The Conversation

The surprising (and Long) story of the first use of ether in surgery

Written by Roger K. Thomas, Professor Emeritus, Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Georgia

An illustration of Crawford Long removing a tumor from the neck of James Venable. Crawford W. Long Museum, CC BY-SA

In the small town of Jefferson, Georgia, about 20 miles from the University of Georgia in Athens, a 26-year-old physician named Crawford Williamson Long removed a tumor from the neck of a man named James Venable while Venable was...

Fending off new Sackler money is easier for museums and schools than returning old gifts

Written by Terri Lynn Helge, Professor of Law, Texas A&M University

Anti-opioid protest at the Harvard Art Museums, which the Sackler family has supported with charitable gifts.Jon Shaffer, CC BY-SA

The state of Oklahoma has reached a settlement with drugmaker Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, for US$270 million to fund opioid addiction treatment.

This first of what could become a string of...

An unexpected pathway to treating neurodegenerative diseases

Written by Kenneth S. Kosik, Professor of Neuroscience, University of California, Santa Barbara

An MRI image of the brain.SpeedKingz/Shutterstock.com

Scientific success stories can sometimes occur when therapies being studied for one disease can be used to treat another.

In the case of the drug we have been studying in my lab, this is especially important because it could be used to develop a drug for Alzheimer’s. This cancer drug,...

How the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings turned baseball into a national sensation

Written by Robert Wyss, Professor of Journalism, University of Connecticut

A drawing from Harper's Weekly depicts a game between the Red Stockings and the Brooklyn Atlantics.New York Public Library

This Major League Baseball season, fans may notice a patch on the players’ uniforms that reads “MLB 150.”

The logo commemorates the Cincinnati Red Stockings, who, in 1869, became the first professional baseball...

Principle behind Google's April Fools' pigeon prank proves more than a joke

Written by Edward Wasserman, Professor of Experimental Psychology, University of Iowa

Consider the wisdom of the flock.Zac Ong/Unsplash, CC BY

Google’s 2002 April Fools’ Day joke purportedly disclosed that its popular search engine was not actually powered by artificial intelligence, but instead by biological intelligence. Google had deployed bunches of birds, dubbed pigeon clusters, to calculate the relative value of...

Extreme weather news may not change climate change skeptics' minds

Written by Ryan Weber, Associate Professor of English, University of Alabama in Huntsville

How do people respond to media coverage of weather influenced by climate change?AP Photo/Andy Newman

The year 2018 brought particularly devastating natural disasters, including hurricanes, droughts, floods and fires – just the kinds of extreme weather events scientists predict will be exacerbated by climate change.

Amid this destruction, some...

You'll hear these 4 arguments in defense of the Electoral College – here's why they're wrong

Written by Robert Speel, Associate Professor of Political Science, Erie campus, Pennsylvania State University

For the first time in the country’s modern history, the existence of the Electoral College has become a campaign issue.

Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren recently called for the abolition of the Electoral College, while other Democratic presidential candidates, including former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke and Sen. Kamala Harris,...

DOJ efforts to kill Obamacare, the cat with 9 lives, could cause health care havoc for millions

Written by J.B. Silvers, Professor of Health Finance, Weatherhead School of Management & School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announces legislation at the Capitol on March 26 to lower health care costs and protect people with pre-existing conditions.J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

If the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, were a cat, it would be just about out of its nine lives.

It is amazing that this law, which represented a sea...

Supreme Court to rule on use of religious symbols in war memorials

Written by Corey D. B. Walker, Visiting Professor, University of Richmond

The 40-foot Peace Cross dedicated to World War I soldiers.AP Photo/Kevin Wolf

The Supreme Court recently heard arguments in a case regarding the constitutional validity of a war memorial in Maryland in the shape of a Christian cross. The memorial is known as the Bladensburg Peace Cross and stands on government property. At issue in the case is a...

The science and politics of genetically engineered salmon: 5 questions answered

Written by Alison Van Eenennaam, Researcher, Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis

After decades of work, a salmon product engineered to grow faster may be coming to the U.S.Daniel Mennerich, CC BY-NC-ND

A Massachusetts-based company earlier this month cleared the last regulatory hurdle from the Food and Drug Administration to sell genetically engineered salmon in the U.S. Animal genomics expert Alison Van Eenennaam, who served...