The Conversation

Restaurants pledged to make kids’ meals healthier – but the data show not much has changed

Written by Alyssa Moran, Sc.D. candidate in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University

An All-American meal.Cropped from firsttubedotcom/flickr, CC BY

Chain restaurants are not known for serving up healthy kids’ meals. Most entrees on a kids’ menu are either fried, breaded or doused in cheese. Fresh fruits and vegetables are rare side dish options, and French fries abound.

Looking at nutritional content alone, some drinks...

Pay people to stop smoking? It works, especially in vulnerable groups

Written by Stephen Higgins, Professor, Director of the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health, University of Vermont

A file photo from 2013 shows a woman smoking a cigaretteDave Martin/AP Photo

Cigarette smoking in the U.S. has dropped dramatically since the landmark publication of the 1964 U.S. Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health. This has led to improved health for millions of Americans.

Those reductions, however, are unevenly distributed....

Why threats to get votes for health law are more workplace bullying than political tactics

Written by Joan Cook, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University

President Trump arrived at the Capitol with HHS Secretary Tom Price on March 21 to warn representatives that they could lose their jobs if they do not vote in favor of the health care law. Scott Applewhite/AP

In an effort to pass the health care law, Donald Trump placed intense political pressure on members of the House, even telling one key...

Republicans fumble ACA repeal: Expert reaction

Written by Richard Arenberg, Visiting Lecturer in Political Science and International and Public Policy, Brown University

Editor’s note: The fight didn’t last long. Moments before a scheduled vote on March 24, House Speaker Paul Ryan pulled the bill that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act. It was a surprisingly swift defeat for a legislative priority talked up by Republicans since the day Obamacare first passed. We asked congressional scholars...

Essential health benefits suddenly at center of health care debate, but what are they?

Written by Simon Haeder, Assistant Professor of Political Science, West Virginia University

Lisa Schwetschenau, who has multiple sclerosis, shown in a photo in Omaha, Nebraska on March 16. She worries that she could lose some of her essential health benefits under the new proposed health care law.Nati Harnik/AP

Republicans have tirelessly campaigned to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a conservative, market-based...

America can't be first without Europe

Written by Earl Anthony Wayne, Visiting Professor of International Affairs, Hamilton College

On March 25, European Union leaders celebrate the 60th anniversary of their founding treaty, a central pillar of the structure set up in the aftermath of World War II to solidify peace, prosperity and partnership in Europe.

Over the last 60 years, the EU (and its predecessors) has served as an essential U.S. partner: for example, by enhancing...

Dangers of the witch hunt in Washington

Written by Peter Neal Peregrine, Professor of Anthropology and Museum Studies, Lawrence University

FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers at hearing on allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

As an anthropologist, I know that all groups of people use informal practices of social control in day-to-day interactions. Controlling disruptive...

Want to end TB? Diagnose and treat all forms of the disease

Written by Lauren Carruth, Assistant Professor, School of International Service, American University School of International Service

Tuberculosis should be a specter of the past, something only our great-grandparents feared and died of. Alas, although almost all cases of TB today are both preventable and treatable, several different strains and manifestations of the disease still sicken and kill millions of people every year.

Global tuberculosis interventions are usually tied...

What the Heaven's Gate suicides say about American culture

Written by Ben Zeller, Associate Professor of Religion, Lake Forest College

Heaven’s Gate – also known as the “UFO cult” – burst into American consciousness 20 years ago this month, when, on March 26, 1997, law enforcement discovered 39 decomposing bodies in a San Diego, California mansion.

Each detail that emerged from the scene stunned a rapt public: Adherents had committed suicide in waves...

London attack: Terrorism expert explains three threats of jihadism in the West

Written by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, Research Director of the Program on Extremism, George Washington University

Details about the man who attacked the British Parliament on March 22, identified by London police as British national Khalid Masood, are still emerging. With three victims confirmed dead, the attack is the worst in London since the July 7, 2005 bombings on the London transport system.

A day after the attack, the Islamic State media organization...