The Conversation

Infecting mosquitoes with bacteria so they can't infect us with viruses like Zika and dengue

Written by Michaela Schultz, Graduate Student in Biology, Boston University

Tiny bug, major disease spreader.Dr. Paul Howell, USCDCP

Mosquitoes and their itchy bites are more than just an annoyance. They transmit dangerous viruses with deadly consequences – making them the most lethal animal on Earth. It’s the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito species that are behind outbreaks of dengue virus, Zika...

Why Ramadan is called Ramadan: 6 questions answered

Written by Mohammad Hassan Khalil, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Muslim Studies Program, Michigan State University

Editor’s note: The Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan, starts Friday, May 27, 2017. Mohammad Hassan Khalil, associate professor of religious studies and director of the Muslim Studies Program at Michigan State University, answers six questions about the significance of this religious observance.

Why is Ramadan called Ramadan?

Ramadan is the...

New public database reveals striking differences in how guns are regulated from state to state

Written by Michael Siegel, Professor of Community Health Sciences, Boston University

Anti-gun protestors rally in Washington, D.C. in July 2016.Patsy Lynch/MediaPunch/IPX

From 2014 to 2015, the United States experienced its largest annual increase in firearm deaths over the past 35 years, a 7.8 percent upturn in a single year. In 45 of the 50 states the rate of overall deaths from firearms increased and the firearm homicide rate...

Trump, Saudi Arabia and yet another arms deal

Written by Russell E. Lucas, Director of Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities; Associate Professor of Arab Studies, Michigan State University

The Saudi king presents Trump with The Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud medal on May 20, 2017. AP Photo/Evan Vucci

The first stop on Donald Trump’s first trip as U.S. president was to Saudi Arabia.

That was no accident.

His decision was surely based on the fact that the alliance between Saudi Arabia and the United States is one of the foundations...

Want to support veterans? 4 tips for finding good charities

Written by Brian Mittendorf, Fisher College of Business Distinguished Professor of Accounting, The Ohio State University

Finding a well-run veterans' charity isn't hard with some due dilligence.www.shutterstock.com

On Memorial Day and throughout the year, many Americans honor those who have lost their lives in the line of duty by donating to charities that help military veterans. It can, however, be daunting to choose from the more than 8,000 such groups operating...

How do we know the millennial generation exists? Look at the data

Written by Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology, San Diego State University

Jean Twenge, Author provided

Cultures change, and new generations are born out of those changes. For many, this might sound obvious.

All you have to do is think about transporting a 25-year-old to 1965. Even after she got over the shock of losing her smartphone, she’d probably still be baffled. Why are so many women her age married with two...

What are software vulnerabilities, and why are there so many of them?

Written by Thomas Holt, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University

It's software: There's always a way in.BeeBright via shutterstock.com

The recent WannaCry ransomware attack spread like wildfire, taking advantage of flaws in the Windows operating system to take control of hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. But what exactly does that mean?

It can be useful to think of hackers as burglars and malicious...

With a tight federal budget, here's where to focus clean energy research funding

Written by Erin Baker, Professor of Industrial Engineering applied to Energy Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Checking the power output of a photovoltaic concentrator array built by Martin Marietta, Inc., at Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico.USDOE/Flickr

The U.S. Department of Energy spends US$3-$4 billion per year on applied energy research. These programs seek to provide clean and reliable energy and improve our energy security by...

6 reasons why stopping terrorism is so challenging

Written by Gary LaFree, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland

Counterterrorism officer at work in Times Square, New York. AP Photo/Kathy Willens

A January 2017 Pew survey showed that Americans rate terrorism as the top priority for the Trump administration and Congress. They put the issue ahead of the economy, education, jobs and health care costs.

For the past 12 years as Director of the National...

6 reasons why stopping worldwide terrorism is so challenging

Written by Gary LaFree, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland

Counterterrorism officer at work in Times Square, New York. AP Photo/Kathy Willens

For the past 12 years as Director of the National...