The Conversation

Don't expect professors to get fired when they say something you don't like

Written by Frank LoMonte, Director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, University of Florida

Public university professors enjoy great protections when it comes to free speech.Lightspring/www.shutterstock.com

A college professor lashes out on social media with a caustic political opinion. Online commentators explode with outrage and demand firings.

Does the university stand behind the instructor and accept a reputational beating? It depends...

Making a cleaner, greener, environmentally safe sunscreen

Written by Yousong Ding, Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Florida

Ingredients in many sunscreens are bleaching coral and harming marine life.www.shutterstock.com

As the temperatures rise and Americans swarm to the beach, they slather on sunscreen to protect against the sun’s harmful UV radiation that causes skin cancer. As they splash and swim, few give thought to whether the chemicals in the lotions and...

Spotting the political calculus behind some acts of corporate charity

Written by Raymond Fisman, Slater Family Professor in Behavioral Economics, Boston University

Charitable gifts may do double duty when politics is in the picture.jefftakespics2/Shutterstock.com

Over the past few years, I have teamed up with fellow economists Marianne Bertrande, Matilde Bombardini and Francesco Trebbi to look into one underappreciated way that businesses may attempt to influence politicians: corporate philanthropy.

We found...

Is air pollution making you sick? 4 questions answered

Written by Richard E. Peltier, Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Morning smog in New Delhi, India.AP Photo/Manish Swarup

Not a day seems to go by without a story of an “airpocalypse,” usually somewhere in a developing nation. It’s hard not to empathize with the people in the smoggy images of New Delhi or Ulaanbataar or Kathmandu, often wearing masks, walking to school or work though soupy...

Most successful entrepreneurs are older than you think

Written by Benjamin F. Jones, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy, J. L. Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Many associate entrepreneurship with youth – like Mark Zuckerberg, who famously started Facebook as a student at Harvard.AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File

The romanticized image of entrepreneurs is a picture of youth: a 20-something individual with disruptive ideas, boundless energy and a still-sharp mind. Silicon Valley has bet on this image for...

Redefining 'impact' so research can help real people right away, even before becoming a journal article

Written by Anne Toomey, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and Science, Pace University

Park guards view maps and photos of high-altitude glaciers -- information that can be shared with local communities dealing with changing water levels. Anne Toomey, CC BY-ND

Scientists are increasingly expected to produce research with impact that goes beyond the confines of academia. When funding organizations such as the National Science...

Touch forms the foundation of the powerful human-horse relationship

Written by Keri Brandt Off, Professor of Sociology and Gender and Sexuality Studies, Fort Lewis College

The unique bond between humans and horses is explored in the film 'Lean on Pete.' A24 Films

Two recent films, “Lean on Pete” and “The Rider,” explore the transformative quality of human-horse relationships. Both films center on young men: One deals with the trauma of poverty and loneliness, the other struggles to rebuild...

Should we celebrate Karl Marx on his 200th birthday?

Written by Barbara Foley, Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies, Rutgers University Newark

Karl Marx Monument in Chemnitz, in eastern Germany.AP Photo/Jens Meyer

Some would argue that Karl Marx, author of “Capital,” has been proven wrong on just about everything he wrote. The founder of scientific socialism was born 200 years ago on May 5.

These naysayers would point out that Soviet socialism imploded decades ago, and that...

What is full employment? An economist explains the latest jobs data

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State University

Jobs a-plenty.AP Photo/Danny Johnston

The latest jobs report has gotten a lot of analysts, policymakers and talking heads once again asking whether the U.S. is at full employment.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on May 4 that the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent, which is the lowest level since December 2000. The unemployment rate...

Dead zones are a global water pollution challenge – but with sustained effort they can come back to life

Written by Donald Scavia, Professor Emeritus of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan

Blooms of algae, like this growth in 2015 in Lake St. Clair between Michigan and Ontario, promote the formation of dead zones.NASA Earth Observatory, CC BY

Scientists have identified a dead zone as large as Florida in the Gulf of Oman, which connects the Arabian Sea to the Persian Gulf. Around the world there are more than 400 current dead zones in...