The Conversation

Pathogens attack plants like hackers, so my lab thinks about crop protection like cybersecurity

Written by John Herlihy, Ph.D. Student in the School of Plant and Environmental Science, Virginia Tech

Plant hackers at work: microscopic oomycete spores infiltrating a plant root.John Herlihy, CC BY-ND

Plants feed us. Without them we’re goners. Through thousands of years of genetic modification by selective breeding, humans have developed the crops that keep us alive. We have large kernels of grains, plump fruits and nutritious, toxin-free...

Who owns the moon? A space lawyer answers

Written by Frans von der Dunk, Professor of Space Law, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Edwin E. 'Buzz' Aldrin Jr. poses for a photograph beside the U.S. flag deployed on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. Neil A. Armstrong/NASA/AP Photo

Most likely, this is the best-known picture of a flag ever taken: Buzz Aldrin standing next to the first U.S. flag planted on the Moon. For those who knew their world history, it...

Support for the Endangered Species Act remains high as Trump administration and Congress try to gut it

Written by Jeremy T. Bruskotter, Associate Professor of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University

The endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep.USFWS

The Endangered Species Act, or “the Act,” is arguably the most important law in the United States for conserving biodiversity and arresting the extinction of species.

Congress passed the ESA in 1973 with strong bipartisan support (the House voted 355-4 in favor of the law) at the behest...

Naloxone remains controversial to some, but here's why it shouldn't be

Written by Cyrus Ahalt, University of California, San Francisco

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams demonstrates the proper procedure for administering a nasal injection of naloxone on reporter Jennifer Lott, left, during a visit to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Miss., May 17, 2018. AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

The overdose-reversing drug naloxone saves thousands of lives each year and...

Why the war on poverty in the US isn't over, in 4 charts

Written by Robert L. Fischer, Co-Director of the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development, Case Western Reserve University

About 12.7 percent of Americans lived below the poverty line in 2016.StanislauV/shutterstock.com

On July 12, President Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers concluded that America’s long-running war on poverty “is largely over and a success.”

I am a researcher who has studied poverty for nearly 20 years in Cleveland, a city...

Bloody uprising in Nicaragua could trigger the next Central American refugee crisis

Written by Jose Miguel Cruz, Director of Research, Florida International University

Militias guard a barricade after police and pro-government militias stormed a rebel-held neighborhood in Masaya, Nicaragua, on July 17, 2018. AP Photo/Cristibal Venegas

Central American migrants have long been at the center of what consecutive U.S. administrations have called the immigration “crisis.”

Each year, thousands of Central...

How virtual worlds can recreate the geographic history of life

Written by Robert K. Colwell, Distinguished Research Professor, University of Connecticut

Forest near Sarayaku, Ecuador.skifatenum, CC BY

The Amazon and the adjacent Andean slopes in South America host an astonishing richness of plants and animals. These species have been sources of food, shelter and medicine since the arrival of humans and a target of scientific curiosity since the days of the earliest European naturalist explorers.

Wh...

Cómo las ciudades pueden ayudar a los inmigrantes a sentirse en casa: 4 gráficos

Written by Ernesto Castañeda, Assistant Professor of Sociology, American University

Al mismo tiempo que crece el sentimiento antimigrante en varios lugares desde Alemania hasta Estados Unidos, varias ciudades hallan maneras para hacer que los inmigrantes se sientan como en casa.

Durante más de una década, he realizado cientos de entrevistas en Nueva York, París y Barcelona para comprender cómo cada...

What makes Putin's vision of a Russian-US oil alliance a pipedream

Written by Anna Mikulska, Nonresident Fellow in Energy Studies, Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University

One historic handshake in HelsinkiAP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

When Russian leader Vladimir Putin addressed the media in Helsinki alongside President Donald Trump, he proposed that their countries “work together” to make oil and gas markets calmer.

Trump didn’t say whether he supported the idea but he repeated his frequent...

US health care companies begin exploring blockchain technologies

Written by Ana Santos Rutschman, Assistant Professor of Law, Saint Louis University

Finding ways to link health care data in a secure and confidential way.PopTika/Shutterstock.com

The sprawling U.S. health care industry has trouble managing patient information: Every doctor, medical office, hospital, pharmacy, therapist and insurance company needs different pieces of data to properly care for patients. These records are scattered...