The Conversation

In ‘bamboo diplomacy,’ late Vietnam leader Nguyen Phu Trong left a path for smaller nations to navigate great-power rivalries

Written by Jorge Heine, Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University

Nguyen Phu Trong addresses Communist Party deputies in Hanoi in 2006.Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP via Getty Images)

As a rule, the U.S. secretary of state does not attend the funeral of the general secretary of a Communist party.

Yet that is exactly what Washington’s top diplomat, Antony Blinken, had planned to do for the last rites of Nguyen Phu Trong,...

Democratic Party’s choice of Harris was undemocratic − and the latest evidence of party leaders distrusting party voters

Written by Daniel Klinghard, Professor of Political Science, College of the Holy Cross

Kamala Harris, at her first public appearance since President Joe Biden endorsed her to be the next Democratic Party presidential nominee.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Could the primary system – a feature of presidential politics for more than 50 years – be weakened by the Democrats’ choice to elevate Vice President Kamala Harris to the...

I researched the dark side of social media − and heard the same themes in ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

Written by Angeline Close Scheinbaum, Associate Professor of Marketing, Clemson University

As an expert in consumer behavior, I recently edited a book about how social media affects mental health.

I’m also a big fan of Taylor Swift.

So when I listened to Swift’s latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” I couldn’t help but notice parallels to the research that I’ve been studying for the past...

AIs encode language like brains do − opening a window on human conversations

Written by Zaid Zada, Ph.D. Candidate in Psychology, Princeton University

When two people converse, their brain activity becomes coupled, or aligned.designer491/iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

Language enables people to transmit thoughts to each other because each person’s brain responds similarly to the meaning of words. In our newly published research, my colleagues and I developed a framework to model...

Gov. Josh Shapiro has a reputation for getting things done in Pennsylvania – but not necessarily things all Democrats like

Written by Daniel J. Mallinson, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Administration, Penn State

Josh Shapiro's political ambitions were clear since his college days.Hannah Beier/Getty Images

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s place on the short list of potential Democratic vice presidential nominees has vaulted him to a national profile. That’s not surprising to someone like me who follows Pennsylvania politics closely.

Shapiro is no...

‘House of the Dragon’ was inspired by the chaos of the Middle Ages, a world without law and order

Written by David Routt, Adjunct Professor of History, University of Richmond

Daemon Targaryen, played by Matt Smith, finds himself in the middle of an internecine struggle between two warring families.Ollie Upton/HBO

Students in my medieval history courses often wonder whether historical reality can be gleaned from medieval cinematic fantasy.

I tell them that fantasy does not aspire to historical verisimilitude. But it can...

Psilocybin legislation is helping psychedelic drugs make a comeback – a drug researcher explains the challenges they face

Written by Benjamin Y. Fong, Drug Researcher and Honors Faculty Fellow, Arizona State University

Psilocybin mushrooms have been approved for therapeutic use in Oregon and Colorado.The Washington Post via Getty Images

An operations manager finds relief from her depression with the help of psilocybin, the primary psychoactive component of “magic mushrooms.” A veteran conquers his post-traumatic stress disorder through therapy using...

Trump supporters wasted no time in claiming Kamala Harris is ineligible to be president, but they’re wrong

Written by Charlie Hunt, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Boise State University

Opponents of the presidential bids of both Kamala Harris and Barack Obama falsely asserted they weren't legally qualified to be president.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

You may have heard the rumor that Kamala Harris isn’t eligible to be president because neither of her parents was born in the United States and they had unclear citizenship...

CAPTCHAs: The struggle to tell real humans from fake

Written by Tam Nguyen, Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Dayton

It's not easy for computers to tell humans from other computers posing as humans.Andrii Shelenkov/Stock via Getty Images

CAPTCHAs are those now ubiquitous challenges you encounter to prove that you’re a human and not a bot when you go to log in to many websites.

Websites and mobile apps have long been attacked by bots on a massive scale. Those...

The French baron who revived the Olympics believed they were more than sport – they were a religion of perfection and peace

Written by Jeffrey Scholes, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Athletes line up for a 100-meter race at the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens.Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, always envisioned the Games as much more than the sum of their parts. “Olympism,” as he coined it, was a new type of religion – one shorn of gods, yet...