The Conversation

The hidden homelessness among America's high school students

Written by Stacey Havlik, Assistant Professor of Education and Counseling, Villanova University

In 2016, James Edwards, right, poses with fellow residents at the Plymouth Crossroads youth homeless residence in Lancaster, N.Y., as he prepares to leave for college. Edwards finished high school while homeless. AP/Carolyn Thompson

One in 30.

That’s what a new first-of-its-kind study found was the number of students ages 13 to 17 who have...

Should military men draft our nation's security strategy?

Written by Ingo Trauschweizer, Associate Professor of History; Director, Contemporary History Institute, Ohio University

Trump with National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, left, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, center.AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

President Donald Trump greeted the new year with an angry tweet about U.S. ally Pakistan.

Among other things, the tweet accuses Pakistan of giving “safe haven to terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan.” The...

Allowing mentally ill people to access firearms is not fueling mass shootings

Written by Miranda Lynne Baumann, Doctoral Candidate, Georgia State University

On a quiet Sunday last November, a young man wielding an assault-style weapon took aim at a church in rural Texas, killing 26 people.

In so doing, Devin Patrick Kelley added his name to an ever-growing list of American mass killers and forced the nation to grapple, once again, with gun violence. Kelley’s well-documented history of violence w...

Trust in digital technology will be the internet's next frontier, for 2018 and beyond

Written by Bhaskar Chakravorti, Senior Associate Dean, International Business & Finance, Tufts University

Trust in online systems varies around the world.Sergey Nivens/Shutterstock.com

After decades of unbridled enthusiasm – bordering on addiction – about all things digital, the public may be losing trust in technology. Online information isn’t reliable, whether it appears in the form of news, search results or user reviews. Social...

For richer or poorer: 4 economists ponder what 2018 has in store

Written by Greg Wright, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of California, Merced

At least one economist worries we'll be mostly poorer. AP Photo/Go Nakamura

Editor’s note: We asked four economists to offer their thoughts and insights on what they expect to be a key theme or issue in 2018.

The Gilded Age returns

Greg Wright, assistant professor of economics, University of California, Merced

Income and wealth inequality are...

Can road salt and other pollutants disrupt our circadian rhythms?

Written by Jennifer Marie Hurley, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Salting streets in Milwaukee.Michael Pereckas, CC BY-SA

Every winter, local governments across the United States apply millions of tons of road salt to keep streets navigable during snow and ice storms. Runoff from melting snow carries road salt into streams and lakes, and causes many bodies of water to have extraordinarily high salinity.

At...

Nikola Tesla: The extraordinary life of a modern Prometheus

Written by Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University

The inventor at rest, with a Tesla coil (thanks to a double exposure).Dickenson V. Alley, Wellcome Collection, CC BY

Match the following figures – Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Guglielmo Marconi, Alfred Nobel and Nikola Tesla – with these biographical facts:

Spoke eight languages
Produced the first motor that ran on AC current
Developed...

Why Puerto Rico's death toll from Hurricane Maria is so much higher than officials thought

Written by Alexis R. Santos-Lozada, Assistant Teaching Professor in Sociology and Director of Applied Demography, Pennsylvania State University

Hurricane Maria's destruction may have led to many hundreds more deaths than originally estimated.Ramon Espinosa/AP

“If you don’t get away from those areas, you are going to die.” That phrase concluded Puerto Rico Secretary of Public Safety Héctor Pesquera’s press conference before Hurricane Maria.

Three months after...

To get the most out of self-driving cars, tap the brakes on their rollout

Written by Jack Barkenbus, Visiting Scholar, Vanderbilt Institute for Energy & Environment, Vanderbilt University

It would be better if people weren't afraid of self-driving cars.mato181/Shutterstock.com

Every day about 100 people die in car crashes on U.S. roads. That death toll is a major reason why both Congress and the Trump administration are backing automotive efforts to develop and deploy self-driving cars as quickly as possible.

However,...

As you travel, pause and take a look at airport chapels

Written by Wendy Cadge, Professor of Sociology and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis University

Our Lady of the Airways Chapel, Logan Airport, Boston.Randall Armor, CC BY-NC-ND

Traveling in the new year? It is very likely there is a chapel or meditation room tucked away somewhere in one of the airports you’ll pass through. Sixteen of the country’s 20 largest airports have chapels, as do many more around the world.

I am a sociologis...