The Conversation

The backstory behind the unions that bought a Chicago Sun-Times stake

Written by Brian Dolber, Assistant Professor of Communication, California State University San Marcos

Back in the 1930s, people like this pear peddler in New York City's Lower East Side often got their news from labor-led media.AP Photo

An investment group led by former Chicago alderman and businessman Edwin Eisendrath and the Chicago Federation of Labor recently pulled off an unusual feat when it acquired the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Department of...

Who becomes a saint in the Catholic Church, and is that changing?

Written by Mathew Schmalz, Associate Professor of Religion, College of the Holy Cross

Pope Francis at the end of a canonization ceremony for Mother Teresa.Alessandra Tarantino/AP

Pope Francis has created a new category for beatification, the level immediately below sainthood, in the Catholic Church: those who give their lives for others. This is called “oblatio vitae,” the “offer of life” for the well-being...

Bridges and roads as important to your health as what's in your medicine cabinet

Written by Korydon Smith, Professor of Architecture and Associate Director of Global Health Equity, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

The water tower in Flint, Michigan, where lead-contaminated water led to a health crisis in 2014. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio

Two seemingly unrelated national policy debates are afoot, and we can’t adequately address one unless we address the other.

Health care reform has been the hottest topic. What to do about America’s aging infrastructure...

Trump isn't letting Obamacare die; he's trying to kill it

Written by Simon Haeder, Assistant Professor of Political Science, West Virginia University

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) cast the pivotal vote to nix the Senate version of a bill to repeal Obamacare, only days after returning to Washington after surgery.AP Photo/Cliff Owen

Early on the morning of July 28, Republicans were dealt a surprising blow when Sen. John McCain (R-AR), along with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski...

Why crowds aren’t always wise: Lessons from mini-flash crashes on Wall Street

Written by Alexander Munk, Ph.D. Candidate in Mathetmatics, University of Michigan

Blink. About 300 milliseconds just passed, the same time required for a lightning bolt to travel 100,000 feet, a satellite to fly two miles or a stock price to swing from US$10 to $0.0001 and back.

Wait, what?

Indeed, that actually happened to the shares of the software company Qualys a few years ago. Similar mini-flash crashes involving...

Editing human embryos with CRISPR is moving ahead – now's the time to work out the ethics

Written by Jessica Berg, Law Dean; Professor of Law; and Professor of Bioethics & Public Health, Case Western Reserve University

There's still a way to go from editing single-cell embryos to a full-term 'designer baby.'ZEISS Microscopy, CC BY-SA

The announcement by researchers in Portland, Oregon that they’ve successfully modified the genetic material of a human embryo took some people by surprise.

With headlines referring to “groundbreaking” research and...

Measuring up US infrastructure against other countries

Written by Hiba Baroud, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University

Heavy storms in February caused parts of a California highway to give way.Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo

How does infrastructure in the U.S. compare to that of the rest of the world? It depends on who you ask.

On the last two report cards from the American Society of Civil Engineers, U.S. infrastructure scored a D+. This year’s report urged the...

Data science can help us fight human trafficking

Written by Renata Konrad, Assistant Professor of Operations and Industrial Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Ngwe Thein says he was forced to work on a fishing trawler with inadequate food and little or no pay.APTN, Esther Htusan/AP Photo

July 30 marks the United Nations’ World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, a day focused on ending the criminal exploitation of children, women and men for forced labor or sex work.

Between 27 and 45.8 million...

Why a 2,500-year-old Hebrew poem still matters

Written by David W. Stowe, Professor of English and Religious Studies, Michigan State University

Gebhard Fugel, 'An den Wassern Babylons.'Gebhard Fugel [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

At sundown on July 31, Jews around the world will observe Tisha B’av, the most somber of Jewish holidays. It commemorates the destruction of the two temples in Jerusalem, first by the Babylonians and then, almost seven centuries later, in A.D. 70, by...

Storing data in DNA brings nature into the digital universe

Written by Luis Ceze, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington

The next frontier of data storage: DNA.ymgerman/Shutterstock.com

Humanity is producing data at an unimaginable rate, to the point that storage technologies can’t keep up. Every five years, the amount of data we’re producing increases 10-fold, including photos and videos. Not all of it needs to be stored, but manufacturers of data...