The Conversation

Measuring up US infrastructure against other countries

Written by Hiba Baroud, Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Vanderbilt University

Heavy storms in February caused parts of a California highway to give way.Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo

How does infrastructure in the U.S. compare to that of the rest of the world? It depends on who you ask.

On the last two report cards from the American Society of Civil Engineers, U.S. infrastructure scored a D+. This year’s report urged the...

Data science can help us fight human trafficking

Written by Renata Konrad, Assistant Professor of Operations and Industrial Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Ngwe Thein says he was forced to work on a fishing trawler with inadequate food and little or no pay.APTN, Esther Htusan/AP Photo

July 30 marks the United Nations’ World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, a day focused on ending the criminal exploitation of children, women and men for forced labor or sex work.

Between 27 and 45.8 million...

Why a 2,500-year-old Hebrew poem still matters

Written by David W. Stowe, Professor of English and Religious Studies, Michigan State University

Gebhard Fugel, 'An den Wassern Babylons.'Gebhard Fugel [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

At sundown on July 31, Jews around the world will observe Tisha B’av, the most somber of Jewish holidays. It commemorates the destruction of the two temples in Jerusalem, first by the Babylonians and then, almost seven centuries later, in A.D. 70, by...

Storing data in DNA brings nature into the digital universe

Written by Luis Ceze, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington

The next frontier of data storage: DNA.ymgerman/Shutterstock.com

Humanity is producing data at an unimaginable rate, to the point that storage technologies can’t keep up. Every five years, the amount of data we’re producing increases 10-fold, including photos and videos. Not all of it needs to be stored, but manufacturers of data...

Thinking like an economist can make your next trip abroad cheaper

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State University

A record number of tourists and business travelers visited another country in 2016, and this year is already on pace to exceed that tally.

One thing you definitely need when traveling abroad besides a passport is local currency, such as euros in Europe, yen in Japan or rubles in Russia. In the past, travelers would typically withdraw what they...

Reviving the war on drugs will further harm police-community relations

Written by Dean A. Dabney, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice & Criminology, Georgia State University

An officer and his dog walk the halls at a school in Indianapolis.AP Photo/Michael Conroy

The United States has been waging a war on drugs for nearly 50 years.

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on this long campaign to thwart the production, distribution, sale and use of illegal drugs. This sustained investment has resulted in millions...

What marsupials taught us about embryo implantation could help women using IVF

Written by Oliver Griffith, Postdoctoral Associate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University

She must have had a successful pregnancy.Ryan Snyder, CC BY

What do a swollen sprained ankle and a new pregnancy have in common? Believe it or not, they’re both closely tied to the body’s inflammation response.

Inflammation is usually the first reaction of the immune system to the presence of injury or infection. It’s characterized...

To restore our soils, feed the microbes

Written by Matthew Wallenstein, Associate Professor and Director, Innovation Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Colorado State University

Tamotsu Ito/Shutterstock.com

Our soils are in trouble. Over the past century, we’ve abused them with plowing, tilling and too much fertilizer.

What many think of as “just dirt” is actually an incredibly complex mixture of rock-derived minerals, plant-derived organic matter, dissolved nutrients, gases and a rich food web of...

The D.A.R.E. Sessions wants is better than D.A.R.E.

Written by Paul Boxer, Professor of Psychology, Rutgers University Newark

Has D.A.R.E. moved beyond the "just say no" days of the '80's and '90's?AP Photo/Nick Ut

Americans of a certain generation will remember this mantra from the 1980s: Just say no.

This simple phrase was the cornerstone of Nancy Reagan’s drug abuse awareness initiative, rolled out in response to perceptions of sharp increases in youth drug use...

Trump's 'America first' strategy for NAFTA talks won't benefit US workers

Written by Robert A. Blecker, Professor of Economics, American University

The Trump administration is plowing ahead with plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico, with talks set to begin on Aug. 16.

Having made restoring the United States’ manufacturing might a cornerstone of his “America first” nationalism, Trump seems to think that obtaining what he...