The Conversation

Will global warming change Native American religious practices?

Written by Rosalyn R. LaPier, Research Associate of Women's Studies, Environmental Studies and Native American Religion, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University

What does the shrinking of the Colorado River mean for Native American religions?Ken Lund, CC BY-SA

The Colorado River, one of the longest rivers in the United States, is gradually shrinking. This is partly a result of overuse by municipalities and seasonal drought. The other reason is global warming.

The decline in the river reservoir will have...

Andrew Wyeth and the artist's fragile reputation

Written by Henry Adams, Ruth Coulter Heede Professor of Art History, Case Western Reserve University

Andrew Wyeth stands by a creek on his Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania property in 1964.AP Photo/Bill Ingraham

I vividly recall my first encounter with Andrew Wyeth’s art when I was 14 years old, in the dingy galleries of Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum.

While giants like Picasso painted a world of artistic contrivance, Wyeth seemed to directly...

Can Congress pressure the White House on human rights?

Written by Sarah Snyder, Associate Professor, American University School of International Service

In June, the Senate tried to block a US$500 million arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Saudi intervention in Yemen’s civil war has produced high numbers of civilian casualties, human rights abuses and a humanitarian crisis. The White House’s decision to sell arms to the Saudis is just one indication that the Trump administration may be...

Is Trump actually popular in Poland?

Written by Brian Porter-Szücs, Professor of History, University of Michigan

As Donald Trump began speaking in Warsaw at noon on July 6, I was sitting in my apartment a few blocks away.

Police helicopters kept buzzing past my building, and nearly all the main streets were blocked off. A government-sponsored “picnic” was being staged in a field near the National Stadium to celebrate Trump’s visit, and...

How China could use trade to force North Korea to play nice with the West

Written by Greg Wright, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of California, Merced

Chinese President Xi Jinping may be the only person able to rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, Michael Dinneen

North Korea got the world’s attention – and President Donald Trump’s – when it said on July 4 that it had successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time....

Does Scott Pruitt have a solid case for repealing the Clean Water Rule?

Written by Patrick Parenteau, Professor of Law, Vermont Law School

Snow geese settle on a wetland in North Dakota. If the Trump administration successfully rescinds the Clean Water Rule, many wetlands might lose federal protection.Krista Lundgren USFWS/Flickr, CC BY

On June 27, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a proposed rule rescinding the Obama administration’s “Clean...

Millennial bashing in medieval times

Written by Eric Weiskott, Assistant Professor of English, Boston College

In Sir Thomas Malory's 'Le Morte d'Arthur,' a character complains that young people are too sexually promiscuous.The British Library

As a millennial and a teacher of millennials, I’m growing weary of think pieces blaming my generation for messing everything up.

The list of ideas, things and industries that millennials have ruined or are...

Suturing a divided world: How providing access to surgery drives global prosperity

Written by David Ljungman, Paul Farmer Global Surgery Fellow, Harvard Medical School

Boston Children's Hospital

Earlier this year, three days after giving birth to her fourth child by cesarean section, Salome Karwah had sudden convulsions. When she was admitted to a hospital in Liberia, the staff panicked, as she was a famous Ebola survivor. Karwah, a nurse assistant, died the next day, likely from a easily treatable complication...

Students' test scores tell us more about the community they live in than what they know

Written by Christopher Tienken, Associate Professor of Education Leadership Management and Policy, Seton Hall University

Students at an Atlanta elementary school prep for upcoming state standardized tests. AP Photo/David Goldman

Every year, policymakers across the U.S. make life-changing decisions based on the results of standardized tests.

These high-stakes decisions include, but are not limited to, student promotion to the next grade level, student eligibility to...

Facts versus feelings isn't the way to think about communicating science

Written by John Cook, Research Assistant Professor, Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University

The message might not come through if you put all your communication eggs in one theoretical basket.buydeephoto/Shutterstock.com

In a world where “post-truth” was 2016’s word of the year, many people are starting to doubt the efficacy of facts. Can science make sense of anti-science and post-truthism? More generally, how can we...