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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
imagePuerto 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...

Read more: Is Congress' plan to save Puerto Rico working?

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
imageHarmful 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...

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

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
imageBack 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...

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

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
imagePope 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...

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

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
imageThe 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...

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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
imageThere'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...

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

Measuring up US infrastructure against other countries

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

Read more: Measuring up US infrastructure against other countries

Data science can help us fight human trafficking

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

Read more: Data science can help us fight human trafficking

More Articles ...

  1. Why a 2,500-year-old Hebrew poem still matters
  2. Storing data in DNA brings nature into the digital universe
  3. Thinking like an economist can make your next trip abroad cheaper
  4. Reviving the war on drugs will further harm police-community relations
  5. What marsupials taught us about embryo implantation could help women using IVF
  6. To restore our soils, feed the microbes
  7. The D.A.R.E. Sessions wants is better than D.A.R.E.
  8. Trump's 'America first' strategy for NAFTA talks won't benefit US workers
  9. Self-driving cars are coming – but are we ready?
  10. When the federal budget funds scientific research, it's the economy that benefits
  11. George Romero's zombies will make Americans reflect on racial violence long after his death
  12. Do we have too many national monuments? 4 essential reads
  13. When Pat and Bob nearly saved health care reform: A lesson in Senatorial bedside manner
  14. How electric vehicles could take a bite out of the oil market
  15. The US health economy is big, but is it better?
  16. Concerned about concussions and brain injuries? 4 essential reads
  17. Kris Kobach and Kansas' SAFE Act
  18. 100 years ago African-Americans marched down 5th Avenue to declare that black lives matter
  19. Stranded in our own communities: Transit deserts make it hard for people to find jobs and stay healthy
  20. The bigotry baked into welfare cuts
  21. Helping your student with disabilities prepare for the future
  22. Glioblastoma, a formidable foe, faces a 'reservoir of resilience' in McCain
  23. A philosopher argues why no one has the right to refuse services to LGBT people
  24. The hidden extra costs of living with a disability
  25. How public feuds on social media and reality TV play out​ in court
  26. Senate GOP opens health care debate. Now what?
  27. Learning disabilities do not define us
  28. How to succeed in college with a disability
  29. Hong Kong's democratic struggle and the rise of Chinese authoritarianism
  30. Do challenges make school seem impossible or worthwhile?
  31. What influences American giving?
  32. A bold, bipartisan plan to return the US to the vanguard of 21st-century technological innovation
  33. Biologics: The pricey drugs transforming medicine
  34. How killing the ACA could lead to more opioid deaths in West Virginia and other Trump states
  35. Fulfilling the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act
  36. Venezuela's getting a new constitution whether the people want it or not
  37. History shows that stacking federal science advisory committees doesn't work
  38. How a job acquires a gender (and less authority if it's female)
  39. Mitch McConnell, the president's man in the Senate
  40. Why the Catholic Church bans gluten-free communion wafers
  41. Sharkathon 2017 is here: How to watch it like a scientist
  42. Who's avoiding sex, and why
  43. The Supreme Court made it harder for states to ban sex offenders from social media. Here’s why
  44. The Georgia peach may be vanishing, but its mythology is alive and well
  45. How some rich people are trying to dismantle inequality
  46. The Library of Congress opened its catalogs to the world. Here's why it matters
  47. Explaining the rise in hate crimes against Muslims in the US
  48. How Lula evolved from Brazil's top politician to its most notable convict
  49. Can Trump use the presidential pardon to thwart the Russia investigations?
  50. Why the US doesn't understand Chinese thought – and must