The Conversation

¿Marchar o migrar? Para los jóvenes en Venezuela, esa es la pregunta

Written by Emilio Osorio Alvarez, Professor of Migration and Population Studies, Universidad Central de Venezuela

Los que se han quedado en Venezuela están allí para luchar. Hugo Londoño/flickr, CC BY

Las marchas contra el gobierno de Nicolás Maduro están en su tercer mes, con personas manifestándose diariamente por las calles de Caracas, Maracaibo, San Cristóbal, Valencia y muchas otras ciudades....

Trump may believe in the rule of law, just not the one understood by most American lawyers

Written by David Mednicoff, Chair, Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Donald Trump’s June 4 tweet suggesting he could pardon himself in the event that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation brings charges drew outrage among critics, part of mounting and long-standing concern about the president’s disrespect for “the rule of law.”

Many prominent lawmakers, law professors and jour...

How corruption slows disaster recovery

Written by Juliet S. Sorensen, Harry R. Horrow Professor in International Law, Northwestern University

Hurricane Irma demolished Sint Maarten in the Dutch Antilles, in September 2017. The island has yet to recover.AP Photo/Carlos Giusti

The 2018 hurricane season has now begun. It’s a good time to think about lessons learned from last year’s historic storms.

Hurricane Irma, which raged across the Caribbean from late August to early...

Free-range parenting gets legal protection in Utah – but should the state dictate how to parent?

Written by David Pimentel, Associate Professor of Law, University of Idaho

Americans differ over when children can be left unattended.EvgeniiAnd/www.shutterstock.com

Americans have long debated what constitutes good parenting. In 1928, John B. Watson advised parents to “never hug or kiss” their children. In 1946, Benjamin Spock urged parents to trust their instincts.

A recent trend in this ongoing debate has...

When did humans first learn to count?

Written by Peter Schumer, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, Middlebury College

Where did our written numbers come from?Nikita Rogul/shutterstock.com

The history of math is murky, predating any written records. When did humans first grasp the basic concept of a number? What about size and magnitude, or form and shape?

In my math history courses and my research travels in Guatemala, Egypt and Japan, I’ve been especially...

With federal funding for science on the decline, what's the role of a profit motive in research?

Written by David R. Johnson, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, University of Nevada, Reno

Money doesn't grow in flasks – scientists have to find funds outside the lab.chuttersnap/Unsplash, CC BY

What is the place of a profit motive in the production of knowledge at public universities?

The Trump administration’s initial budget request presented in 2017 offered one answer to that question. According to the American Association...

I go to El Salvador despite the danger because the kids there need my medical expertise

Written by Christopher Hartnick, Professor of Otolaryngology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary; Director of Operation Airway, Harvard University

Salvadorans have been fleeing violence in their communities for years. AP Photo/Salvador Melendez

As the founder and director of Operation Airway, a nonprofit that treats kids with breathing problems, I have led teams of surgeons and other medical professionals on missions across the world for the past decade. Our team, equipped with bags of...

Only 1 in 4 women who have been sexually harassed tell their employers. Here's why they're afraid

Written by Margaret E. Johnson, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center on Applied Feminism, University of Baltimore

Studies suggest few women formally complain about sexual harassment in the workplace. andriano.cz/Shutterstock.com

On May 30, a grand jury indicted Harvey Weinstein on charges he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex on him. And new allegations and lawsuits against the movie producer continue to pile up.

Since the earliest reports...

Syrian refugees in America: The forgotten psychological wounds of the stress of migration

Written by Arash Javanbakht, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University

Two refugee children play at Tolan Park, a research and treatment center in Detroit, the site of the author's research. David Dalton/Wayne State University, CC BY-SA

War in Syria and the refugee crisis have been the subject of a heated debate in United States politics, leading to a travel ban and drastic reduction in the number refugees to the U.S....

Robert Kennedy, improbable liberal hero

Written by Ross Baker, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University

Robert F. Kennedy accepts the Democratic nomination as a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1964(AP Photo/John Lent

There is something about middle children, especially in large families. They often struggle to define themselves. Robert Francis Kennedy was the ultimate middle child. Until shortly before his untimely death 50 years ago, he was still...