The Conversation

Children and adults alike are digging out those spooky costumes ready for a celebration. We’ve reached that time of year again: Halloween. October 31 is dedicated to remembering the dead.We’ve all experienced fear, but Halloween is the particular time of year when we look for that rush that usually accompanies feeling scared. Are you in need of a “scare-specialist” for this year’s Halloween celebrations? Then you need not look further than your very own brain.

J. Marion Sims by Jim.Henderson, CC BY-SABy David T. Z. Mindich, St. Michael's CollegeOn an October day in 1894, a group of New York City’s leading doctors gathered to unveil a statue in honor of one of the greatest surgeons of his day and the founder of New York’s Women’s Hospital, J. Marion Sims, an Alabama doctor and a man they called “the father of modern gynecology.”

For MSNBC, climate change is an opportunity to stoke anger over conservative “denialists.” MSNBC 5/12/14By Matthew Nisbet, Northeastern UniversityRecent Pew Research Center studies offer valuable insight on the ideological makeup of those Americans most likely to voice their opinion in politics generally and the climate debate specifically, including the news sources they rely on to articulate their arguments.

With private space missions just around the corner, we need to think about keeping important lunar sites safe. Cultsofhteshadow/Flickr, CC BY-NC-NDBy Beth O'Leary, New Mexico State UniversityWho will preserve the first lunar landing site at Tranquility Base for future generations?

Confucius stands guard at Beijing's Renmin University. George (Sam) Crane, Author providedBy Sam (George T.) Crane, Williams College

The risk to the Australian community from doctors and nurses returning from Ebola-affected countries is minimal. Credit: EPA/ARIE KIEVITBy Grant Hill-Cawthorne, University of Sydney and Adam Kamradt-Scott, University of SydneyGovernments have a duty to protect their citizens but the plan to impose mandatory detention on health-care workers being suggested by some Australian states is excessive and unwarranted.

Flying by ShutterstockBy Stephen Goldstein, University of Pennsylvania

Targeting cognition through the body. Cognition by ShutterstockBy Michal Schwartz, Weizmann Institute of Science; Aleksandra Deczkowska, Weizmann Institute of Science, and Kuti Baruch, Weizmann Institute of Science

Standing up for science. Credit: Sense About ScienceBy Lydia Le Page, University of EdinburghThe 3rd annual John Maddox Prize has been awarded to Emily Willingham, a science writer in the US, and David Robert Grimes, a physicist at the University of Oxford, in recognition of their work in the face of public hostility.

Ebola: EU Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, CC BY-SABy Richard Kock, Royal Veterinary CollegeThe still growing Ebola virus outbreak not only highlights the tragedy enveloping the areas most affected but also offers a commentary on they way in which the political ecology in West Africa allowed this disease to become established.

Come play with us. For ever. And ever. And ever. Alex EylarBy Baden Eunson, Monash UniversityRecently, the Danish Toymaker Lego announced its plans for a reality TV show to be launched in 2015, rumored to be based on the idea of Master Builders, the top “construction workers” in the insanely successful Lego Movie earlier this year.