The Conversation

Sequencing the genome of newborns in the US: Are we ready?

Written by Tom Diacovo, Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of UPMC Division of Newborn Medicine, University of Pittsburgh

Every child born in the U.S. has a blood sample taken to screen for genetic diseases. Helen Sushitskaya/Shutterstock.com

Twenty-four to 48 hours after birth, every newborn in the U.S. will have a few drops of blood drawn and sent to a lab to be screened for hidden and potentially life-threatening disorders. This process, known as universal newborn...

Fighting words for a New Gilded Age - Democratic candidates are sounding a lot like Teddy Roosevelt

Written by Jennifer Mercieca, Associate Professor of Communication, Texas A&M University

There was a Republican on the Democratic Party debate stage – a Progressive Republican who sometimes liked to “speak softly, and carry a big stick.” Did you notice him?

“When I say that I am for the square deal,” said the politician, “I mean not merely that I stand for fair play under the present rules of the...

Young LGBT Americans are more politically engaged than the rest of Generation Z

Written by Melissa Deckman, Professor of Political Science, Washington College

Young LGBT Americans score higher on political engagement surveys.Ink Drop/shutterstock.com

Last year’s midterm elections were a “rainbow wave,” with more openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people elected to public office than at any other time in American history.

According to the Victory Fund, a PAC that supports LGBT...

I went on a Voodoo pilgrimage in Haiti

Written by Guilberly Louissaint, Anthropology Ph.d Student, University of California, Irvine

Haiti's black saint known as Grann Sainte Anne Charitable in her European Catholic form and Ti Saint Anne, in Vodoo form.Guilberly Louissaint, CC BY

In July, hundreds of pilgrims will make their way to an isolated town in the northwest of Haiti, called Anse-à-Foleur or Ansafolè. The journey celebrates a black saint known as Gran'n...

Ack! I need chocolate! The science of PMS food cravings

Written by Sara Twogood, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Southern California

What makes chips and chocolate so appealing at certain times of the month?Ken Tannenbaum/Shutterstock.com

Premenstrual food cravings are the punchline of endless jokes. Like most good jokes, they’re funny because they’re true.

Certain parts of a woman’s menstrual cycle do seem to go hand in hand with the desire for chocolate ice...

After Supreme Court decision, gerrymandering fix is up to voters

Written by John Rennie Short, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The Supreme Court is empty days before the justices vote to on the U.S. gerrymandering case.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

In a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court has ruled that partisan gerrymandering is not unconstitutional.

The majority ruled that gerrymandering is outside the scope and power of the federal courts to adjudicate. The issue is a...

Supreme Court says gerrymandering fix up to voters, not judges

Written by John Rennie Short, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The Supreme Court is empty days before the justices vote to on the U.S. gerrymandering case.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

In a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court has ruled that partisan gerrymandering is not unconstitutional.

The majority ruled that gerrymandering is outside the scope and power of the federal courts to adjudicate. The issue is a...

The Flores settlement: A 1985 case that sets the rules for how government can treat migrant children

Written by Kevin Johnson, Dean and Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies, University of California, Davis

Migrant children outside a temporary shelter for unaccompanied children in Florida, May 2019.AP/Wilfredo Lee

What are the basic rules that determine how immigrant children are treated in U.S. immigration detention?

The Trump administration’s detention of migrant children in poor conditions along the U.S./Mexico border has repeatedly raised...

Why lead is dangerous, and the damage it does

Written by Christopher P. Holstege, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Virginia

Two house painters in hazmat suits remove lead paint from an old house. Jamie Hooper/Shutterstock.com

Everything is a toxin, or has the potential to be, in the field of toxicology. In the 1500s, Swiss physician Paracelsus, the father of toxicology, coined his famous dictum: “What is there that is not poison? All things are poison and nothing...

I've started acknowledging the people who lived on this land first – and you should too

Written by Chip Colwell, Lecturer on Anthropology, University of Colorado Denver

It's unlikely your ancestors were the first to set foot here.Fred Harvey, Kansas City/ Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

In Toronto, before singing “O Canada,” students and teachers in public schools begin their day by acknowledging that they are on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Haundenosaunee Confederacy...