The Conversation

Female astronauts: How performance products like space suits and bras are designed to pave the way for women's accomplishments

Written by Susan L. Sokolowski, Director & Associate Professor: Sports Product Design, University of Oregon

Anne McClain of NASA runs through procedures in the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft during a vehicle fit check Nov. 20. NASA/Victor Zelentsov, CC BY-ND

On my first day of spring break, I woke up to way more emails than necessary and a flurry of activity on my social media. Acquaintances from near and far wrote about “patriarchy,” “NASA...

An industrialized global food supply chain threatens human health – here's how to improve it

Written by Robyn Metcalfe, Lecturer in Human Ecology, University of Texas at Austin

Distribution center for the UK grocer Sainsbury, Waltham Point, England.Nick Saltmarsh, CC BY

In an outbreak that has now run for more than 28 months, at least 279 people across 41 states have fallen ill with multidrug-resistant Salmonella infections linked to raw turkey products. Federal investigators are still trying to determine the cause. In...

Artificial intelligence can now emulate human behaviors – soon it will be dangerously good

Written by Ana Santos Rutschman, Assistant Professor of Law, Saint Louis University

Is this face just an assembly of computer bits?PHOTOCREO Michal Bednarek/Shutterstock.com

When artificial intelligence systems start getting creative, they can create great things – and scary ones. Take, for instance, an AI program that let web users compose music along with a virtual Johann Sebastian Bach by entering notes into a program...

Congressional oversight is at the heart of America's democracy

Written by Derek W. Black, Professor of Law, University of South Carolina

Lawmakers have the power to constrain the White House. AP Photo/Susan Walsh

President Donald Trump increasingly acts as though he believes he can ignore Congress and set wide-ranging national policies on his own.

He has, for instance, recently taken unilateral steps to cut off foreign aid to countries he says are sending too many migrants to the...

What parents should do to help students prepare for the first year of college

Written by Lara Schwartz, Director, Project on Civil Discourse, American University School of Public Affairs

First-year college students frequently report being stressed.Antonio Guillem from www.shutterstock.com

As the school year begins to wind down, high school seniors – and those who care about them – typically have their eyes on two prizes: getting into college and graduating from high school.

While both milestones are worthy of...

Pet owners want to be masters, not servants – which is why we value dogs more than cats

Written by Colleen P. Kirk, Assistant Professor of Marketing, New York Institute of Technology

Cat videos may rule the internet, but dogs possess mastery of their owners’ hearts – at least if spending is any guide.

Dog owners spend US$240 a month caring for their pets, compared with $193 for cats, according to the 2017-2018 National Pet Owners Survey from the American Pet Products Association. The extra money goes primarily...

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 –...