The Conversation

The history of China's Muslims and what's behind their persecution

Written by Kelly Anne Hammond, Assistant Professor of History, University of Arkansas

A delegate in traditional Uighur dress listens to a speaker during a meeting with delegates from China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in Beijing,AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Over 1 million Uighur Muslims are being held in detention centers in the far western province of Xinjiang, China.

Uighur leaders and experts located outside China have...

Facebook doesn't fool me – but I worry about how it affects you

Written by Joseph B. Walther, Professor of Communication; Director, Center for Information Technology and Society, University of California, Santa Barbara

I'm safe, but you should be more careful online.Rapeepat Pornsipak/Shutterstock.com

A number of prominent figures have called for some sort of regulation of Facebook – including one of the company’s co-founders and a venture capitalist who was one of Facebook’s early backers.

Much of the criticism of Facebook relates to how the...

Recent attempts at reparations show that World War II is not over

Written by Timothy Webster, Associate Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University

Chen Yabian, 74, of Hainan Province, southern China, testifies during the International Symposium on Chinese 'Comfort Women' in 2000 in Shanghai that she was 14 when Japanese Imperial Army soldiers forced her to work as a sex slave during the war. AP/Eugene Hoshiko

World War II ended in 1945.

But the world has never stopped debating its legacy and...

Chicago's Urban Prep Academy – known for 100% college acceptance rates – put reputation ahead of results

Written by Chezare A. Warren, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Despite being known for high college acceptance rates, Urban Prep Academies recently lost a charter to operate a school on Chicago's west side.Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

When I joined Urban Prep Academies in 2006 as the founding math teacher at what was to become the nation’s first all-boys public charter high school, the school’s faculty...

US is already fighting a conflict with Iran – an economic war that is hurting the wrong people

Written by David Cortright, Director of Policy Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame

Many are worried about the risk of war with Iran after the Trump administration leaked discussions of a troop deployment in response to claimed threats to U.S. warships in the region.

And in recent days, the rhetoric has only gotten more heated, with President Donald Trump saying a war would be “the official end of Iran.” Iranian...

Could a lack of humility be at the root of what ails America?

Written by Frank T. McAndrew, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology, Knox College

What happens when everyone thinks they're smarter than everyone else?Ljupco Smokovski/Shutterstock.com

There are a lot of reasons behind the political polarization of the country and the deterioration of civic discourse.

I wonder if a lack of humility is one of them.

In his recent book, “The Death of Expertise,” national security expert...

The Constitution dictates that impeachment must not be partisan

Written by Peter Brandon Bayer, Associate Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

President Donald Trump arriving at the Rose Garden, May 22, 2019, in Washington. AP/Evan Vucci

Barely two decades since the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the people of the United States again are confronting the possibility that their president, now Donald Trump, could be impeached, meaning charged by the House of Representatives with offenses that,...

The American GI in WWII, uncensored

Written by Edward Gitre, Assistant Professor of History, Virginia Tech

Pfc Elias Friedensohn in June 1945 at the Special Services Distributing Point, Seine Section, Paris, France. National Archives

I can still recall the exhilaration I felt in the reading room of the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.

It was mid-April 2009. I was scrolling through roll after microfilm roll of the War Department’s...

I'm an evolutionary biologist – here's why this ancient fungal fossil discovery is so revealing

Written by Antonis Rokas, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Biological Sciences and Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University

Do fungi like this _Penicillium_ mold, which produces the the antibiotic penicillin, trace their origins to an ancestor that lived a billion years ago?Rattiya Thongdumhyu/Shutterstock.com

Biologists don’t call them “the hidden kingdom” for nothing. With an estimated 5 million species, only a mere 100,000 fungi are known to...

Genetic trigger discovered for common heart problem, mitral valve prolapse

Written by Russell Norris, Associate Professor of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology, The Medical University of South Carolina

Mitral valve prolapse is one of the most common heart disorders worldwide.Hriana/Shutterstock.com

Ever been to a large sporting event, such as a football or baseball game with 60,000 screaming fans? What you don’t hear through the screams is a clicking sound in the chests of about 1,500 of these fans who have a heart valve disease. And...