The Conversation

From their balloons, the first aeronauts transformed our view of the world

Written by Jennifer Tucker, Associate Professor of History and Science in Society, Wesleyan University

A lithograph from Gaston Tissandier's balloon travels depicts falling stars.Archive.org

Near the beginning of the new film “The Aeronauts,” a giant gas-filled balloon called the “Mammoth” departs from London’s Vauxhall Gardens and ascends into the clouds, revealing a bird’s eye view of London.

To some moviegoers,...

NPR is still expanding the range of what authority sounds like after 50 years

Written by Jason Loviglio, Chair and Associate Professor of Media and Communication Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Susan Stamberg interviewed President Jimmy Carter during a National Public Radio call-in program in 1979.AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi

From its start half a century ago, National Public Radio heralded a new approach to the sound of radio in the United States.

NPR “would speak with many voices and many dialects,” according to “Purposes,&...

Limited eating times could be a new way to fight obesity and diabetes

Written by Satchin Panda, Professor of Regulatory Biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Adjunct Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at UCSD, University of California San Diego

Time limits on eating may help to keep diabetics' blood glucose in check. ratmaner/Shutterstock.com

People with obesity, high blood sugar, high blood pressure or high cholesterol are often advised to eat less and move more, but our new research suggests there is now another simple tool to fight off these diseases: restricting your eating time to a...

Turning gray and into the red: The true cost of growing old in America

Written by Jan Mutchler, Professor, Department of Gerontology, McCormack Graduate School Director, Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging, Gerontology Institute, University of Massachusetts Boston

Are you economically ready for old age?Shutterstock

The U.S. population is aging at such a rate that within a few years, older Americans will outnumber the country’s children for the first time, according to census projections. But rising rents, health care and other living costs mean that for many entering their retirement years, balancing...

5 ways to check a college's financial health

Written by Leo M. Lambert, President Emeritus and Professor of Education, Elon University

Signs that a college may be about to close may not always be apparent.Konstantin L/Shutterstock.com

The financial health of colleges and universities is much in the news these days. An enrollment cliff – a drop-off in traditionally aged college students – will hit in the next decade and may threaten more small, regional and marginally...

'Stop-and-frisk' can work, under careful supervision

Written by Henry F. Fradella, Professor and Associate Director, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University

A 2012 training session between two New York police officers demonstrated a way stop-and-frisk encounters could be handled.AP Photo/Colleen Long

In mid-November, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg apologized publicly for his backing of a practice intended to reduce violent crime that had for years been criticized as racially biased....

An ethicist explains why philanthropy is no license to do bad stuff

Written by Patricia Illingworth, Senior Fellow, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Professor of Ethics, Northeastern University

Jeffrey Epstein faced sex trafficking and conspiracy charges when he died in July 2019.AP Photo/Richard Drew

I teach a course on ethics and philanthropy and have written about how to donate to charities ethically.

Recent news about people who make big charitable gifts acting badly is making me wonder whether philanthropy really does make the world...

India's plan to identify 'illegal immigrants' could get some Muslims declared 'foreign'

Written by Haimanti Roy, Associate Professor of History, University of Dayton

All voting-age Indians may soon be asked to submit government-issued ID to prove citizenship. That may be a challenge for women, religious minorities and members of oppressed castes. AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

The Indian government will soon ask its 870 million voting-age citizens for documentation that they are legal citizens with ancestral ties...

Why are moths attracted to light?

Written by Carlos Linares, Ph.D. Candidate in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior and Biological Sciences, Boise State University

Moths flutter toward light at night, but why?NeagoneFo/Shutterstock.com

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Why are moths attracted to light? – Gabriel H., age 7, Providence, RI

Have you ever gone for a walk at night and...

Bolivia after Morales: An 'ungovernable country' with a power vacuum

Written by Marten W. Brienen, Lecturer in Global Studies, Oklahoma State University

A supporter of former Bolivian president Evo Morales tells a police officer to respect the nation's indigenous people, in La Paz, Bolivia, Nov. 12, 2019. AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko

Evo Morales is hardly Bolivia’s first president to be ousted in a mass uprising.

Both of his immediate predecessors – Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada and Car...