The Conversation

Most Americans don't realize what companies can predict from their data

Written by Emilee Rader, Associate Professor of Media and Information, Michigan State University

What does your phone know about you?Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com

Sixty-seven percent of smartphone users rely on Google Maps to help them get to where they are going quickly and efficiently.

A major of feature of Google Maps is its ability to predict how long different navigation routes will take. That’s possible because the mobile phone of...

A rational checklist is no match for emotions in matters of the heart

Written by Karen Wu, Assistant Professor of Psychology, California State University, Los Angeles

Your cold, hard list is no match for hot emotions.Glenn Carstens-Peters/Unsplash, CC BY

For many people, there are few things more rewarding than crossing an item off a checklist. But what if the checklist is about your dream partner? And what if the checklist is wrong?

“Relationshopping” is when you hunt for the perfect partner as if...

How to say 'I'm sorry,' whether you've appeared in a racist photo, harassed women or just plain screwed up

Written by Lisa Leopold, Associate Professor of English Language Studies, The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Middlebury

“I’m sorry.”

These two words may seem simple, but the ability to express them when you’re in the wrong is anything but – particularly for those in the public eye.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, to name a recent example, was forced to apologize after his 1984 medical school yearbook page resurfaced showing two unnamed...

Your relationship may be better than you think – find the knot

Written by Gary W. Lewandowski Jr., Professor of Psychology, Monmouth University

It's worth focusing on the dealmakers not just dealbreakers.Billion Photos/Shutterstock.com

There’s an old saying, “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” In other words, before you give up, take matters into your own hands and try a little harder.

As a psychology researcher, I believe this adage...

Why Venezuela's oil money could keep undermining its economy and democracy

Written by Scott Morgenstern, Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh

A sculpture of an oil pump held by a human hand stands outside the headquarters of Venezuela's state-owned oil company.AP Photo/Fernando Llano

As political and economic crises threaten to topple Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, political scientists like us are not surprised that he has run into trouble.

Instead, we see Venezuela as...

How bankruptcy can help USA Gymnastics and the Boy Scouts compensate more survivors

Written by Pamela Foohey, Associate Professor of Law, Indiana University

Tom Stewart fought to bring the sexual abuse that he endured as a Boy Scout to light. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

USA Gymnastics and the Boy Scouts of America sex abuse scandals have rocked communities nationwide. Revelations regarding decades of the sexual abuse of children and long-running institutional failures to stop it are raising questions about...

Florence Knoll Bassett's mid-century design diplomacy

Written by Margaret Re, Associate Professor of Graphic Design, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Architect and designer Florence Knoll Bassett poses with her dog, Cartree, in this photograph circa 1950.Courtesy Knoll Archive

The look, feel and functionality of the modern American office can be traced back to the work of one woman.

Florence Knoll Bassett, whom Architectural Record called the “single most powerful figure in modern...

A revolution in a sentence – the future of human spaceflight in America

Written by John M. Horack, Neil Armstrong Chair and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University

“This year, American astronauts will go back to space in American rockets.”

This one sentence from the 2019 State of the Union address may have escaped your notice. It ended a paragraph in which the president paid tribute to astronaut Buzz Aldrin of the Apollo 11 mission to mark the the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. From...

US astronauts will soon fly again in American spacecraft - but not NASA's

Written by John M. Horack, Neil Armstrong Chair and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University

“This year, American astronauts will go back to space in American rockets.”

López Obrador clashes with courts after vowing 'poverty' for Mexican government

Written by Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong

López Obrader wants to cut salaries for all government workers in Mexico, including himself.AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

It’s rare for presidents to advocate for poverty, but that’s just what Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is doing.

At a press conference on Feb. 1, López Obrador said his...