The Conversation

Trust in digital technology will be the internet's next frontier, for 2018 and beyond

Written by Bhaskar Chakravorti, Senior Associate Dean, International Business & Finance, Tufts University

Trust in online systems varies around the world.Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock.com

After decades of unbridled enthusiasm – bordering on addiction – about all things digital, the public may be losing trust in technology. Online information isn’t reliable, whether it appears in the form of news, search results or user reviews. Social...

For richer or poorer: 4 economists ponder what 2018 has in store

Written by Greg Wright, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of California, Merced

At least one economist worries we'll be mostly poorer. AP Photo/Go Nakamura

Editor’s note: We asked four economists to offer their thoughts and insights on what they expect to be a key theme or issue in 2018.

The Gilded Age returns

Greg Wright, assistant professor of economics, University of California, Merced

Income and wealth inequality are...

Can road salt and other pollutants disrupt our circadian rhythms?

Written by Jennifer Marie Hurley, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Salting streets in Milwaukee.Michael Pereckas, CC BY-SA

Every winter, local governments across the United States apply millions of tons of road salt to keep streets navigable during snow and ice storms. Runoff from melting snow carries road salt into streams and lakes, and causes many bodies of water to have extraordinarily high salinity.

At...

Nikola Tesla: The extraordinary life of a modern Prometheus

Written by Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University

The inventor at rest, with a Tesla coil (thanks to a double exposure).Dickenson V. Alley, Wellcome Collection, CC BY

Match the following figures – Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, Alfred Nobel and Nikola Tesla – with these biographical facts:

Spoke eight languages
Produced the first motor that ran on AC current
Developed...

Why Puerto Rico's death toll from Hurricane Maria is so much higher than officials thought

Written by Alexis R. Santos-Lozada, Assistant Teaching Professor in Sociology and Director of Applied Demography, Pennsylvania State University

Hurricane Maria's destruction may have led to many hundreds more deaths than originally estimated.Ramon Espinosa/AP

“If you don’t get away from those areas, you are going to die.” That phrase concluded Puerto Rico Secretary of Public Safety Héctor Pesquera’s press conference before Hurricane Maria.

Three months after...

To get the most out of self-driving cars, tap the brakes on their rollout

Written by Jack Barkenbus, Visiting Scholar, Vanderbilt Institute for Energy & Environment, Vanderbilt University

It would be better if people weren't afraid of self-driving cars.mato181/Shutterstock.com

Every day about 100 people die in car crashes on U.S. roads. That death toll is a major reason why both Congress and the Trump administration are backing automotive efforts to develop and deploy self-driving cars as quickly as possible.

However,...

As you travel, pause and take a look at airport chapels

Written by Wendy Cadge, Professor of Sociology and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis University

Our Lady of the Airways Chapel, Logan Airport, Boston.Randall Armor, CC BY-NC-ND

Traveling in the new year? It is very likely there is a chapel or meditation room tucked away somewhere in one of the airports you’ll pass through. Sixteen of the country’s 20 largest airports have chapels, as do many more around the world.

I am a sociologis...

What about young men who are having unwanted sex?

Written by Jessie Ford, PhD Student in Sociology, New York University

In the recent wave of sexual assault allegations, men tend to only appear as active perpetrators. But the landscape of sex in American culture is more nuanced.Arden_Panikk/Shutterstock.com

Time Magazine recently featured “The Silence Breakers” as its 2017 “Person of the Year,” a nod to the countless women who have come...

Novelty in science – real necessity or distracting obsession?

Written by Jalees Rehman, Associate Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Illinois at Chicago

It may take time for a tiny step forward to show its worth.ellissharp/Shutterstock.com

In a recent survey of over 1,500 scientists, more than 70 percent of them reported having been unable to reproduce other scientists’ findings at least once. Roughly half of the surveyed scientists ran into problems trying to reproduce their own results. No...

The gig economy may strengthen the 'invisible advantage' men have at work

Written by Hernán Galperin, Research Associate Professor of Communication, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Do women freelancers suffer the effects of 'male privilege'?Ryan Morse, CC BY-SA

Martin Schneider often got things done faster than a female colleague, Nicole Hallberg, who worked at the same small employment services agency. He figured this was because of his extra experience.

One day, however, a client suddenly began acting...