|
Top headlines
Lead story
In Hollywood, the early months of the year are considered “dump months” – the time to release films that didn’t pan out as expected. The best films are saved for the summer and the holiday season, when they’ll attract bigger crowds and be fresh in critics’ and audiences’ minds ahead of all the big awards ceremonies.
But despite the March 1 release date of “Dune: Part Two,” few viewers are going to forget Denis Villeneuve’s visually stunning sci-fi epic when next year’s Oscars roll around. Based on Frank Herbert’s novel, the film tells the story of a desert planet valued for its “spice” – and the battles waged among various families for control of this prized commodity.
But few viewers and readers probably know about the inspiration for the work: Herbert’s realization that Earth’s fragile ecosystem was facing a reckoning.
USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences English professor Devin Griffiths takes readers to the real places that inspired Herbert’s masterpiece, from the rolling sand dunes of the Pacific Northwest to the little islands off the coast of Peru coated with nutrient-rich bird droppings called guano.
[How faith and religion drive the world. Sign up for our weekly newsletter, This Week in Religion.]
|
|
Nick Lehr
Arts + Culture Editor
|
|
Oregon’s Umpqua Dunes inspired the desert planet Arrakis in Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune.’
VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Devin Griffiths, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
When Frank Herbert sat down in 1963 to start writing ‘Dune,’ he wasn’t thinking about how to leave Earth behind. He was thinking about how to save it.
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Thaddeus Hoffmeister, University of Dayton
James and Jennifer Crumbley purchased a handgun for their son as a Christmas present. Ethan Crumbley used that gun to kill 4 of his high school classmates.
-
Thomas Doherty, Brandeis University
Can you run for president from a prison cell? One man did in the 1920 election and got almost a million votes.
-
David Cason, University of North Dakota
A scholar of history of education and American politics explains what is behind his course on conspiracy theories and how students learn to debunk fake ideas.
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Pengju Li, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
Researchers designed an ultrathin pacemaker that can be implanted via minimally invasive techniques, potentially improving recovery time and reducing the risk of complications.
-
Vahe Peroomian, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
With a solar eclipse and several meteor showers coming up, an astronomy professor shares travel tips for viewing astronomical phenomena.
|
|
Ethics + Religion
|
-
Rodney Coates, Miami University
False ideas about the extinction of the white race, spread around the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gave rise to xenophobic and anti-immigration conspiracy theories.
-
Michael Brenner, American University
The Israel-Hamas war has fueled tensions around military exemptions, but the issue has long roiled Israeli politics.
|
|
|
|
Education
|
-
Ebony Aya, Macalester College
Nine Black women who were working on or recently earned their PhDs told a researcher they felt isolated and shut out.
|
|
Health + Medicine
|
-
Bryan Keogh, The Conversation
An anthropologist who wrote a book exploring meth’s impact on rural communities explains what drove the epidemic and how it’s changed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Conversation Quiz 🧠
|
-
Here’s the first question of this week’s edition:
President Joe Biden said on March 8 that if legislation banning the social media app TikTok reached his desk, he would do what?
- A. Sign it
- B. Veto it
- C. Confer with Chinese President Xi Jinping
- D. Do the "Bounce When She Walk" dance in the Oval Office
Test your knowledge
|
|
|
|---|
-
More of The ConversationLike this newsletter? You might be interested in our weekly and biweekly emails: Follow us on social media: -
About The ConversationWe're a nonprofit news organization dedicated to helping academic experts share ideas with the public. We can give away our articles thanks to the help of foundations, universities and readers like you. |
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
|
