The Conversation

Why cuts in funding for UN, climate change research imperil fight against malaria

Written by Julio Frenk, President, University of Miami

Mosquitoes could expand their reach if money for climate change research is cut. Centers for Disease Control.

Diseases don’t stop at borders. On World Malaria Day, this is especially important to understand and to consider.

We’ve been fighting malaria for decades, and yet it still claimed nearly half a million lives in 2015. About 70...

What the Trump team should consider before axing Meals on Wheels funds

Written by David Campbell, Associate Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York

To justify President Donald Trump’s aim to spend less on social services, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney declared, “We can’t spend money on programs just because they sound good.” Who can argue with that?

Not us.

Like anyone else, we want our taxpayer dollars spent wisely. Funding programs that...

For restaurants looking to boost profits, it's often about everything but the food

Written by Frank T. McAndrew, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology, Knox College

Lighting, layout and music can determine whether you'll be grabbing a quick bite or staying a while.'Diners' via www.shutterstock.com

Staying one step ahead of the competition in the hypercompetitive restaurant industry requires more than simply tinkering with the menu. Serving tasty food doesn’t do much good if customers don’t stay...

Can we design a better fuel economy label?

Written by Adrian R. Camilleri, Lecturer in Marketing, RMIT University

Everyone looks for price, but there are smarter ways to communicate fuel efficiency on car labels. Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock.com

Transportation contributes approximately 26 percent to greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, governments around the world are looking for ways to increase consumers’ use of fuel-efficient vehicles. One of the most...

Does cooperating with ICE harm local police? What the research says

Written by Patria de Lancer Julnes, Director, School of Public Affairs, and Professor of Public Administration, Harrisburg campus, Pennsylvania State University

An ICE operation in Los Angeles, Feb. 7, 2017.Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP

Police need public cooperation.

The police rely on the public to report and help solve crimes. This is especially true now that police departments face budget cuts and increasing demands on their time – an environment that pressures...

How statistical thinking should shape the courtroom

Written by Daniel J. Denis, Associate Professor of Quantitative Psychology, The University of Montana

Courtroom decisions are more like a game of chance than you may think.Cropped from aerust/flickr, CC BY

The probabilistic revolution first kicked off in the 1600s, when gamblers realized that estimating the likelihood of an event could give them an edge in games of chance.

Today, statistics has become the dominant way to communicate scientific...

Making robots that can work with their hands

Written by Taskin Padir, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University

A NASA Valkyrie robot picks up an item with its hand.Northeastern University, CC BY-NC

It’s quite common for humans – especially those who work in manufacturing – to tie a knot, strip the casing off a cable, insert a pin in a hole or use a hand tool such as a drill. They may seem like simple tasks, but are really very complex and...

Trump's fiery brand of populism gets a makeover in first 100 days

Written by Charles Hankla, Associate Professor of Political Science, Georgia State University

How can we make sense of the economic policy roller-coaster ride of Donald Trump’s first 100 days as president?

Trump’s statements soon after taking office made many hope (or fear) that a new form of populism had become the guiding ideology of the White House. But a dizzying series of reversals in recent weeks has led others to...

Trump's brand of economic populism gets a makeover in first 100 days

Written by Charles Hankla, Associate Professor of Political Science, Georgia State University

How can we make sense of the economic policy roller-coaster ride of Donald Trump’s first 100 days as president?

Surprise! Round one of the French presidential election went pretty much as expected

Written by Mabel Berezin, Professor of Sociology, Cornell University

First-round winners: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.AP/Christophe Ena (Macron)/Michel Spingler (Le Pen)

The votes are mostly counted in the first round of the French presidential election.

Marine Le Pen of the French far right National Front has received 21.5 percent of the vote. Emmanuel Macron, an independent candidate running on the slogan...