The Conversation

Calcium-munching bacteria could be a secret weapon against road salt eating away at concrete roads and bridges

Written by Yaghoob Farnam, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Drexel University

Fixing cracks and potholes in concrete roads like this one may be easier with help from bacteria.Yaghoob Farnam, CC BY-SA

Bacteria, which have been working for millennia as nature’s stonemasons, could soon be enlisted to help neutralize the destructive effects of road salt.

According to the Transportation Research Board, it takes about 10...

How unjust social structures help some but harm others

Written by Shervin Assari, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health, University of Michigan

Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis on April 3, 1968, giving the last speech of his life. He addressed social inequalities, discussing the low pay of garbage workers in that city.Charles Kelly/AP File Photo

The college admissions cheating scandal has outraged millions, bringing to light the gaps between the privileged and less privileged citizens....

Venezuela's power struggle reaches a tense stalemate, as human suffering deepens

Written by David Smilde, Professor of Sociology, Tulane University

Venezuelans have faced food and medicine shortages since late 2015. Now power outages have cut off water supplies, too.AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko

Even in a country where crisis has become the norm, the past month has been eventful for Venezuela.

On April 3 Juan Guaidó, the Venezuelan National Assembly president who is leading an effort to...

Voter ID laws don't seem to suppress minority votes – despite what many claim

Written by Ben L. Pryor, Researcher, Oklahoma State University

An election official checks a voter's photo identification at an early voting polling site in Austin, Texas. AP Photo/Eric Gay

Strict voter ID laws require residents to possess a valid, state-approved identification in order to vote.

Support and opposition to these laws primarily fall along party lines. Proponents – mainly Republicans –...

What causes greed and how can we deal with it?

Written by Laura E. Alexander, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Goldstein Family Community Chair in Human Rights, University of Nebraska Omaha

Human beings want more even if it comes at the expense of others.svershinsky/Shutterstock.com

Recent news stories have highlighted unethical and even lawless actions taken by people and corporations that were motivated primarily by greed.

Federal prosecutors, for example, charged 33 wealthy parents, some of whom were celebrities, with paying bribes...

Want to understand accented speakers better? Practice, practice, practice

Written by Melissa Michaud Baese-Berk, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Oregon

If the goal is to communicate, why should the speaker bear all the burden?Mimi Thian/Unsplash, CC BY

Conversation is at the heart of people’s lives. We use language to communicate our hopes and dreams to our closest friends, to ask for help from colleagues at work and to describe our ailments to medical professionals. Typically this process...

Using computers to crack open centuries-old mathematical puzzles

Written by Christopher Rasmussen, Associate Professor of Mathematics, Wesleyan University

A snippet of 'Arithmetica,' from Diophantus.Wikimedia

In mathematics, no researcher works in true isolation. Even those who work alone use the theorems and methods of their colleagues and predecessors to develop new ideas.

But when a known technique is too difficult to use in practice, mathematicians may neglect important – and otherwise...

Genes and genealogy and making the most of famous relations

Written by Lynn T. Kozlowski, Professor, Department of Community Health and Health Behavior, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Genealogy is the second most popular hobby in the United States. Steve Allen/Shutterstock.com

Digging up one’s genealogical roots is second only to gardening in popularity as a hobby and can be much more exciting. I have known the joy of discovery and the pleasure of sharing the news.

Portrait of Sir John Harington (1561-1612).Hieronymus...

As climate change erodes US coastlines, an invasive plant could become an ally

Written by Judith Weis, Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University Newark

Phragmites, an invasive species, line this marsh at Sachuest Point in Middletown, Rhode island. Tom Sturm/USFWS

Many invasive species are found along U.S. coasts, including fishes, crabs, mollusks and marsh grasses. Since the general opinion is that invasives are harmful, land managers and communities spend a lot of time and resources attempting...

The Trump administration's attempts to defund the Special Olympics, explained

Written by Derrick L. Cogburn, Professor of International Service and Professor of Information Technology & Analytics at the Kogod School of Business, American University School of International Service

A Special Olympics basketball clinic in Charlotte, N.C. in January 2019AP Photo/Chuck Burton

The federal government has long covered about a tenth of the Special Olympics’ budget. This nonprofit that gives athletes with intellectual disabilities a chance to train and compete in a wide variety of sports gets most of the rest of its funding...