The Conversation

Concussions and CTE: More complicated than even the experts know

Written by Russell M. Bauer, Professor, Clinical & Health Psychology and Neurology, University of Florida

Youngsters leave a football field in 2015 after playing at halftime at a game between the Buffalo Bills and the Carolina Panthers. AP Photo/Bill Wippert

For many, American football is a beautiful game that is simple to enjoy but complex to master. Choreographed with a mixture of artistry and brutality, it features the occasional “big...

Why you may not need all those days of antibiotics

Written by Brad Spellberg, Chief Medical Officer, Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, University of Southern California

Green colonies of allergenic fungus Penicillium from air spores on a petri dish. Penicillin was the first antibiotic. Satirus/Shutterstock.com

A recent article in the British Medical Journal set off a bit of a firestorm with its claim that “the antibiotic course has had its day.” The authors challenged the very widespread belief that...

Is Congress' plan to save Puerto Rico working?

Written by Edwin Meléndez, Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning and Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College

Puerto Ricans are increasingly fed up with austerity. AP Photo/Danica Coto

A year ago, Congress cobbled together a plan to try to save Puerto Rico from its US$123 billion debt and pension crisis without costing American taxpayers a penny.

The law, signed by former President Barack Obama on June 30, 2016, effectively steered Puerto Rico into...

Nutrient pollution: Voluntary steps are failing to shrink algae blooms and dead zones

Written by Donald Scavia, Professor of Environment and Sustainability; Professor of Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan

Harmful algae bloom in Lake Erie, Oct. 13, 2011.NASA Earth Observatory, CC BY

Summer is the season for harmful algae blooms in many U.S. lakes and bays. They occur when water bodies become overloaded with nitrogen and phosphorus from farms, water treatment plants and other sources. Warm water and lots of nutrients promote rapid growth of algae that...

The backstory behind the unions that bought a Chicago Sun-Times stake

Written by Brian Dolber, Assistant Professor of Communication, California State University San Marcos

Back in the 1930s, people like this pear peddler in New York City's Lower East Side often got their news from labor-led media.AP Photo

An investment group led by former Chicago alderman and businessman Edwin Eisendrath and the Chicago Federation of Labor recently pulled off an unusual feat when it acquired the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Department of...

Who becomes a saint in the Catholic Church, and is that changing?

Written by Mathew Schmalz, Associate Professor of Religion, College of the Holy Cross

Pope Francis at the end of a canonization ceremony for Mother Teresa.Alessandra Tarantino/AP

Pope Francis has created a new category for beatification, the level immediately below sainthood, in the Catholic Church: those who give their lives for others. This is called “oblatio vitae,” the “offer of life” for the well-being...

Bridges and roads as important to your health as what's in your medicine cabinet

Written by Korydon Smith, Professor of Architecture and Associate Director of Global Health Equity, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

The water tower in Flint, Michigan, where lead-contaminated water led to a health crisis in 2014. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio

Two seemingly unrelated national policy debates are afoot, and we can’t adequately address one unless we address the other.

Health care reform has been the hottest topic. What to do about America’s aging infrastructure...

Trump isn't letting Obamacare die; he's trying to kill it

Written by Simon Haeder, Assistant Professor of Political Science, West Virginia University

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) cast the pivotal vote to nix the Senate version of a bill to repeal Obamacare, only days after returning to Washington after surgery.AP Photo/Cliff Owen

Early on the morning of July 28, Republicans were dealt a surprising blow when Sen. John McCain (R-AR), along with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski...

Why crowds aren’t always wise: Lessons from mini-flash crashes on Wall Street

Written by Alexander Munk, Ph.D. Candidate in Mathetmatics, University of Michigan

Blink. About 300 milliseconds just passed, the same time required for a lightning bolt to travel 100,000 feet, a satellite to fly two miles or a stock price to swing from US$10 to $0.0001 and back.

Wait, what?

Indeed, that actually happened to the shares of the software company Qualys a few years ago. Similar mini-flash crashes involving...

Editing human embryos with CRISPR is moving ahead – now's the time to work out the ethics

Written by Jessica Berg, Law Dean; Professor of Law; and Professor of Bioethics & Public Health, Case Western Reserve University

There's still a way to go from editing single-cell embryos to a full-term 'designer baby.'ZEISS Microscopy, CC BY-SA

The announcement by researchers in Portland, Oregon that they’ve successfully modified the genetic material of a human embryo took some people by surprise.

With headlines referring to “groundbreaking” research and...