The Conversation

Untrained bystanders can administer drone-delivered naloxone, potentially saving lives of opioid overdose victims

Written by Nicole Adams, Clinical Associate Professor of Nursing, Purdue University

Drone deliveries would be particularly effective in places where emergency responders can't respond quickly.Vincent Walter/Purdue University, CC BY-NC-ND

An onlooker – even one without prior training – can successfully administer naloxone to an overdose victim within about a minute of a drone delivering the lifesaving opioid reversal...

Urban agriculture isn't as climate-friendly as it seems – but these best practices can transform gardens and city farms

Written by Jason Hawes, Ph.D. Candidate in Resource Policy and Behavior, University of Michigan

Recycling construction materials and water can make urban agriculture more sustainable.Lauren Moore/USDA

Urban agriculture is expected to be an important feature of 21st century sustainability and can have many benefits for communities and cities, including providing fresh produce in neighborhoods with few other options.

Among those benefits,...

Japan is now the 5th country to land on the Moon – the technology used will lend itself to future lunar missions

Written by Mariel Borowitz, Associate Professor of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology

Data from the SLIM mission projected at JAXA's Sagamihara Campus during the craft's landing. AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko

Japan landed its Smart Lander for Investigating the Moon, or SLIM, craft on the surface of the Moon on Jan. 20, 2024. Despite a power issue with the lander, the event holds both political and technical importance. It’s...

Mac at 40: User experience was the innovation that launched a technology revolution

Written by Jacob O. Wobbrock, Professor of Information, University of Washington

The original Macintosh computer may seem quaint today, but the way users interacted with it triggered a revolution 40 years ago. Mark Mathosian/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA

Technology innovation requires solving hard technical problems, right? Well, yes. And no. As the Apple Macintosh turns 40, what began as Apple prioritizing the squishy concept of...

Face recognition technology follows a long analog history of surveillance and control based on identifying physical features

Written by Sharrona Pearl, Associate Professor of Bioethics and History, Drexel University

Today's technology advances what passport control has been doing for more than a century.ullstein bild via Getty Images

American Amara Majeed was accused of terrorism by the Sri Lankan police in 2019. Robert Williams was arrested outside his house in Detroit and detained in jail for 18 hours for allegedly stealing watches in 2020. Randal Reid spent...

Boeing door plug blowout highlights a possible crisis of competence − an aircraft safety expert explains

Written by Daniel Kwasi Adjekum, Assistant Professor of Aviation, University of North Dakota

An investigator examines the frame of a Boeing aircraft whose door plug blew out in flight.National Transportation Safety Board via AP

In the wake of the in-flight blowout of the side of a Boeing 737 Max 9, federal regulators have grounded planes and are stepping up scrutiny of Boeing’s manufacturing process.

The Jan. 5, 2024, explosive...

The US is struggling to handle an immigration surge – here's how Europe is dealing with its own influx

Written by Tara Sonenshine, Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice in Public Diplomacy, Tufts University

Workers from the Spanish nonprofit Open Waters rescue 178 migrants from different countries, off the coast of Italy in September 2023. Jose Colon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

As record-high numbers of undocumented migrants cross the United States-Mexico border illegally, one key question is how the U.S. got into this situation, and what lessons...

I’m an artist using scientific data as an artistic medium − here’s how I make meaning

Written by Sarah Nance, Assistant Professor of Integrated Practice in Art and Design, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Sarah Nance at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, 2019.Courtesy of Sarah Nance

As an artist working across media, I’ve used everything from thread to my voice to poetically translate and express information. Recently, I’ve been working with another medium – geologic datasets.

While scientists use data visualization to show the...

The US is struggling to handle an immigration surge – here’s how Europe is dealing with its own influx

Written by Tara Sonenshine, Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice in Public Diplomacy, Tufts University

Workers from the Spanish nonprofit Open Waters rescue 178 migrants from different countries, off the coast of Italy in September 2023. Jose Colon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

As record-high numbers of undocumented migrants cross the United States-Mexico border illegally, one key question is how the U.S. got into this situation, and what lessons...

Latin America's colonial period was far less Catholic than it might seem − despite the Inquisition's attempts to police religion

Written by Diego Javier Luis, Assistant Professor of History, Tufts University

One of the most pervasive myths about colonial Latin American society is that it was Catholic, full stop.

It’s a familiar story: As history books tell it, the Europeans brought their religion to the New World, and none were as zealous in their attempts to convert Indigenous people as the Spaniards. Indeed, in the Spanish view, the quest to...