm while his arm is around a young woman who's cradling a cigarette in her fingers.
Read more about movies

Visual art

Photographer Louis Carlos Bernal memorialized the barrios at the US-Mexican border

Rebecca Senf, University of Arizona

Sepia portrait of middle aged man standing in front of a desk with his hands on his hips and a camera hanging from his neck.
How the surrealists used randomness as a catalyst for creative expression

Mark Robert Rank, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

Black and white photo of young man with thin mustache lying in a bathtub, fully clothed, while sketching on a piece of paper.
From shrimp Jesus to fake self-portraits, AI-generated images have become the latest form of social media spam

Renee DiResta, Stanford University; Abhiram Reddy, Georgetown University, and Josh A. Goldstein, Georgetown University

Image of Virgin Mary surrounded by pink and blue sky and rainbow.
‘Hidden mother’ photos don’t erase moms − rather, they reveal the labor and love that support the child

Andrea Kaston Tange, Macalester College

Sepia photograph of toddler held in lap of adult with half of head cut off
Read more about visual art

Music

A couple dances on a red carpet.

Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris shows how big a role music is playing in the 2024 election

Mark Clague, University of Michigan

By not lip-syncing Amy Winehouse’s songs, actress Marisa Abela confronts impossible expectations in ‘Back to Black’

Katherine Meizel, Bowling Green State University

Young woman with beehive hairdo clutches the arm of an older, stout man with gray hair.
The science behind Ariana Grande’s vocal metamorphosis

Lydia Kruse, Purdue University

Young woman dressed in billowing white gown sings while backup dancers surround her.
Missy Elliott tours as a headliner − and it’s about time

Elliott H. Powell, University of Minnesota

Performer in large black sunglasses, big gold hoop earrings and a metallic green jumpsuit holds a microphone on stage
‘Born in the USA’ turns 40 − and still remains one of Bruce Springsteen’s most misunderstood songs

Diane Winston, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Man playing a guitar.
Read more about music

Books

Young bearded man wearing blue suit jacket speaks at a lectern flanked by a crowd of people holding signs.

JD Vance is no pauper − he’s a classic example of ‘poornography,’ in which the rich try to speak on behalf of the poor

Lennard J. Davis, University of Illinois Chicago

3 of Jane Austen’s 6 brothers engaged in antislavery activism − new research offers more clues about her own views

Devoney Looser, Arizona State University

A detail of the British ten pound note, featuring a portrait of Jane Austen.
Palestinian writers have long explored the horrors of amputation

Graham Liddell, Hope College

Young boy without a leg uses crutches as he leans against a wall. A faceless adult stands in the foreground.
In praise of the weird

Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Central Michigan University

Painting of three elderly women wearing white shawls with their index fingers stroking their lips.
His crayon is purple – but is Harold a Black boy?

Philip Nel, Kansas State University

Drawing of bald, cartoon boy dragging a purple crayon along a wall.
Read more about books

Media

Congress is trying to force carmakers to keep AM radio − it should also use this opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past

Matthew Jordan, Penn State

Black and white photo of a hand adjusting the knob of a car radio.
Video game performers are becoming Hollywood stars in their own right − and are on strike to be paid and protected accordingly

James Dawes, Macalester College

Black t-shirt featuring a fist holding a video game controller reading 'SAG-AFTRA ON STRIKE!'
Journalism has become ground zero for the vocation crisis

Matthew Powers, University of Washington

Black and white photo of a young woman on the phone, sitting at her desk.
Newsrooms are experimenting with generative AI, warts and all

Nir Eisikovits, UMass Boston

Graphic of hand holding a smart phone with newspaper headline cutouts tumbling from the screen.
Read more about media

History

Man wearing red t-shirt holds fist in air from a lectern while a cheering crowd waves red and blue signs.

How organized labor shames its traitors − the story of the ‘scab’

Ian Afflerbach, University of North Georgia

What America’s first board game can teach us about the aspirations of a young nation

Matthew Wynn Sivils, Iowa State University

Alt Text.
Records of Pompeii’s survivors have been found – and archaeologists are starting to understand how they rebuilt their lives

Steven L. Tuck, Miami University

Oil painting of volcano erupting at night.
What the 3.2 million-year-old Lucy fossil reveals about nudity and shame

Stacy Keltner, Kennesaw State University

A sculpted head of an ape-like creature with its head angled to the side, gazing off into the distance.
How the 18th-century ‘probability revolution’ fueled the casino gambling craze

John Eglin, University of Montana

Colorful illustration of men wearing tricorn hats gathered around a spinning wheel.
Read more about language

Sexuality

How a survey of over 2,000 women in the 1920s changed the way Americans thought about female sexuality

Anya Jabour, University of Montana

Black and white photo of four young women sitting on a roof in the 1920s.
Colorado is home to the longest-running gay rodeo in the world

Rebecca Scofield, University of Idaho and Elyssa Ford, Northwest Missouri State University

A man wearing a colorful outfit holds an icepack to his eye
Historians are learning more about how the Nazis targeted trans people

Laurie Marhoefer, University of Washington

Black and white photo of four trans women.
Transgender regret? Research challenges narratives about gender-affirming surgeries

Harry Barbee, Johns Hopkins University; Bashar Hassan, Johns Hopkins University, and Fan Liang, Johns Hopkins University

Young person applies lipstick.
Read more about sexuality

Cities

Makeshift memorial made from wooden pallet, table, empty liquor bottles and stuffed animals

I documented dozens of shrines to people who’ve died in North Philly − here’s what they tell us about memory, grief and trauma

Gordon Coonfield, Villanova University

Large building with windows stands against gray sky.

A short history of the rise, fall and return of Detroit’s Michigan Central Station

Mila Puccini, Wayne State University and Jeffrey Horner, Wayne State University

Read more about cities

Television

Young man talks to young girl sitting on table while a man films them with a big, black camera.

‘Homicide: Life on the Streets’ laid the groundwork for Peak TV – and it’s finally available to stream for new and old fans of the series

Summit Osur, Quinnipiac University

Bob Newhart was more than an actor or comedian – he was a literary master

Mark Canada, Indiana University Kokomo

a sitting white man holds an old telephone receiver to his ear
Creative life after death − or yes, you can control spinoffs from beyond the grave

Naomi Cahn, University of Virginia and Reid Kress Weisbord, Rutgers University - Newark

Cast members Anthony Edwards, Laura Innes and Noah Wyle act in a 2001 episode of NBC's prime-time drama series "ER."
‘House of the Dragon’ was inspired by the chaos of the Middle Ages, a world without law and order

David Routt, University of Richmond

Young man with white, shoulder-length hair looks over his shoulder.
James Clavell’s ‘Shōgun’ is reimagined for a new generation of TV viewers

Constantine Nomikos Vaporis, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Young Asian woman poses in front of a blue display featuring images from the series 'Shogun.'
Read more about television

Most read this week

1.
Inside the collapse of Disney’s America, the US history-themed park that almost was

Jared Bahir Browsh, University of Colorado Boulder

Inside the collapse of Disney’s America, the US history-themed park that almost was
2.
Congress is trying to force carmakers to keep AM radio − it should also use this opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past

Matthew Jordan, Penn State

Congress is trying to force carmakers to keep AM radio − it should also use this opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past
3.
What the facial expressions of Tim Walz and JD Vance said about their nerves, embarrassment and pride

Patrick Stewart, University of Arkansas

What the facial expressions of Tim Walz and JD Vance said about their nerves, embarrassment and pride
4.
The emerging science of ‘bromosexual’ friendships

Eric Russell, University of Texas at Arlington; Marjorie Prokosch, Texas Christian University, and Raymond McKie, Wilfrid Laurier University

The emerging science of ‘bromosexual’ friendships
5.
The science behind Ariana Grande’s vocal metamorphosis

Lydia Kruse, Purdue University

The science behind Ariana Grande’s vocal metamorphosis
6.
In ‘Nobody Wants This,’ rom-com gets century-old tropes with a new twist – the cute rabbi

Samira Mehta, University of Colorado Boulder

In ‘Nobody Wants This,’ rom-com gets century-old tropes with a new twist – the cute rabbi