The Conversation

What are digital twins? A pair of computer modeling experts explain

Written by Amlan Ganguly, Associate Professor of Computer Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology

A digital twin attempts to capture every aspect of a real thing, including up-to-the-moment changes.lambada/E+ via Getty Images

A digital twin is a virtual representation of a real system – a building, the power grid, a city, even a human being – that mimics the characteristics of the system. A digital twin is more than just a computer...

'Masked' cancer drug stealthily trains immune system to kill tumors while sparing healthy tissues, reducing treatment side effects

Written by Aslan Mansurov, Postdoctoral Researcher in Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Dendritic cells (green) produce cytokines like IL-12, which can train T cells (pink) to attack tumors.Victor Segura Ibarra and Rita Serda/National Cancer Institute via Flickr, CC BY-NC

Many cancer treatments are notoriously savage on the body. Drugs often attack both healthy cells and tumor cells, causing a plethora of side effects. Immunotherapies...

Modern-day struggle at James Madison's plantation Montpelier to include the descendants' voices of the enslaved

Written by Stephen P. Hanna, Professor of Geography, University of Mary Washington

Reconstructed slave cabins at James Madison's Montpelier in Virginia.Stephen P. Hanna, Author provided

On May 17, 2022, after weeks of negative stories on Montpelier in the national press, the foundation that operates the Virginia plantation home of James Madison finally made good on its promise to share authority with descendants of people...

More student or faculty diversity on campus leads to lower racial gaps in graduation rates

Written by Nicholas A. Bowman, Mary Louise Petersen Chair in Higher Education, University of Iowa

At colleges with a majority-Black student population, Black and white students graduate at the same rate. Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

College graduation gaps between Black and white students tend to shrink when there are...

How the role and visibility of chaplains changed over the past century

Written by Wendy Cadge, Professor of Sociology and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis University

A chaplain prays for a COVID-19 patient in Los Angeles while on a video call with the patient's daughter in November 2020.AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

The COVID-19 pandemic brought new attention to the work of chaplains.

Before the pandemic, as an article in The New York Times put it, the place of the hospital chaplain was “at the bedside, holding a...

Firearm stocks spike after mass shootings as investors dismiss the chance of tightening gun laws

Written by Brad Greenwood, Associate Professor of Information Systems and Operations Management, George Mason University

Trading on tragedy.Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images.

The day after an armed 18-year-old entered the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and shot dead 19 children and two teachers, the share prices of gun and weapons manufacturers jumped.

A week on, and the market rally of gun stocks following the latest mass shooting hasn’t...

Most people support abortion staying legal, but that may not matter in making law

Written by Tarah Williams, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Allegheny College

The Supreme Court is set to soon rule on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case, nearly one month after a leaked draft majority opinion showed the court might uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Ruling to uphold this ban could undo women’s constitutional right to abortion, guaranteed by Roe v. Wade...

The lasting consequences of school shootings on the students who survive them

Written by Maya Rossin-Slater, Associate Professor of Health Policy, Stanford University

A girl grieves for a friend killed in the Uvalde shooting.Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

As the U.S. reels from another school shooting, much of the public discussion has centered on the lives lost: 19 children and two adults. Indeed, the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas is the second deadliest such incident on record, after...

50 years of UN environmental diplomacy: What's worked and the trends ahead

Written by Mihaela Papa, Adjunct Assistant Professor in Sustainable Development and Global Governance, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Negotiations over the years have aimed to protect forests, biodiversity and the climate.Manjunath Kiran/AFP via Getty Images

In 1972, acid rain was destroying trees. Birds were dying from DDT poisoning, and countries were contending with oil spills, contamination from nuclear weapons testing and the environmental harm of the Vietnam War. Air...

The Asian Canadian gay activist whose theories on sexuality were decades ahead of their time

Written by Laurie Marhoefer, Jon Bridgman Endowed Associate Professor of History, University of Washington

Li Shiu Tong, right, was the boyfriend and intellectual heir of German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld.Imagno/Getty Images

Historians are rediscovering one of the most important LGBTQ activists of the early 20th Century – an Asian Canadian named Li Shiu Tong. You probably don’t know the name, but he was at the center of the first wave of...