The Conversation

Here’s why Trump’s new strategy to keep ailing coal and nuclear plants open makes no sense

Written by James Van Nostrand, Director, Center for Energy and Sustainable Development; Professor of Law, West Virginia University

The Indian Point nuclear power station outside New York City will be decommissioned by 2021. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

President Donald Trump recently ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take “immediate steps” to stop the closure of coal and nuclear power plants.

And according to a draft memo that surfaced the same day, the federal...

¿Igualdad de género? Para las mujeres en política esto no existe

Written by Virginia García Beaudoux, Professor of Political Communication and Public Opinion, University of Buenos Aires

Read in English.

Como experta en comunicación y género, mi trabajo me ha brindado la oportunidad de conocer y asesorar profesionalmente a casi un millar de mujeres líderes y políticas alrededor del mundo, desde la República Dominicana o Bolivia, hasta Honduras.

En América Latina, me compenetré con las...

California's jungle primary sets up polarized governor's race for November

Written by Thad Kousser, Professor of Political Science, University of California San Diego

Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at his campaign's night watch party in San Francisco.AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Voters who took part in California’s innovative and anti-party “jungle” primary delivered a typical and predictably partisan result in the governor’s race.

They sent Democratic Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom as the heavy...

Leyes de deportación de Trump dejan terribles huellas psicológicas en los migrantes

Written by Alejandra Rivera, Research Professor, Department of Psychology , Universidad Autonoma de la Ciudad de Mexico

Read in English.

En febrero de 2017 un hombre se suicidió en Tijuana. El joven de 25 años había sido deportado de los Estados Unidos y se arrojó de un puente vehicular en Tijuana, Baja California, a pocos kilómetros de la frontera Estados Unidos-México.

Este penoso caso demuestra la precariedad de las...

I want your (anonymized) social media data

Written by Anthony Sanford, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Washington

Balancing personal privacy with detailed insights.Dawn Hudson/Shutterstock.com

Social media sites’ responses to the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal and new European privacy regulations have given users much more control over who can access their data, and for what purposes. To me, as a social media user, these are positive developments:...

EPA staff say the Trump administration is changing their mission from protecting human health and the environment to protecting industry

Written by Chris Sellers, Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Study of Inequalities, Social Justice, and Policy, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)

Protesters at a rally on the state of the EPA organized by the American Federation of Government Employees union, April 25, 2018, in Washington, D.C. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The Environmental Protection Agency made news recently for excluding reporters from a “summit” meeting on chemical contamination in drinking water. Episodes like...

Why long-term separation from parents harms kids

Written by David Rosenberg, Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Wayne State University

Children are often sad when separated from their parents for a short time, but the effects are pronounced if the separation is long.Eakachai Lessin/Shutterstock.com

As a society, we often wax eloquent about how important it is to nurture, support and protect our children. The sad reality, however, is that all too often major, life-changing...

4 charts showing why putting tariffs on your friends is a bad idea

Written by William Hauk, Associate Professor of Economics, University of South Carolina

Don't forget your friends.AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Europeans, Canadians and Mexicans buy more American goods and services than anyone else in the world. So why would the Trump administration be willing to start a trade war with the United States’ most important trading partners – as well as some of its oldest allies?

The current dispute start...

Microplastics may heat marine turtle nests and produce more females

Written by Mariana Fuentes, Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University

Green sea turtle. Miroslav Halama/shutterstock.com

Have you ever considered that small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters long, or smaller than a pencil eraser head, called microplastics, can affect large marine vertebrates like sea turtles?

My research team first discovered this disturbing fact when we started to quantify the amount and type...

Why pregnant women with depression often slip through the cracks

Written by Tiffany Moore Simas, Associate Professor of Obstetrics-Gynecology and Pediatrics, University of Massachusetts Medical School

One in 7 women suffer depression around pregnancy.Lopolo/shutterstock.com

Judy’s first pregnancy was planned, and she was looking forward to having a baby. Yet, halfway through the pregnancy, something changed. She began to feel down and bad about herself. She had less energy and struggled to concentrate. Thinking this was a normal part of...