The Conversation

Thousands of recently discovered photographs document life in Uganda during Idi Amin's reign

Written by Derek R. Peterson, Professor of History and African Studies, University of Michigan

Idi Amin at a press conference in Jjaja Marina, Uganda in July 1975.Courtesy of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, Author provided

In 2015, researchers working in the storeroom at the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation forced open the lock on an unremarkable filing cabinet.

Inside were thousands of small wax envelopes, neatly arranged in rows, each...

The guts of an Apple iPhone show exactly what Trump gets wrong about trade

Written by Jason Dedrick, Professor of Information Studies, Syracuse University

The components of an iPhone add up to a different cost than the phone itself.Poravute Siriphiroon/Shutterstock.com

Crack open an iPhone and you’ll begin to see why President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war with China doesn’t make sense.

On paper, imports of the popular smartphone and other goods from China look like a big loss to...

'Unskilled' immigrants help to ease the pain of dying Americans

Written by Cati Coe, Professor of Anthropology, Rutgers University

More older Americans are opting to die at home, often with the emotional support of a home care worker.Alexander Raths/shutterstock.com

President Trump wants the U.S. immigration system to shift away from family-based to skills-based migration.

This move would prioritize bringing in those who are highly educated and skilled, to the exclusion of...

Can parks help cities fight crime?

Written by Lincoln Larson, Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University

Contact with nature reduces stress and aggression, one reason scholars say urban green space may reduce violence.Shutterstock

The relationship between parks and crime remains the subject of debate.

Some scholars say parks and other urban green spaces prevent violence. When vacant lots and deteriorating urban spaces are transformed into more...

Detecting deepfakes by looking closely reveals a way to protect against them

Written by Siwei Lyu, Professor of Computer Science; Director, Computer Vision and Machine Learning Lab, University at Albany, State University of New York

Are any of these faces real?meyer_solutions/Shutterstock.com

Deepfake videos are hard for untrained eyes to detect because they can be quite realistic. Whether used as personal weapons of revenge, to manipulate financial markets or to destabilize international relations, videos depicting people doing and saying things they never did or said are a...

Accelerating exoplanet discovery using chemical signatures of stars

Written by Natalie Hinkel, Planetary Astrophysicist, Senior Research Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute and Co-Investigator for the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS), Arizona State University

Planets form from a disc of dust orbiting a star.Mopic/Shutterstock.com

Stars are born when huge clouds of dust and gas collapse in on themselves and ignite. These clouds are made up of raw elements, like oxygen and titanium, and each cloud has a unique composition that imprints on the star. And within the stellar afterbirth – from the...

Facebook's Libra may be quite attractive in developing countries

Written by Nir Kshetri, Professor of Management, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

A customer and vendor exchange electronic money through a mobile phone in Uganda.Ndiwulira/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency has taken a lot of criticism from Western government officials and media commentators – but it’s not meant for them. A major target market for the Libra is users in developing...

Accelerating exoplanet discovery using chemical fingerprints of stars

Written by Natalie Hinkel, Planetary Astrophysicist, Senior Research Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute and Co-Investigator for the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS), Arizona State University

Planets form from a disc of dust orbiting a star.Mopic/Shutterstock.com

Biodiversity helps coral reefs thrive – and could be part of strategies to save them

Written by Cody Clements, Postdoctoral Fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology

A healthy coral reef at Swains island, American Samoa.NOAA/NMFS/PIFSC/CRED, Oceanography Team., CC BY

Coral reefs are home to so many species that they often are called “the rainforests of the seas.” Today they face a daunting range of threats, including ocean warming and acidification, overfishing and pollution. Worldwide, more than...

Italy’s minimal competition to host the 2026 Winter Olympics

Written by Mark Wilson, Professor, Urban & Regional Planning, School of Planning, Design and Construction, Michigan State University

Italy will host the 2026 Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee announced on June 24. The IOC, which organizes the Winter and Summer Games, chose a bid from Milan and the Alpine ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo over a single rival bid from the Swedish capital of Stockholm and the village of Åre. The field had narrowed to two...