NewsPronto

 
Times Advertising


.

The Conversation

When is dead really dead? Study on pig brains reinforces that death is a vast gray area

  • Written by Katharina Busl, Associate Professor, Neurology. Chief, Division of Neurocritical Care, Department of Neurology, University of Florida
A recent study of the brains of decapitated pigs showed activity in their brains four hours later. Ivan Loran/Shutterstock.com

For the longest time, “death” used to be when the heart stopped beating and breathing stopped. Then, machines were invented in the 1930s that enabled people to receive air even if they could not take in the air...

Read more: When is dead really dead? Study on pig brains reinforces that death is a vast gray area

Mueller report: How Congress can and will follow up on an incomplete and redacted document

  • Written by Charles Tiefer, Professor of law, University of Baltimore
Morning clouds cover Capitol Hill in Washington, April 12, 2019AP/J. Scott Applewhite

The release on April 18 of a redacted version of the Mueller report came after two years of allegations, speculation and insinuation – but not a lot of official information about what really happened between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Nor had there...

Read more: Mueller report: How Congress can and will follow up on an incomplete and redacted document

What happens next with the Mueller report? 3 essential reads

  • Written by Catesby Holmes, Global Affairs Editor, The Conversation US
Attorney General William Barr at an April 18 press conference about the public release of the special counsel’s report on Donald Trump.AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

One month after Robert Mueller submitted the final report on his investigation into Donald Trump, its contents have finally been made public – meaning that the Department of...

Read more: What happens next with the Mueller report? 3 essential reads

A comedian who played a president on TV might actually become Ukraine's president

  • Written by Lena Surzhko-Harned, Assistant Teaching Professor of Political Science, Pennsylvania State University
Ukrainian comedian and presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy performs on stage during a show in Brovary, near Kiev, Ukraine.AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

Imagine Martin Sheen, inspired by his role as President Jed Bartlet in “The West Wing,” tossing his hat into the 2020 U.S. presidential race. Or Julia Louis-Dreyfus, capitalizing on...

Read more: A comedian who played a president on TV might actually become Ukraine's president

A comedian who played a president on TV just became Ukraine's president

  • Written by Lena Surzhko-Harned, Assistant Teaching Professor of Political Science, Pennsylvania State University
Ukrainian comedian president-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy performs on stage during a show in Brovary, near Kiev, Ukraine.AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti

Imagine Martin Sheen, inspired by his role as President Jed Bartlet in “The West Wing,” running for the U.S. presidency and winning. Or Julia Louis-Dreyfus, capitalizing on her role as Vice...

Read more: A comedian who played a president on TV just became Ukraine's president

Trump declares economic war on Cuba

  • Written by William M. LeoGrande, Professor of Government, American University School of Public Affairs
Airlines that fly into Cuba's main airport could now be sued for profiting off of property confiscated during the country's 1959 revolution.AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File

The Trump administration has declared the most severe new sanctions against Cuba since President John F. Kennedy imposed an economic embargo banning all trade with the communist...

Read more: Trump declares economic war on Cuba

If my measles shot was years ago, am I still protected? 5 questions answered

  • Written by Eyal Amiel, Assistant Professor of Biomedicine and Health Sciences, University of Vermont
Steve Sierzega receives a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at the Rockland County Health Department in Pomona, N.Y., Wednesday, March 27, 2019.Seth Wenig/AP Photo

As the measles outbreaks spread, many people are growing concerned. New York City declared a public health emergency and mandated vaccinations in four ZIP codes where vaccination rates...

Read more: If my measles shot was years ago, am I still protected? 5 questions answered

Bolsonaro's approval rating is worse than any past Brazilian president at the 100-day mark

  • Written by Helder Ferreira do Vale, Associate Professor, Graduate School of International and Area Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was elected last year on a wave of popular anger at the country’s stagnant economy and political chaos, promising voters a “better future.”

After just over 100 days in office, many Brazilians feel this right-wing former congressman has not delivered on that promise.

Bolsonaro’s approval...

Read more: Bolsonaro's approval rating is worse than any past Brazilian president at the 100-day mark

Brain scans help shed light on the PTSD brain, but they cannot diagnose PTSD

  • Written by Arash Javanbakht, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University
An example of what a functional MRI scan looks like. Brain activation is averaged across 20 PTSD patients compared to healthy controls in an emotion regulation task.Kunlin Xiong et al/PLOS One, CC BY-SA

Celebrities and public figures have recently been more open about mental health conditions they deal with. This is a positive sign of shrinking...

Read more: Brain scans help shed light on the PTSD brain, but they cannot diagnose PTSD

As governments adopt artificial intelligence, there's little oversight and lots of danger

  • Written by James Hendler, Tetherless World Professor of Computer, Web and Cognitive Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Artificial intelligence systems can – if properly used – help make government more effective and responsive, improving the lives of citizens. Improperly used, however, the dystopian visions of George Orwell’s “1984” become more realistic.

On their own and urged by a new presidential executive order, governments across...

Read more: As governments adopt artificial intelligence, there's little oversight and lots of danger

More Articles ...

  1. Notre Dame's history is 9 centuries of change, renovation and renewal
  2. How Columbine became a blueprint for school shooters
  3. New cholesterol study may lead you to ask: Pass the eggs, or pass on the eggs?
  4. Should you apply to a college that has had a recent scandal?
  5. One year after Nicaraguan uprising, Ortega is back in control
  6. Abraham Lincoln, Joe Biden and the politics of touch
  7. Why Pete Buttigieg may be reviving progressive ideals of the Social Gospel Movement
  8. Russia isn't the first country to protest Western control over global telecommunications
  9. Sea creatures store carbon in the ocean – could protecting them help slow climate change?
  10. The new digital divide is between people who opt out of algorithms and people who don't
  11. A political stalemate over Puerto Rican aid is leaving all US disaster funding in limbo
  12. In Notre Dame fire, echoes of the 1837 blaze that destroyed Russia's Winter Palace
  13. The dirt on soil loss from the Midwest floods
  14. Boeing crashes and Uber collision show passenger safety relies on corporate promises, not regulators' tests
  15. What it means to ‘know your audience’ when communicating about science
  16. Journalism's Assange problem
  17. Marijuana legalization – a rare issue where women are more conservative than men
  18. How Hispanics really feel about Trump
  19. Brunei wants to punish gay sex with death by stoning – can boycotts stop it?
  20. Why Good Friday was dangerous for Jews in the Middle Ages and how that changed
  21. Top EPA advisers challenge long-standing air pollution science, threatening Americans' health
  22. A frenemy fungus provides clues about a new deadly one
  23. April 15 is the day tobacco companies pay $9 billion for tobacco illnesses, but is it enough?
  24. Retailers like Walmart are embracing robots – here's how workers can tell if they'll be replaced
  25. Mapping the US counties where traffic air pollution hurts children the most
  26. Leonardo joined art with engineering
  27. How the alt-right corrupts the Constitution
  28. Is 75 the new 65? Wealthy countries need to rethink what it means to be old
  29. Why LeBron James' I Promise School should be more like LeBron and not shy away from issues of race
  30. This small Mexican border town prizes its human and environmental links with the US
  31. The Mormon Church still doesn't accept same-sex couples – even if it no longer bars their children
  32. Civic crowdfunding reduces the risk of 'bikelash'
  33. Leonardo da Vinci saw in animals the ‘image of the world’
  34. Venezuela's crisis is a tragedy - but comedy gold for satire, cartoons and memes
  35. Why the Great Plains has such epic weather
  36. America and the world still need the WTO to keep trade and the global economy humming
  37. People who win big prizes shouldn’t get taxed when they give their windfalls away
  38. Tax returns waste everyone's time – but there's an easy solution the tax preparation industry and some lawmakers don't like
  39. Does a year in space make you older or younger?
  40. How US tax laws discriminate against women, gays and people of color
  41. Why giant statues of Hindu gods and leaders are making Muslims in India nervous
  42. Are America's teachers really underpaid?
  43. Can changing the microbiome reverse lactose intolerance?
  44. Don't shoot! That drone overhead probably isn't invading your privacy
  45. A happy ending for 'Game of Thrones'? No thanks
  46. Muslims arrived in America 400 years ago as part of the slave trade and today are vastly diverse
  47. From ‘40 acres and a mule’ to LBJ to the 2020 election, a brief history of slavery reparation promises
  48. Measles outbreaks show legal challenges of balancing personal rights and public good
  49. Brexit is a rejection of the Good Friday Agreement for peace in Northern Ireland
  50. A thousand years ago, the Catholic Church paid little attention to homosexuality