The Conversation

Three ways you can just say no to antibiotic drug abuse

Written by Debra A. Goff, Clinical Associate Professor of Pharmacy, The Ohio State University

Woman resisting pills. Via Shutterstock.From www.shutterstock.com,

Nevada officials in January reported the death of a woman from an infection resistant to every antibiotic available in the U.S, the type of news we will likely hear more about in the future unless health care providers and consumers change their ways.

A high-level report in 2014...

For endangered species, the road to recovery can be winding and bumpy

Written by Peter Alagona, Associate Professor of History, Geography and Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

Bald eagles are the best-known example of a successful recovery under the Endangered Species Act.Jerry McFarland/Flickr, CC BY-NC

Anyone who has ever undergone a medical procedure knows that it’s tough to say when you’re fully recovered. The doctor claims you’ll be up and around in three hours, but three days later you feel worse...

How Florida is helping train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals

Written by Sri Sridharan, Managing Director, Florida Center for Cybersecurity, University of South Florida

Students via shutterstock.com

Our increasingly connected and digital world is vulnerable to attack and needs more skilled professionals who know how to defend it. As connected devices proliferate, particularly smart devices creating what has been called the “Internet of Things,” the problem is getting worse. In 2016, there were 6.4...

What's gone wrong in the seven countries Trump included in his ban? Essential reads

Written by Emily Costello, Senior Editor, Politics + Society, The Conversation

Syrian children remove rubble Aleppo, Syria.AP Photo/Hassan Ammar

Editor’s note: The following is a roundup of archival stories related to Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Libya and Somalia.

Last week, President Trump signed an executive order temporarily banning citizens from seven countries from entering the U.S. and indefinitely banning...

How Tolstoy’s 'War and Peace' can inspire those who fear Trump’s America

Written by Ani Kokobobo, Assistant Professor of Russian Literature, University of Kansas

A Soviet-era stamp depicts a scene from Leo Tolstoy's 'War and Peace.'Wikimedia Commons

As a professor of Russian literature, I couldn’t help but notice that comedian Aziz Ansari was inadvertently channeling novelist Leo Tolstoy when he claimed that “change doesn’t come from presidents” but from “large groups of angry...

For indigenous communities, fish mean much more than food

Written by Yoshitaka Ota, Director (Policy), Nippon Foundation-UBC Nereus Program and Senior Research Associate, University of British Columbia

Along the arid coastline of northwestern Mexico, indigenous Seri communities, who first resisted Spanish rule and then Mexican extermination efforts, eventually gained formal titles over a small part of their ancestral coastal and marine territories. The ocean has always sustained their livelihood, but now they must contend with outside competition...

How distrust of unbelievers runs deep in American history

Written by Leigh E. Schmidt, Distinguished University Professor in the Humanities, Washington University in St Louis

A new megachurch movement is drawing crowds on the basis of belief in nonbelief.AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama recently raised eyebrows during his confirmation hearing for attorney general when he expressed doubts that secular people respected the truth as much as did those with religious convictions. Even as he insisted...

How anti-LGBT laws foster a culture of exclusion that harms states' economic prosperity

Written by George B. Cunningham, Professor and Associate Dean, Texas A&M University

When it comes to “bathroom bills” and other legislation that curtails the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals, North Carolina was a first actor. But, if some lawmakers have their way, many states, and even the federal government, will quickly follow suit.

So far this year, 11 states have proposed legislat...

It's pedal to the metal for driverless cars

Written by William Messner, John R. Beaver Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Tufts University

An NVIDIA-powered Audi needs no driver.AP Photo/John Locher

When a May 2016 crash killed the person operating a Tesla Model S driving in Autopilot mode, advocates of autonomous vehicles feared a slowdown in development of self-driving cars.

Instead the opposite has occurred. In August, Ford publicly committed to field self-driving cars by 2021. In...

Do Americans want to buy 'smart' guns?

Written by Lacey Wallace, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, Pennsylvania State University

Recently legislators and special interest groups have pushed for greater availability of “smart” guns as a safety and crime-reduction tool. Then-President Barack Obama called for more research into “smart” gun technology in January 2016, and that April issued a memorandum calling for government-led research into smart guns...