The Conversation

How the anal cancer epidemic in gay and bi HIV-positive men can be prevented

Written by Ashish A. Deshmukh, Assistant Professor, University of Florida

Singers from the New York City Gay Men's Choir sing Dec. 1, 2015 at the Apollo Theater in New York for World AIDS Day. A new health foe has emerged among gay and bisexual men. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Almost 620,000 gay and bisexual men in the United States were living with HIV in 2014, and 100,000 of these men were not even aware of their infection....

Why your kids might be able to see better if they play outdoors more often

Written by Karla Zadnik, Dean, College of Optometry , The Ohio State University

There are many health benefits to kids playing outdoors, not the least of which is preventing myopia. wavebreakmedia/www.shutterstock.com

The ready availability of technology may make the children of today faster at configuring a new smartphone, but does all of that screen time affect the development of their eyes?

While conventional wisdom dictates...

Secret weapon for space travelers: A steady diet of TV?

Written by Jan Van den Bulck, Professor of Media Psychology, University of Michigan

Deep-space journeys will have plenty of downtime.studiostoks/Shutterstock.com

No one knows for sure what a long-range space journey will be like for the people on board. Nobody in the history of our species has ever had to deal with the “Earth-out-of-view” phenomenon, for instance. How will it feel to live in close quarters with a small...

By concealing identities, cryptocurrencies fuel cybercrime

Written by Ari Juels, Professor of Computer Science, Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, Cornell Tech, and Co-Director, Initiative for CryptoCurrencies and Contracts (IC3), Cornell University

Can criminals use cryptocurrency to hide their identities and activities?Elnur/Shutterstock.com

When hackers hold their victims’ data for ransom, as happened in the WannaCry and NotPetya ransomware attacks that spread across the globe in mid-2017, a key to the criminals’ success is getting away with the money. That often means they use...

Opioid epidemic causing rise in hepatitis C infections and other serious illnesses

Written by Thomas J. Stopka, Assistant Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University

Discarded used hypodermic needles along the Merrimack River in Lowell, Massachusetts.Charles Krupa/AP Photos

Many Americans now know that, over the past decade, opioid addiction and deaths from opioid overdose in the U.S. have skyrocketed.

But we don’t hear as often about the other epidemics intertwined with this public health crisis. In rural...

Will outlawing 'instant divorce' advance justice for Muslim women in India?

Written by Z. Fareen Parvez, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Activists protesting against the recently banned triple divorce.AP Photo/Altaf Qadri

The Supreme Court of India recently struck down a specific divorce practice among its minority Muslims. The age-old practice known as “triple talaq” allowed a Muslim man to dissolve his marriage by uttering the term divorce three times, all at once.

As a...

As communities rebuild after hurricanes, study shows wetlands can significantly reduce property damage

Written by Siddharth Narayan, Postdoctoral Fellow, Coastal Flood Risk, University of California, Santa Cruz

Coastal wetlands are an effective first line of defense and act by slowing down storm surges and reducing floodingKelly Fike/USFWS, CC BY

A 12-year “hurricane drought” during which no major hurricanes formed in the Atlantic ended dramatically in 2017. The devastating impacts of Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria across the United States and...

Surviving crisis: UN campaign to fight corruption in Guatemala has global implications

Written by John Ciorciari, Associate Professor of Public Policy, University of Michigan

Massive protests recently broke out in Guatemala as the nation teetered on the edge of a major political crisis.

Guatemalans took to the streets to decry President Jimmy Morales, who in August attempted to expel the head of a U.N.-backed commission probing possible corruption in his campaign finances.

The U.N. commission investigating him, created...

Just in time for your tailgate: How getting a drink can be dirty business

Written by Paul Dawson, Professor of Food Science, Clemson University

Tailgating can be fun, but watch what goes into your drink. Monkey Business Images/www.shutterstock.com

Have you ever thought about what might tag along when you add ice or a lemon slice to your drink? When lemons and ice are served in beverages, they not only bring flavor or a flourish. They can also carry bacteria and viruses.

Ice can be a nice...

3 reasons why we are addicted to smartphones

Written by Jaco J. Hamman, Associate Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture, Vanderbilt University

What attaches us so deeply to our phones?Al Case, CC BY-NC-ND

Apple recently announced the launch of its iPhone 8 and iPhone X, which come with sleek, new features. Apple also hopes to start a new community around the iPhones. Ahead of the launch, Angela Ahrendts, head of retail at Apple, said their stores will be called “Town Squares,”...