The Conversation

Teaching kids how to make guitars can get them hooked on engineering

Written by Mark French, Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology, Purdue University

You can't make a guitar without some STEM know-how.James Cordero, CC BY-SA

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

The Big Idea:

I’m part of a team of professors and high school teachers around the country that encourages high schools to teach kids to build guitars as a way of making science, technology, engineering and...

Why legislation is needed to make Holocaust education more prominent in public schools: 5 questions answered

Written by Jennifer Rich, Assistant Professor; Director, Rowan Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Rowan University

Roll call at the Buchenwald concentration camp.Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com

Editor’s note: Jennifer Rich, an assistant professor of sociology at Rowan University in New Jersey, is a Holocaust scholar and director of the Rowan Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Here, Rich explains how the “Never Again Education Act,”...

Worried about accidentally harassing a woman? Don't be

Written by Elizabeth C. Tippett, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Oregon

Don't worry, an innocuous chat by the water cooler won't get you fired. Tetra Images/Getty Images

One of the consequences of the #MeToo movement is a simmering male anxiety that a harmless chat by the water cooler might somehow end in a harassment complaint to HR – or worse.

Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial may reinvigorate those fears....

When will there be a coronavirus vaccine? 5 questions answered

Written by Aubree Gordon, Professor of Public Health, University of Michigan

A security guard wears a mask as she keeps watch at arriving passengers at Manila's international airport in the Philippines on Jan. 23, 2020, as part of efforts to contain the coronavirus. Aaron Favila/AP Photo

Editor’s note: The coronavirus that started in Wuhan has sickened more than 4,000 people and killed at least 100 in China as of...

A secret reason Rx drugs cost so much: A global web of patent laws protects Big Pharma

Written by Faisal Chaudhry, Professor of Law, University of Dayton

Advocates for lower drug prices held a vigil on Sept. 5, 2019 outside of Eli Lilly in New York City, honoring those who have lost their lives due to the high cost of insulin.Eric McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

The high price of insulin, which has reached as much as US$450 per month, has raised outrage across the country. Sen. Bernie...

Puerto Rico earthquakes imperil island's indigenous heritage

Written by Jorge L. Chinea, Professor of History and Director, Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, Wayne State University

Punta Ventana, a popular tourist attraction near Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, before and after the Jan. 6 earthquake.AFP/Getty/Wikipedia

Tremors and aftershocks are still rocking Puerto Rico, weeks after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake toppled buildings, killed at least one person and injured another eight on Jan. 7. Families have begun leaving the island...

Despite defeats, the Islamic State remains unbroken and defiant around the world

Written by Brian Glyn Williams, Professor of Islamic History, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

A group of Islamic State fighters surrender in Afghanistan. Many of their comrades are still in the fight.Noorullah Shirzada/AFP via Getty Images

In a series of bloody campaigns from 2014 to 2019, a multinational military coalition drove the Islamic State group, often known as ISIS, out of much of the Iraqi and Syrian territory that the strict...

Americans on the right and left change their minds after hearing where Trump stands

Written by John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College

President Donald Trump addresses the nation from the White House on Iran's ballistic missile strike against Iraqi air bases housing U.S. troops.AP Photo/ Evan Vucci

During America’s health care debate in 2013, late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel got some laughs when he asked people whether they supported Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act....

Young California ranchers are finding new ways to raise livestock and improve the land

Written by Kate Munden-Dixon, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sustainable Food Systems, Indiana University

Sonoma County, California hired this herd of sheep from Sweetgrass Grazing to reduce invasive plants and flammable fuels and make room for native plants on protected land. Sonoma Open Space, CC BY-ND

As California contends with drought, wildfires and other impacts of climate change, a small yet passionate group of residents are attempting to lessen...

Is workplace rudeness on the rise?

Written by Shannon G. Taylor, Associate Professor of Management, University of Central Florida

Talk to the hand.SoumenNath/Getty Images

You don’t have to look hard to see uncivil behavior these days, whether in political discourse, in college classrooms or on airplanes. One study found that rudeness is even contagious, like the common cold.

The workplace, where my research is focused, is hardly immune from this so-called incivility...