Curated by professional editors, The Conversation offers informed commentary and debate on the issues affecting our world. Plus a Plain English guide to the latest developments and discoveries from ...

Conversation isn’t taught in school the way writing and public speaking are, so we have to pick it up on our own—which is one reason there’s such wide variation in how satisfying our conversations are ...

Early in my magazine career, I landed an interview with a relatively famous celebrity (who I will not name for reasons that will become obvious). I was desperate to make a good impression, so while ...

In the face of loneliness, many people are turning to AI chatbots for companionship – but research shows it can’t replace human connection. Columnist David Robson explores how beneficial it can be to ...

You know the feeling. You’re at a party, doing your best to chat up the room, when suddenly the conversation falls off a cliff. You’ve asked all the small-talk staples: what they do, where they’re ...

Think about the last time you told a story to a friend. You probably adjusted it halfway through. You saw their eyebrows lift. You noticed them lean in, or glance away. You clarified a detail. You ...

That awkward silence. We’ve all been there. Maybe it’s when you’re meeting someone for the first time. On a date, even. Or in a job interview. Have you ever felt afraid that you would run out of ...

What happens when we become too dependent on our mobile phones? According to MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle, author of the new book Reclaiming Conversation, we lose our ability to have deeper, more ...

We need to start an important conversation about all of the important conversations we need to have. Our backlog of important conversations seems to be growing at a much faster rate than these actual ...

Conversation card games can be entertaining at parties – and help us foster deep connections and intimacy, which can otherwise be elusive Last summer I was at a friend’s barbecue when he pulled out a ...