The Conversation

In 1968, computers got personal: How the 'mother of all demos' changed the world

Written by Margaret O'Mara, Professor of History, University of Washington

A scene from Doug Engelbart's groundbreaking 1968 computer demo.Doug Engelbart Institute

On a crisp California afternoon in early December 1968, a square-jawed, mild-mannered Stanford researcher named Douglas Engelbart took the stage at San Francisco’s Civic Auditorium and proceeded to blow everyone’s mind about what computers could do....

Yom Kippur: A time for feasting as well as fasting

Written by Ted Merwin, Part-Time Associate Professor of Religion, Dickinson College

Yom Kippur break fast.danbruell, CC BY-NC-SA

It was the bag of Fritos that gave me away. As a secular Jewish kid whose family did not belong to a synagogue, I did not think twice about riding my bike to the convenience store around the corner during the afternoon of Yom Kippur.

I knew that it was a solemn holiday when observant Jews do not eat or...

Researchers block cocaine craving and addiction with a special skin graft

Written by Qingyao Kong, Postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Anesthesia & Critical Care, University of Chicago

Lines of cocaine.Christopher Slesarchik/Shutterstock.com

Addiction to any drug – be it alcohol, tobacco, opioids or illicit drugs, like cocaine – is a chronic disease that causes a compulsive drug-seeking behavior individuals find difficult or impossible to control even when they are aware of the harmful, often deadly consequences.

Long-...

Cuba propone legalizar el matrimonio gay y las iglesias se atreven a salir en contra

Written by María Isabel Alfonso, Professor of Spanish, St. Joseph's College of New York

Miles de cubanos y activistas internacionales de los derechos LGBTQ participan anualmente en el evento anual, Jornada contra la Homofobia y la Transfobia en Cuba.AP Photo/Desmond Boylan

Desde mediados de agosto, los cubanos debaten una propuesta reforma constitucional que, entre otros cambios sustanciales, allanaría el camino para la legitima...

As Cuba backs gay marriage, churches oppose the government's plan

Written by María Isabel Alfonso, Professor of Spanish , St. Joseph's College of New York

As gay Cubans gain more rights, opposition is also growing.AP Photo/Desmond Boylan

Leer en español.

Cubans are debating a constitutional reform that, among other legal changes, would open the door to gay marriage. It would also prohibit discrimination against people based on sex, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity in the communist...

Are today's white kids less racist than their grandparents?

Written by Margaret Hagerman, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Mississippi State University

Do we have any reason to believe that each new generation of white people will be more open-minded and tolerant than previous ones?Elvira Koneva

In America’s children, we often see hope for a better future, especially when it comes to reducing racism.

Each new generation of white people, the thinking goes, will naturally and inevitably be more...

The science, skill – and luck – behind evacuation order calls

Written by Susan L. Cutter, Carolina Distinguished Professor of Geography and Director Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute, University of South Carolina

A sunny day evacuation days before Hurricane Florence made landfall in North CarolinaAP Photo/Tom Copeland

More than 1 million people in the Carolinas were ordered to evacuate days before Hurricane Florence hit landfall.

Government officials order coastal evacuation even when it’s sunny at the beach with not a cloud in the sky and no hint of...

Catastrophe overload? Read philosophers and poetry instead of headlines

Written by Rachel Hadas, Professor of English, Rutgers University Newark

Read poetry.Photo by Priscilla Du Preez/Unsplash, CC BY-SA

For almost two years now, Americans have been confronted daily by ominous tidings. We are living through stressful times. Reading the news feels awful; ignoring it doesn’t feel right either.

Psychologist Terri Apter recently wrote about the “phenomenon in human behavior...

Federal funding for higher ed comes with strings attached, but is still worth it

Written by Jason Alix Coupet, Assistant Professor of Public Administration, North Carolina State University

Even privately run colleges and universities get money from the federal government.ITTIGallery/Shutterstock.com

When nonprofit colleges and universities get federal funding for research and to support students, do government regulations make it difficult to fulfill their missions?

As a professor who studies the organizational performance of...

Digitizing the vast 'dark data' in museum fossil collections

Written by Charles Marshall, Professor of Paleontology and Director of the University of California Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley

With a lot not on display, museums may not even know all that's in their vast holdings.AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

The great museums of the world harbor a secret: They’re home to millions upon millions of natural history specimens that almost never see the light of day. They lie hidden from public view, typically housed behind or above the public...