The Conversation

Behind closed doors: What the Piltdown Man hoax from 1912 can teach science today

Written by Samuel Redman, Assistant Professor of History, University of Massachusetts Amherst

When new discoveries are jealously guarded under lock and key, science suffers.Andy Wright, CC BY

In 1912, Charles Dawson, an amateur archaeologist in England, claimed he’d made one of the most important fossil discoveries ever. Ultimately, however, his “Piltdown Man” proved to be a hoax. By cleverly pairing a human skull with an...

More and more restaurants list calories on their menus. What about salt?

Written by Alyssa Moran, Sc.D. candidate in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University

Do you know how much salt is in your food?Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA

Which do you think has more salt: a Panera Bread wild blueberry scone or a large order of Burger King french fries?

Starting May 5, restaurants and food stores across the U.S. were going to be required to include calorie counts on their menus. The Trump administration has delayed calorie...

Rewriting NAFTA has serious implications beyond just trade

Written by Jessica Trisko Darden, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, American University School of International Service

President Donald J. Trump has called the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) our “worst trade deal.”

After flip-flopping between scrapping NAFTA altogether and saying that the agreement required only tweaks, President Trump is trying to force a renegotiation of a deal that supports three million American jobs.

While this may seem...

What makes Kim Jong Un tick?

Written by Stephen Benedict Dyson, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut

Kim Jong Un is a “smart cookie,” President Donald Trump said recently of North Korea’s leader.

“He’s 27 years old,” Trump mused. “His father dies, [he] took over a regime. So say what you want but that is not easy.”

Kim, who has assassinated his internal rivals using anti-aircraft guns and chemical...

How did health insurance get so complicated? Here are some answers

Written by J.B. Silvers, Professor of Health Finance, Case Western Reserve University

Rep. Fred Upton, left, (R-Mich.) and Rep. Greg Waldon (R-Ore.) outside the White House on May 3, 2017, after meeting with Pres. Trump to discuss the heath care law. Susan Walsh/AP

With the passage of the Republicans’ health care act, the House of Representatives seems to be saying that coming up with a plan to insure Americans really...

The future is in interactive storytelling

Written by Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Professor of Computational Media, University of California, Santa Cruz

Seeking to make stories that surround us.'Screen,' by Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Robert Coover, Shawn Greenlee, Andrew McClain, and Ben "Sascha" Shine, CC BY-ND

Marvel’s new blockbuster, “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2,” carries audiences through a narrative carefully curated by the film’s creators. That’s also what...

How funding to house mentally ill, homeless is a financial gain, not drain

Written by Carol Caton, Professor of Sociomedical Sciences (Psychiatry and Public Health), Columbia University Medical Center

A director of a supportive housing center in Bronx, New York, talks with a resident and case worker in December 2015. Bebeto Matthews/AP

As Congress considers the federal budget proposal for fiscal year 2018 to reduce funding for services to poor and homeless Americans, programs with proven cost-effectiveness should not be on the chopping block....

Anti-terror rules are blocking aid to conflict zones

Written by Sabith Khan, Visiting Researcher, Georgetown University

Rules imposed after the 9/11 attacks can obstruct aid to Somalia's internally displaced people.Omar Abdisalan/AMISOM Photo

The famines looming in countries like war-torn Yemen and Somalia and the conflicts entrenched in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere are making it hard for aid workers to reach everyone who desperately needs help. However, U.S....

Heroes and American politics

Written by Bruce Peabody, Professor of American Politics, Fairleigh Dickinson University

www.shutterstock.com

Who counts as a hero in the 21st century?

How is heroism adapting to an age of nonstop news, hyper-partisanship and intense political scrutiny?

Research I recently conducted with my colleague Krista Jenkins focuses on the evolving profile and significance of U.S. heroism over the past century.

After examining decades of survey...

Helping student activists move past 'us vs. them'

Written by Steven Fesmire, Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies, Green Mountain College

High school and college students protested Trump's inauguration at Seattle Central College in January.AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

Protest turned violent on the Berkeley and Middlebury campuses; students shouted down speakers at MacMaster University and UCLA and blocked entry to a talk at Claremont McKenna: These are among the many recent incidents...