The Conversation

Why there's a separate World Chess Championship for women

Written by Alexey W. Root, Lecturer in Education, University of Texas at Dallas

Ju Wenjun, the reigning Women's World Chess Champion, will defend her title against Aleksandra Goryachkina, of Russia this month. Photo from an earlier encounter in September 2019.David Llada

Editor’s Note: The Women’s World Chess Championship match is from January 3-26, 2020. The first six games will be played in Shanghai, China and...

Lawyers are trying to scare you with Facebook ads

Written by Elizabeth C. Tippett, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Oregon

Facebook recently disabled some ads on its site making dubious claims about Truvada.AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

Some ads can be more than misleading – they can put your health at risk.

Last year, ads paid for by law firms and legal referral companies started cropping up on Facebook. Typically, they linked Truvada and other HIV-prevention drugs...

Buyers should beware of organic labels on nonfood products

Written by Sarah Morath, Clinical Associate Professor of Law and Director of Lawyering Skills and Strategies, University of Houston

Be skeptical of organic claims on cleaning products and other nonfood goods.Pinkasevich/Shutterstock

Product labels offer valuable information to consumers, but manufacturers can misuse them to increase profits. This is particularly true for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s organic label.

Two recent decisions by the U.S. Federal Trade...

Unrest in Latin America makes authoritarianism look more appealing to some

Written by Paula Armendariz Miranda, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Minnesota

A demonstrator protesting new austerity measures in Ecuador confronts armed police officers during clashes in Quito, Ecuador, Oct. 11, 2019. AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa

Months of sustained, sometimes violent anti-government protest in South America may have increased popular support for authoritarianism.

That’s the startling finding of a...

Want to know what will happen in 2020? Look to state polls for the answer

Written by Daniel R. Birdsong, Lecturer in Political Science, University of Dayton

Before an election the media closely follows polls.Rob Crandall/Shutterstock.com

Public opinion polls are ingrained in American politics. It seems like every day there is a new poll about the presidential election or impeachment or whether the public feels that the United States is on the right track.

As the presidential primary season begins in...

5 things you can do to make your microbiome healthier

Written by Connie Rogers, Associate Professor of Nutritional Sciences , Pennsylvania State University

Fresh fruits and vegetables are good for you and your gut microbes. Teri Virbickis/Shutterstock.com

It’s common for people to focus on their health at the start of the year. But few consider the well being of the microbes that live inside the human gut – the microbiome – which are vital to an individual’s good health.

How...

How to use habit science to help you keep your New Year's resolution

Written by Wendy Wood, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Willpower and habits involve different parts of the brain.lemono/Shutterstock.com

More than 80% of people who make New Year’s resolutions have already given up on their goals by February.

While there’s a lot of resolution advice on the internet, much of it fails to highlight the crux of behavioral change.

To make individual decisions...

What everyone should know about Reconstruction 150 years after the 15th Amendment's ratification

Written by Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Assistant Professor of Secondary Social Studies, West Virginia University

Many African Americans made education a high priority after the Civil War.National Museum of African American History and Culture

I’ll never forget a student’s response when I asked during a middle school social studies class what they knew about black history: “Martin Luther King freed the slaves.”

Martin Luther King Jr. was...

America's love affair with the single-family house is cooling, but it won't be a quick breakup

Written by Robert Parker, Co-Director, Institute for Policy Research and Engagement, University of Oregon

Single-family houses on former farmland west of Des Moines, Iowa. Lynn Betts/USDA

For decades land use regulation across the U.S. has emphasized single-family houses on large lots. This approach has priced many people out of the quintessential American dream: homeownership. It also has promoted suburban sprawl – a pattern of low-density,...

3 big ways that the US will change over the next decade

Written by Dudley L. Poston, Jr., Professor of Sociology, Texas A&M University

The U.S. will undergo some significant shifts in the next decade.DenisProduction.com/Shutterstock.com

The U.S. has just entered the new decade of the 2020s.

What does our country look like today, and what will it look like 10 years from now, on Jan. 1, 2030? Which demographic groups in the U.S. will grow the most, and which groups will not grow as...