The Conversation

Should the giving styles of the rich and famous alarm us all?

Written by Leslie Lenkowsky, Senior Counsellor and Professor Emeritus of Practice in Philanthropic Studies, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

Tech billionaire Sean Parker and his wife Alexandra Lenas Parker are among today's youngest and most ambitious donors.Rich Fury/Invision/AP Photo

In 1890, pioneer photojournalist Jacob Riis published a book, “How the Other Half Lives,” portraying the squalid lifestyles of the immigrant groups flooding into the slums of New York City. In...

Federal role in education has a long history

Written by Dustin Hornbeck, Ph.D. Student in Educational Leadership and Policy, Miami University

Though many of Thomas Jefferson's educational policies were never passed during his lifetime, they became the foundation of federal education today.Portrait by Mather Brown / Wikimedia Commons

President Donald Trump has directed the United States Department of Education to evaluate whether the federal government has “overstepped its legal...

Physics of poo: Why it takes you and an elephant the same amount of time

Written by David Hu, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biology, Adjunct Associate Professor of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Defecation duration is surprisingly similar throughout the mammal world.Elephant image via www.shutterstock.com.

The ancient Chinese practiced copromancy, the diagnosis of health based on the shape, size and texture of feces. So did the Egyptians, the Greeks and nearly every ancient culture. Even today, your doctor may ask when you last had a bowel...

Would Trump's tax cut be the biggest ever? Fat chance

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

President Donald Trump has long been known for his fondness for superlatives when describing his projects and policies. His administration’s proposal for a tax cut is certainly no exception.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press he declared:

“It will be bigger, I believe, than any tax cut ever. Maybe the biggest tax cut...

Mine wars: The struggle for coal miners' health care and pension benefits comes to a head

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

United Mine Workers members rally in September on Capitol Hill for benefits for retired miners that are at risk.Jose Louis Magana/AP

During the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Trump repeatedly expressed his support for coal miners and their communities. Voters in the country’s old mining regions of Appalachia rewarded these...

To have impact, the People's Climate March needs to reach beyond activists

Written by Jill Hopke, Assistant Professor of Journalism, DePaul University

The 2014 People's Climate March in New York City.Annette Bernhardt/flickr, CC BY-NC-SA

Following closely on last week’s March for Science, activists are preparing for the People’s Climate March on Saturday, April 29. This event will mark President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, and comes as the Trump administration is...

100 days of presidential threats

Written by Jennifer Mercieca, Associate Professor of Communication and Director of the Aggie Agora, Texas A&M University

Trump points a finger.AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

President Donald Trump threatens people a lot. He menaces, he bullies and then he explains his words away.

As a scholar of American political rhetoric, I have paid close attention to Trump’s use of words. In particular, I’ve focused on something called ad baculum – or threats. Ad baculum...

Syria’s forgotten pluralism and why it matters today

Written by Andrea Williams, Director, International Studies, Colorado State University

Syrian Christians and Muslims offer prayers for nuns held by rebels, at the Greek Orthodox Mariamiya Church in Damascus, Syria, in 2013.AP Photo

The Syrian Civil War has been raging for six years. It has killed nearly half a million people and left over 12 million, about half of Syria’s total population, without a home. A few weeks ago, a deva...

'Anumeric' people: What happens when a language has no words for numbers?

Written by Caleb Everett, Andrew Carnegie Fellow, Professor of Anthropology, University of Miami

A Pirahã family.Caleb Everett, CC BY-SA

Numbers do not exist in all cultures. There are numberless hunter-gatherers embedded deep in Amazonia, living along branches of the world’s largest river tree. Instead of using words for precise quantities, these people rely exclusively on terms analogous to “a few” or...

Can Bill Nye – or any other science show – really save the world?

Written by Heather Akin, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania

Will Bill Nye's new show find a wider audience than Neil deGrasse Tyson's 'Cosmos' did?Vince Bucci/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images

Netflix’s new talk show, “Bill Nye Saves the World,” debuted the night before people around the world joined together to demonstrate and March for Science. Many have lauded the timing and...