The Conversation

5 things to know about Moldova and Transnistria – and why Russia's war in Ukraine is threatening their security, too

Written by Tatsiana Kulakevich, Assistant Professor of Instruction at School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, Affiliate Professor at the Institute for Russian, European, and Eurasian Studies, University of South Florida

A view of Tiraspol, the self-declared capital of Transnistria in April 2022. Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Tensions continue to mount between Russia and Moldova – a small country bordering on southwestern Ukraine that is seeking European Union membership. Moldova is also home to a breakaway region called Transnistria that has...

Three AI experts on how access to ChatGPT-style tech is about to change our world – podcast

Written by Daniel Merino, Associate Science Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation

ChatGPT has the fastest-growing user base of any technology in history.Dmytro Varavin/iStock via Getty Images

ChatGPT burst onto the technology world, gaining 100 million users by the end of January 2023, just two months after its launch and bringing with it a looming sense of change.

The technology itself is fascinating, but part of what makes...

Why the humble city bus is the key to improving US public transit

Written by Nicholas Dagen Bloom, Professor of Urban Policy and Planning, Hunter College

Indianapolis debuted a bus rapid transit system with 60-foot articulated electric buses in 2019.Momoneymoproblemz/Wikipedia, CC BY-SA

Public transit in the U.S. is in a sorry state – aging, underfunded and losing riders, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Many proposed solutions focus on new technologies, like self-driving cars and flying...

The brief but shining life of Paul Laurence Dunbar, a poet who gave dignity to the Black experience

Written by Minnita Daniel-Cox, Associate Professor of Music, University of Dayton

A 1902 portrait of Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

Paul Laurence Dunbar was only 33 years old when he died in 1906.

In his short yet prolific life, Dunbar used folk dialect to give voice and dignity to the experience of Black Americans at the turn of the 20th century. He was the first Black American to make a living as a...

Overclassification overkill: The US government is drowning in a sea of secrets

Written by David Cuillier, Associate Professor, School of Journalism, University of Arizona

Nearly 2,000 workers process tens of millions of classified documents every year in the U.S.wragg/E+/Getty images

The U.S. faces far more threats to its national security than from spy balloons or classified documents discovered in former and current presidents’ homes.

About 50 million more threats every year. That’s the estimated...

Poland’s hospitality is helping many Ukrainian refugees thrive – 5 takeaways

Written by Patrice McMahon, Professor of Political Science, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

These Ukrainians arrived in Poland from Kyiv by train in December 2022.Omar Marques/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

More than 8 million Ukrainian refugees have entered Poland since Russia’s February 2022 invasion. About 1.5 million of them have remained in the central European country rather than moving on to other places or returning home...

At a small liberal arts college, Black students learned to become 'bicultural' to succeed and get jobs – but stress followed

Written by Elizabeth Aries, Professor of Psychology, Amherst College

Black students reported stress as a result of trying to downplay their cultural identities. Halfpoint Images

In her forthcoming book, “The Impact of College Diversity: Struggles and Successes at Age 30,” Amherst College psychology professor Elizabeth Aries discovered a disturbing dual reality for Black students going to the small,...

Why can't Americans agree on, well, nearly anything? Philosophy has some answers

Written by James Steiner-Dillon, Associate Professor of Law, University of Dayton

Social media has made yelling past each other all the easier.We Are/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Does wearing a mask stop the spread of COVID-19? Is climate change driven primarily by human-made emissions? With these kinds of issues dividing the public, it sometimes feels as if Americans are losing our ability to agree about basic facts of the...

The cautionary tale of 'Dilbert'

Written by Chris Lamb, Professor of Journalism, Indiana University

What Adams writes and draws rarely attracts scrutiny – it's what he says that has gotten him in hot water.Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images

Dilbert, the put-upon chronicler of office life, has been given the pink slip.

On Feb. 26, 2023, Andrews McMeel Universal announced that it would no longer distribute the popular comic strip after its creator,...

Understanding mass incarceration in the US is the first step to reducing a swollen prison population

Written by Jeffrey Bellin, Mills E. Godwin, Jr., Professor of Law, William & Mary Law School

People incarcerated at a county jail in North Dakota gather together. Andrew Burton/Getty Images

The incarceration rate in the United States fell in 2021 to its lowest levels since 1995 – but the U.S. continues to imprison a higher percentage of its population than almost every other country.

The U.S. incarcerates 530 people for every 100,000...