The Conversation

Blue light isn't the main source of eye fatigue and sleep loss – it's your computer

Written by Phillip Yuhas, Assistant Professor of Optometry, The Ohio State University

While blue light has been blamed for sleep loss, it's not the only bad light.Chaoss/Shuttterstock.com

Blue light has gotten a bad rap, getting blamed for loss of sleep and eye damage. Personal electronic devices emit more blue light than any other color. Blue light has a short wavelength, which means that it is high-energy and can damage the...

Voters often parrot the party line, even when polls suggest otherwise

Written by Justin Buchler, Associate Professor of Political Science, Case Western Reserve University

People line up to vote in the 2008 election in Arlington, Virginia.Rob Crandall/Shutterstock.com

As the 2020 election approaches, voters will see a variety of polls. Many of them will be misleading.

Over time, political science has learned which types of questions are informative and which are not, based on models of public opinion. But many of the...

Why Barack Obama was particularly unsuited to live up to the ideals of the Nobel Peace Prize

Written by Nick Lehr, Arts + Culture Editor

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama board Air Force One en route to Oslo, Norway, to accept the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2009.AP Photo/Susan Walsh

A decade ago, in October 2009, Barack Obama learned that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was uncomfortable with the prize, saying that he didn’t feel that he deserved...

Lithium ion Nobel Prize shows how individual brainstorms add up to world-transforming innovations

Written by Amy Prieto, Professor of Chemistry, Colorado State University

Lithium ion batteries store large amounts of power in small battery cells that can be recharged.Mile Atanasov

Nobel Prizes in Chemistry seem to rotate between novel compounds, revolutionary measurement techniques, and insights into how atoms can be combined to form new molecules and solids. This year, however, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was...

Why don't more women win science Nobels?

Written by Mary K. Feeney, Professor and Lincoln Professor of Ethics in Public Affairs and Associate Director of the Center for Science, Technology and Environmental Policy Studies, Arizona State University

All of the 2019 Nobel Prizes in science were awarded to men.

That’s a return to business as usual, after biochemical engineer Frances Arnold won in 2018, for chemistry, and Donna Strickland received the 2018 Nobel Prize in physics.

Strickland was only the third female physicist to get a Nobel, following Marie Curie in 1903 and Maria...

Turkish attack on Syria endangers a remarkable democratic experiment by the Kurds

Written by James L. Gelvin, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of California, Los Angeles

Kurdish fighters in Syria say the U.S. is abandoning its allies and potentially empowering the Islamic State by withdrawing from northeastern Syria and allowing a Turkish assault, Oct. 7, 2019.AP Photo

Turkey’s attack on Kurdish-run territory in northern Syria will likely snuff out a radical experiment in self-government that is unlike...

US will send migrants to El Salvador, a country that can't protect its own people

Written by Mneesha Gellman, Associate Professor of Political Science, Emerson College

The Trump administration is continuing its efforts to keep Central American asylum seekers away from the United States’ border.

On Sept. 20 the U.S. signed an agreement with El Salvador to accept asylum seekers sent out of the United States. U.S. officials have avoided specifics in discussing the deal and implied that only Salvadoran...

Why more places are abandoning Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples' Day

Written by Malinda Maynor Lowery, Professor of History and Director, Center for the Study of the American South, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Marchers celebrate the first Indigenous Peoples Day in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 10, 1992.AP Photo/Paul Sakuma

Increasingly, Columbus Day is giving people pause.

More and more towns and cities across the country are electing to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an alternative to – or in addition to – the day intended to honor...

Could helmetless tackling training reduce football head injuries?

Written by Erik Swartz, Profesor, Kinesiology , University of Massachusetts Lowell

A young football player holds his mouth guard.Suzanne Tucker/Shutterstock.com

With football season well underway, there already have been instances of helmet-to-helmet hits, concussions and yet another round of conversations about strategies to reduce head impact exposure in players.

This is an urgent matter for all football players, but...

Why ending the secrecy of 'confession' is so controversial for the Catholic Church

Written by Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

In Catholic understanding, Jesus gave his disciples the power to forgive sins.Hernán Piñera, CC BY-SA

Following sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, there is a worldwide push to end the guarantee of secrecy of confession – called “the seal of the confessional.”

On Sept. 11, 2019, two Australian states,...