The Conversation

Personality tests with deep-sounding questions provide shallow answers about the 'true' you

Written by Randy Stein, Assistant Professor of Marketing, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

A quirky quiz probably isn't going to tell you much about your innermost essence.StunningArt/Shutterstock.com

Have you ever clicked on a link like “What does your favorite animal say about you?” wondering what your love of hedgehogs reveals about your psyche? Or filled out a personality assessment to gain new understanding into whether...

How Stacey Abrams' 'black girl magic' turned Georgia a bit more blue

Written by Sharon Austin, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of African American Studies, University of Florida

Abrams savors her victory.AP Photo/John Bazemore

On May 22, 2018, Stacey Abrams, an African-American, 44-year-old former attorney, Georgia General Assembly House minority leader and Yale Law graduate beat former attorney white Georgia state legislator Stacey Evans in the Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary. While the race was hard-fought, the...

Wall Street regulations need a facelift, not a minor Dodd-Frank makeover

Written by Jena Martin, Professor of Law, West Virginia University

Wall Street needs a new face.AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

Republicans finally managed to roll back some of the Wall Street regulations passed by Congress in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis after years of trying.

While it wasn’t a full repeal as some had hoped, it’s the first legislative overhaul since the Dodd-Frank Act became law...

What are these 'levels' of autonomous vehicles?

Written by Huei Peng, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan

What can this car do on its own, and what does it still need human help with?AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

As automated and autonomous vehicles become more common on U.S. roads, it’s worth a look at what these machines can – and can’t – do. At the University of Michigan’s Mcity, where I serve as director, we’re working...

The right-wing origins of the Jerusalem soccer team that wants to add 'Trump' to its name

Written by Tamir Sorek, Professor of Sociology, University of Florida

Throughout its storied history, the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team has won 13 state titles.AP Photo/Ariel Schalit

In a nod of appreciation to Donald Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, the Israeli soccer club Beitar Jerusalem announced that it would like to change its name to Beitar “Trump” Jerusalem.

The...

Farmers and cropdusting pilots on the Great Plains worried about pesticide risks before 'Silent Spring'

Written by David Vail, Assistant Professor of History, University of Nebraska – Kearney

Gavin Baker

It is easy to frame conservation as a clash between environmentalists and polluters. But this view can greatly oversimplify many complex choices. What does conservation look like when ideas about nature cut across political lines?

In my book, “Chemical Lands: Pesticides, Aerial Spraying and Health in North America’s...

As more solar and wind come onto the grid, prices go down but new questions come up

Written by Joachim Seel, Scientific Engineering Associate, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Solar lowers prices and shifts when daily peak demand hours are.Duke Energy, CC BY-NC-ND

Wind and solar energy are growing rapidly in the U.S. As these energy sources become a bigger part of the electricity mix, their growth raises new questions: How do solar and wind influence energy prices? And since power plants last for decades, what should...

Why we need to rethink how to teach the Holocaust

Written by Alan Marcus, Associate Professor, University of Connecticut

Photos and history of Holocaust victims frame the ceiling of the Hall of Names at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.White House photo by Chris Greenberg

A recent national survey reported that millennials are struggling with their knowledge of the Holocaust. The survey results show that 22 percent of millennials have not heard of, or...

HIV lies dormant in brain, increasing risk of dementia, but how?

Written by Doug Miller, PhD Candidate, University of Florida

HIV becomes dormant in the body and can hide in brain cells. Joseph Lebowitz, Dr. Min Lin, and Dr. Habibeh Khoshboue, CC BY-SA

The HIV virus, which causes AIDS, has long been known to target and disable cells of the immune system, which are responsible for fighting off invading microorganisms and for suppressing malignant cancers. More recently,...

The Standard Model of particle physics: The absolutely amazing theory of almost everything

Written by Glenn Starkman, Distinguished University Professor of Physics, Case Western Reserve University

How does our world work on a subatomic level?Varsha Y S, CC BY-SA

The Standard Model. What dull name for the most accurate scientific theory known to human beings.

More than a quarter of the Nobel Prizes in physics of the last century are direct inputs to or direct results of the Standard Model. Yet its name suggests that if you can afford a few...