Evolution has fostered many reproductive strategies across the spectrum of life. From dandelions to giraffes, nature finds a way.

One of those ways creates quite a bit of suffering for humans: pollen, the infamous male gametophyte of the plant kingdom.

In the Southeastern U.S., where I live, you know it’s spring when your ...Read more

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Why do I need to sleep for a long time at night? – Sly M., 6, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Just like eating, drinking or breathing, sleep is an essential part of life.

...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Meta, YouTube and Snapchat are already under scrutiny for risks they pose for young people. Now they are facing another hurdle in their home state.

California lawmakers are considering legislation to restrict social media use for teens and children under 16 years old. Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, and others ...Read more

When Raven Kinser walked into a Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles office two summers ago, she completed a driver’s license application that included the option to register as an organ donor. The form provides a checkbox to opt in, but not one to opt out. Kinser left the donor registration box unchecked, reflecting her decision to reverse ...Read more

ARVIN, Calif. — In the southern San Joaquin Valley, where roads cut through thousands of acres of orange groves, grapevines and carrot fields, a canal reaches a linchpin that keeps the farming economy going: dozens of oblong ponds filled with shimmering water.

While many parts of California’s Central Valley are struggling to counter ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Millions of people watched the viral video of federal agents shattering Aliya Rahman’s car window and pulling her into a Minneapolis street in January.

But she doesn’t have to rewatch the clips to churn up the painful memories from that day. The daily reminders are more than enough.

Small things, like a glass shattering in ...Read more

Western Massachusetts, a patchwork of rural communities and low-income cities, is a difficult place to find a primary care doctor if you don’t already have one. Frustrated patients often turn to online forums, asking for leads or advice on how to find a practice that is accepting new patients.

One name repeatedly crops up in these discussions...Read more

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has once again distanced himself from Donald Trump’s political base, while indicating he plans to continue engaging with the U.S. president.

“The MAGA movement is not our movement,” he said at an election event in Bad Dürkheim in Rhineland-Palatinate last night. “And the way they treat culture and the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon intends to accelerate AI-enabled decision-making and put it at the heart of its ambition to link up sensors and shooters for combat operations, according to a policy memo seen by Bloomberg.

Establishing Palantir Technologies Inc.’s Maven Smart System as a so-called program of record “will provide the stable ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A two-vehicle crash in southwestern Minnesota on Friday involving an SUV and a family’s party bus left five people dead and eight injured, according to the State Patrol.

The head-on collision occurred shortly after 4:40 p.m. Friday about 17 miles north of Windom on Hwy. 71 near 240th Street in Cottonwood County, said Minnesota...Read more

The U.S. military said it has been able to degrade Iran’s ability to target ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz as President Donald Trump floated the idea of “winding down” military efforts in the Persian Gulf.

More than 100 people were injured in Israel by multiple Iranian strikes in the country’s south, as Tehran sought to ...Read more

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine this week cosponsored a new bipartisan bill aimed at improving access to prescription medication for TRICARE recipients.

The bill, S. 4106 known as the Rx ACCESS Act, would reduce costs for retail pharmacies serving TRICARE patients and establish annual audits to ensure the law is being followed and to track continuity ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County's chief executive officer Fesia Davenport, who has been on medical leave since October, has announced that she will resign next month.

In a LinkedIn post, Davenport said she was leaving county service to "focus on my health and wellness."

A notice to the Board of Supervisors provided to the Los Angeles Times ...Read more

DENVER — Colorado is seeing another day of record-breaking heat and dangerous fire weather on Saturday before a slight cool-off is set to begin Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

Denver quickly broke the daily high temperature record on Saturday, with mercury at the airport hitting 81 degrees by 11:05 a.m. and still rising. ...Read more

NORFOLK, Va. — Old Dominion University said it would not punish students who fail to respond to a questionnaire about their criminal histories, and maintained it took the unusual step in the name of campus safety.

“We understand that students may have concerns, and we want to be clear that this effort is grounded in care for our community,�...Read more

MIAMI — Besides the barricades on sidewalks, police on horses and a barrage of D-list online streamers, spring break on Fort Lauderdale Beach didn’t look much different from any other day.

After a week of bleak, rainy weather, spring breakers finally got a nice beach day on Friday. The sky was beautiful, the sun was out but the wind was ...Read more

Friedrich Merz will have another chance to secure a regional election victory on Sunday after the German chancellor’s conservative party suffered a bruising defeat in a wealthy southwestern state two weeks ago.

Failure to take power in the wine-growing region of Rhineland-Palatine would be a heavy blow for Merz’s Christian Democratic Union...Read more

The U.S. said Iran’s ability to threaten marine traffic on the Strait of Hormuz has been “degraded” after it took out a facility along the Iranian coastline earlier this week.

The U.S. military dropped several 5,000-pound bombs on an underground facility located along Iran’s coastline, according to Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S....Read more

LOS ANGELES — Inside Jesse's Barber Shop in Boyle Heights, Rodney Trammell gave an oral history of Brooklyn Avenue before it was renamed after civil rights leader Cesar E. Chavez.

The street, he recalled, was lined with Mexican and Jewish retail stores and bakeries. There was a movie theater and the original Canter's Deli opened here. ...Read more

The U.S. military said it has been able to degrade Iran’s ability to target ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz as President Donald Trump floated the idea of “winding down” military efforts in the Persian Gulf.

Trump’s comments came shortly after he ruled out a ceasefire and kept the door open to deploying ground troops, ...Read more