The Conversation

Happy Sunday − and welcome to the best of The Conversation U.S. Here are a few of our recently published stories:

I tend to engage with my cat Carl as if he can reason logically. For example, I often get up before my wife, and as I make my morning coffee, Carl begins begging for food. But when I give in to his “meows” and prepare his breakfast, he snobbishly refuses to eat – and only does so when my wife comes down, and she acts as though she’s the one giving him food. Sometimes she even has to throw away what I dished out and give him a new portion. So next time he begs, I ask: “Why would I feed you if you won’t eat what I give you?”

While I may never know what’s going on in Carl’s mind, it turns out many animals can in fact reason logically. Understanding just how is the focus of Olga Lazareva, who studies the minds of animals at Drake University.

Transitive inference is one type of logical reasoning she’s studied on animals. An example of transitive inference is if Team A is better than Team B, and B is better than Team C, than A is better than C.

“It turns out humans are not the only ones who can make these kinds of mental leaps,” she writes. “What’s fascinating is how many species succeed at this task. Monkeys, rats, pigeons – even fish and wasps – have all demonstrated transitive inference in one form or another.”

The piece, one of last week’s most popular, is a fascinating read – and though Lazareva doesn’t mention cats, her article gives me confidence that Carl can, possibly, be reasoned with. At least until he’s distracted by the birds tweeting outside.

Bryan Keogh

Managing Editor

Readers' picks

Humans and animals can both think logically − but testing what kind of logic they’re using is tricky

Olga Lazareva, Drake University

How researchers measure the logical reasoning of monkeys, pigeons, rats, fish and wasps shapes how they understand mental processes in animals − and in people.

Iran emerged weakened and vulnerable after war with Israel − and that could mean trouble for country’s ethnic minorities

Shukriya Bradost, Virginia Tech

The Islamic Republic has a history of targeting minority ethnic groups, especially the Kurds, when it feels threatened.

How Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York City mayoral primary could ripple across the country

Lincoln Mitchell, Columbia University

Zohran Mamdani is one of the first Democratic candidates to successfully leverage Donald Trump’s focus on cost of living, explains a political strategist.

What the Supreme Court ruling against ‘universal injunctions’ means for court challenges to presidential actions

Cassandra Burke Robertson, Case Western Reserve University

The Supreme Court just made it harder for judges to block presidential policies nationwide, but lawmakers hold the key to changing that.

Scandinavia has its own dark history of assimilating Indigenous people, and churches played a role – but are apologizing

Thomas A. DuBois, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Amid national truth and reconciliation processes, Scandinavian churches are taking stock of their past policies toward the Sámi people.

Editors' picks

Hurricane forecasters are losing 3 key satellites ahead of peak storm season − a meteorologist explains why it matters

Chris Vagasky, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program has been particularly important for understanding when a hurricane is about to rapidly intensify, a dangerous situation for coastal communities.

Keeping brain-dead pregnant women on life support raises ethical issues that go beyond abortion politics

Lindsey Breitwieser, Hollins University

Adriana Smith’s body was kept on life support for 16 weeks so her fetus could gestate. Abortion politics don’t capture the ethical complexities of such situations.

The rule of law is key to capitalism − eroding it is bad news for American business

Robert Bird, University of Connecticut

Uncertainty is the new norm.

Why the traditional college major may be holding students back in a rapidly changing job market

John Weigand, Miami University

A scholar and former college dean explains why higher education’s reliance on majors to measure academic quality may be an outdated approach.

Along with the ideals it expresses, the Declaration of Independence mourns for something people lost in 1776 − and now, too

Maurizio Valsania, Università di Torino

For all the festivities around July 4, the nation’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence, actually depicts a wounded, fearful society, teetering on the brink of disaster. Sound familiar?

News Quiz 🧠

  • The Conversation U.S. weekly news quiz

    Fritz Holznagel, The Conversation

    Test your knowledge with a weekly quiz drawn from some of our favorite stories. Questions this week on charcoal, car crashes, and the Great Lakes.