The Conversation

Here's how forests rebounded from Yellowstone's epic 1988 fires – and why that could be harder in the future

Written by Monica G. Turner, Professor of Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The 2016 Maple fire (photographed in July 2017) reburned young forests that had regenerated after the 1988 Yellowstone fires. More frequent high-severity fires are expected in the future as climate warms, which may change patterns of forest recovery.Monica Turner, CC BY-ND

This summer marks the 30th anniversary of the 1988 Yellowstone fires –...

Why McCain and all POWs deserve our profound respect and gratitude

Written by Joan Cook, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University

Sen. John McCain pictured at a rally Oct. 15, 2014 in Marietta, Georgia to support Senate candidate David Perdue, who was elected a few weeks later. John Amis/AP Photo

On Saturday, John McCain, the U.S. Republican senator from Arizona, a war hero and two-time presidential contender, died. As remembrances of him pour out, let us not focus on...

Fear of a Non-Nuclear Family

Written by Phillip Martin, Podcast host

In 1968 the “Norman Rockwell” picture of the American family – the husband as breadwinner, the stay-at-home wife and mother, two kids, a white picket fence – was still widely accepted as the ideal. But things were starting to change. The feminist movement was encouraging more women to enter the workforce and protest...

Red-state politics in and out of the college classroom

Written by Natasha Zaretsky, Associate Professor of History, Southern Illinois University

For two decades, I have taught U.S. women’s and gender history at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, a blue town in a blue state, marooned in an ocean of red.

Bordered by Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta and the Ozarks, Southern Illinois is surrounded by the country’s poorest rural regions.

Some of my students arrive from...

Revolution Starts on Campus

Written by Phillip Martin, Editor

The radical student takeover of Columbia University in 1968 sparked a worldwide student protest movement: From Eastern Europe to South America, students rose up against authoritarian governments, racial inequality and, most passionately, against the war in Vietnam. Host Phillip Martin talks to African American studies professor Stefan Bradley...

1968 protests at Columbia University called attention to 'Gym Crow' and got worldwide attention

Written by Stefan M. Bradley, Chair, Department of African American Studies, Loyola Marymount University

Black power militant H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael (right) appeared at a sit-in protest at Columbia University in New York City on April 26, 1968.AP

“If they build the first story, blow it up. If they sneak back at night and build three stories, burn it down. And if they get nine stories built, it’s yours. Take it over, and...

Chronic pain after trauma may depend on what stress gene variation you carry

Written by Sarah Linnstaedt, Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

More than 100 million American suffer from chronic pain -- in which pain signals continue in the nervous system for weeks, months, or even years. pathdoc/Shutterstock.com

Unfortunately, almost every individual in the world will experience at least one traumatic event, such as a car crash, assault, exposure to war combat or a natural disaster during...

Petróleo venezolano provoca el auge y caída del régimen de Ortega en Nicaragua

Written by Benjamin Waddell, Associate Professor of Sociology, Fort Lewis College

La popularidad del presidente de Nicaragua Daniel Ortega ha disminuido drásticamente.

En enero del 2018, obtuvo el más alto nivel de aprobación entre los presidentes centroamericanos, con un 54 por ciento de apoyo. Hoy los nicaragüenses piden la renuncia inmediata de Ortega.

Ortega, el ex guerrillero sandinista que...

El petróleo venezolano provoca el auge y caída del régimen de Ortega en Nicaragua

Written by Benjamin Waddell, Associate Professor of Sociology, Fort Lewis College

La popularidad del presidente de Nicaragua Daniel Ortega ha disminuido drásticamente.

En enero del 2018, obtuvo el más alto nivel de aprobación entre los presidentes centroamericanos, con un 54 por ciento de apoyo. Hoy los nicaragüenses piden la renuncia inmediata de Ortega.

Ortega, el ex guerrillero sandinista que...

Glioblastoma topples an American hero, but researchers will continue the fight

Written by Duane Mitchell, Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Florida

Sen. John McCain pictured on July 27, 2017. McCain returned to Washington after surgery for glioblastoma to cast a 'no' vote to a Republican-backed bill to repeal Obamacare.Cliff Owen/AP Photo

Sen. John McCain withstood beatings and torture as a prisoner of war, but he was confronted with an enemy in July 2017 that he was ultimately unable to...