The Conversation

Identicide: How demographic shifts can rip a country apart

Written by Monica Duffy Toft, Professor of International Politics and Director of the Center for Strategic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

What does it look like when a country's identity falls apart?Interior Design/shutterstock.com

What happens to a country when its core national identity – its preferred image of itself in terms of race or religion – doesn’t match its demographic reality?

Say a Sunni-dominated Arab country is actually a majority Shi'a Arab country;...

What's on the far side of the Moon?

Written by Wayne Schlingman, Director of the Arne Slettebak Planetarium, The Ohio State University

The far side looks a lot like the near side.NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, CC BY

Looking up at the silvery orb of the Moon, you might recognize familiar shadows and shapes on its face from one night to the next. You see the same view of the Moon our early ancestors did as it lighted their way after sundown.

Only one side of the spherical...

FUCT gets day in court as SCOTUS considers dropping slippery moral standard when granting trademarks

Written by Megan M Carpenter, Dean, University of New Hampshire

When’s a brand too scandalous to trademark?

That’s a question the Supreme Court will soon decide in a case that tests the constitutional limits of free speech.

I attended the oral argument on April 15, when lawyers representing streetwear clothing label FUCT argued the company has a right to register its brand as a trademark, which...

'I'm not a traitor, you are!' Political argument from the Founding Fathers to today's partisans

Written by Jeffrey Selinger, Associate Professor of Government, Bowdoin College

How partisans argue tells a lot about how the public sees democracyShutterstock

President Trump is working with the Russians to enrich himself. The Republican Party is shielding him from accountability.

The Democrats want to win elections by repopulating the country with foreigners. Then they’ll be able to permanently transform the racial and...

Why federal student aid should be restored for people in prison

Written by Andrea Cantora, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Baltimore

Research shows prison education lessens the chances that inmates will return to prison after their release.Elaine Thompson/AP

Congress is thinking of lifting a longstanding ban on federal student aid for those serving time in prison.

The “Restoring Education And Learning Act of 2019,” or the “REAL Act of 2019,” seeks to...

A quest to reconstruct Baltimore's American Indian 'reservation'

Written by Ashley Minner, Lecturer, Folklorist, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Members of East Baltimore Church of God, which was founded by Lumbee Indians, and was once located in the heart of 'the reservation,' in the 1700 block of E. Baltimore Street.Photo courtesy of Rev. Robert E. Dodson Jr., Pastor, East Baltimore Church of God, Author provided

A few years ago, I invited a group of students to go on a short walking tour...

What Leonardo's depiction of Virgin Mary and Jesus tells us about his religious beliefs

Written by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, Haub Director of Catholic Studies, Georgetown University

Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin of the Rocks.National Gallery London

On the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death, Italian academic Francesco Caglioti’s recent claim that a sculpture held at a London museum bears close similarities with the work of the Renaissance genius has opened up a fresh discussion.

The Victoria and Albert...

Understanding the periodic table through the lens of the volatile Group I metals

Written by Erwin Boschmann, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry & Chemical Biology, IUPUI

Sodium metal explodes on contact with water. Albert Russ/Shutterstock.com

The news broke that a railroad car, loaded with pure sodium, had just derailed and was spilling its contents. A television reporter called me for an explanation of why firefighters were not allowed to use water on the flames bursting from the mangled car. While on the air I...

Japan’s next emperor is a modern, multilingual environmentalist

Written by Constantine Nomikos Vaporis, Professor of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

For the first time in 217 years, a Japanese emperor will cede his place on the imperial throne.

On April 30, Japan’s ailing 85-year-old Emperor Akihito will abdicate and be replaced the following day by his 59-year-old son, Crown Prince Naruhito.

Naruhito and his wife, Crown Princess Masako, are a modern couple. Both have studied overseas...

In India, WhatsApp is a weapon of antisocial hatred

Written by Rohit Chopra, Associate Professor of Communication, Santa Clara University

Smartphones are a conduit for misinformation about the Indian election.AP Photo/Manish Swarup

A general election in India, the world’s most populous democracy, seems a theoretical impossibility. Collecting the votes of nearly a billion people across a staggeringly diverse subcontinent has for more than half a century faced challenges of logist...