The Conversation

Voyager Golden Records 40 years later: Real audience was always here on Earth

Written by Jason Wright, Associate Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University

What message would you send to outer space?NASA/JPL-Caltech, CC BY

Forty years ago, NASA launched Voyager I and II to explore the outer solar system. The twin spacecraft both visited Jupiter and Saturn; from there Voyager I explored the hazy moon Titan, while Voyager II became the first (and, to date, only) probe to explore Uranus and Neptune....

Why social smoking can be just as bad for you as daily smoking

Written by Bernadette Melnyk, Dean and Professor of Nursing, The Ohio State University

Social smoking is just as bad on your heart as regular smoking, a new study suggests. California Department of Health Services, CC BY-NC-SA

“Everything in moderation.”

It’s a common justification made for behaviors that may fall outside the realm of healthy. Whether it’s a drink or two or indulging in a favorite dessert,...

Why didn't sanctions stop North Korea’s missile program?

Written by Daniel Salisbury, Postdoctoral Fellow, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

Images of Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are shown on a news program in Seoul, South Korea on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2017. AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon

North Korea’s long-range missile program has made significant technological advances in the past few months.

For most of the past 20 years, the international community has struggled to stop...

Bullying and suicide: What's the connection?

Written by Melissa Holt, Assistant Professor, Counseling Psychology, Boston University

Child suicide, such as the 2013 death of 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick, has often been blamed on bullying.AP Photo/Brian Blanco

Bullying, as many people know, can be a tremendously painful experience for a young person. The point has been driven home over the last decade by stories about teens like Phoebe Prince or Amanda Todd, who killed themselves...

Betsy DeVos' 6-month report card: More undoing than doing

Written by Dustin Hornbeck, Ph.D. Student in Educational Leadership and Policy, Miami University

Betsy Devos has been busy advancing a conservative education agenda since her confirmation earlier this year.AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Since the inauguration of Donald Trump, the news cycle has been dominated by stories of White House controversy: a travel ban, North Korea, health care and more.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has been...

What to do with Confederate statues?

Written by James Glaser, Professor, Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, Tufts University

Could Russia teach us something about how to deal with difficult aspects of our national history?

Many places in the South – from New Orleans to Louisville – are in the process of bringing down statues that glorify the Confederacy. That process raises questions about what to do with these remnants of the past. Do we just toss them into...

Rise in globalism doesn't mean the end for nationalists

Written by A. Burcu Bayram, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Arkansas

Are you more of a nationalist or a cosmopolitan? Or both?

Recent events suggest that a nationalist backlash to globalization is on the rise. The United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, Donald Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential election and the growing popularity of right-wing parties in France, Austria and Germany attest...

The slippery slope of the oligarchy media model

Written by Rodney Benson, Professor of Media, Culture and Communication, New York University

On July 28, Apple heiress Laurene Powell Jobs bought a majority stake in The Atlantic.

It’s the latest media purchase by the billionaire class, a group that includes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (the Washington Post), Boston Red Sox owner John Henry (the Boston Globe), billionaire Glen Taylor (the Minneapolis Star-Tribune) and casino magnate...

Why the withering nuclear power industry threatens US national security

Written by Michael E. Webber, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Deputy Director of the Energy Institute, University of Texas at Austin

After spending $9 billion on a nuclear power plant construction in South Carolina, project developers have pulled the plug. SCE&G, CC BY

These are tough times for nuclear power in the U.S. Power plants under construction are facing serious delays, halts and cost overruns. Utilities in South Carolina abandoned a project to complete construction...

What the Google gender 'manifesto' really says about Silicon Valley

Written by Marie Hicks, Assistant Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Oh the terrible irony.Photo by Mar Hicks

Five years ago, Silicon Valley was rocked by a wave of “brogrammer” bad behavior, when overfunded, highly entitled, mostly white and male startup founders did things that were juvenile, out of line and just plain stupid. Most of these activities – such as putting pornography into PowerPoint...