The Conversation

China is the key to avoiding nuclear 'fire and fury' in North Korea

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

The news of an exchange of threats between the U.S. and North Korea is reported in Tokyo on Aug. 9, 2017.AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un are playing a dangerous game of brinkmanship.

North Korea got the world’s attention – and Trump’s – when it successfully launched an...

TB's stronghold in India: A tragedy there, and a grave concern for the rest of the world

Written by Jay Desai, Assistant Professor, University of Southern California

A study published recently in The Lancet has drawn the world’s attention to the specter of particularly dangerous types of tuberculosis, called multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant, in four countries. The study estimated that the percentage of multidrug-resistant TB among all cases in India, which already has the highest burden...

Can transgender TV characters help bridge an ideological divide?

Written by Erica L. Rosenthal, Senior Research Associate, Hollywood, Health & Society, University of Southern California

file404/shutterstock.com

In 2014, Time magazine declared American culture had reached a “transgender tipping point,” with transgender people achieving unprecedented media visibility.

However, in light of recent policy shifts – such as the White House’s rollback of federal guidelines that supported transgender students and...

Climate gloom and doom? Bring it on. But we need stories about taking action, too

Written by Jon Christensen, Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, the Department of History, and the Center for Digital Humanities, University of California, Los Angeles

Are there other ways to get people to engage with climate change?FloridaStock/Shutterstock.com

There’s been no shortage of pessimistic news on climate change lately. A group of climate scientists and policy experts recently declared that we have just three years left to dramatically turn around carbon emissions, or else. Meanwhile a widely...

Are sex offender registries reinforcing inequality?

Written by Trevor Hoppe, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University at Albany, State University of New York

Grounds of Hand Up Ministries in Oklahoma City houses sex offenders.AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

Public sex offender registries are at the forefront of what I’ve described in my research as a “war on sex.”

Offenders convicted of sex crimes are now singled out for surveillance and restrictions far more punitive than those who commit other...

Eclipsing the occult in early America: Benjamin Franklin and his almanacs

Written by Carla J. Mulford, Professor of English, Pennsylvania State University

Franklin's lifelong quest was spreading scientific knowledge to regular people.Mason Chamberlin, CC BY

By the time he was 20 years old, colonial American Benjamin Franklin had already spent two years working as a printer in London. He returned to Philadelphia in 1726. During the sea voyage home, he kept a journal that included many of his...

Trump and Obama have one surprising thing in common – the words they use

Written by Ronald R. Krebs, Beverly and Richard Fink Professor in the Liberal Arts and Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota

Six months have passed since Donald Trump entered the Oval Office.

His administration remains deeply understaffed. His legislative agenda is stymied. He has been active in issuing executive orders, but many are toothless, others are only in the early stages of undoing Obama policies and some are tied up in the courts. So far, Trump’s...

How eclipses were regarded as omens in the ancient world

Written by Gonzalo Rubio, Associate Professor of Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies, History, and Asian Studies, Pennsylvania State University

A solar eclipse observed over Grand Canyon National Park in May 2012.Grand Canyon National Park

On Monday, August 21, people living in the continental United States will be able to see a total solar eclipse.

Humans have been alternatively amused, puzzled, bewildered and sometimes even terrified at the sight of this celestial phenomenon. A range of...

Disasters can harm older adults long after storms have passed

Written by Sue Anne Bell, Clinical Associate Professor of Nursing, University of Michigan

U.S. Army Spc. Pam Anderson applies first-aid medical attention to an elderly man during flood relief operations just outside of Winona, Minnesota, August 20, 2007. Staff Sgt. Daniel Ewer, U.S. Army, CC BY

My phone rang around midnight: A major hurricane was predicted to hit a nearby coastal town, which was under a mandatory evacuation order. Many...

The military, minorities and social engineering: A long history

Written by Richard S. Slotkin, Olin Professor of English and American Studies, Emeritus, Wesleyan University

LGBT veterans march in a Boston parade. Contrary to what some may say, the military has a long history of embracing socially marginalized groups.AP Photo/Steven Senne

President Trump’s tweeted ban on transgender persons serving in the U.S. military has restarted the perennial debate about the relation between military service and social...