The Conversation

Children understand far more about other minds than long believed

Written by Henrike Moll, Assistant Professor in Developmental Psychology, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Don't underestimate what I get about the world around me.Baby image via www.shutterstock.com.

Until a few decades ago, scholars believed that young children know very little, if anything, about what others are thinking. Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, who is credited with founding the scientific study of children’s thinking, was convinced...

Reducing and reusing wastewater: Six essential reads for World Water Day

Written by Jennifer Weeks, Editor, Environment and Energy, The Conversation

Last year's Olympic Games in Rio highlighted the health perils of contaminated waters. AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo

Editor’s note: The following is a roundup of archival stories.

Every year on March 22, the United Nations observes World Water Day to highlight the global water crisis. This year the focus is on reducing and reusing wastewater from...

Video games encourage Indigenous cultural expression

Written by Elizabeth LaPensée, Assistant Professor of Media and Information and Writing, Rhetoric and American Cultures, Michigan State University

Indigenous games like 'Honour Water' can teach Indigenous values and ceremonial practices.Honour Water/Elizabeth LaPensée, CC BY-ND

Video games are robust forms of creative expression merging design, code, art and sound. Unfortunately, many games misrepresent or appropriate from Indigenous communities by falling back on stereotypes or...

Russia, an alleged coup and Montenegro's bid for NATO membership

Written by Vesko Garcevic, Professor of the Practice of International Relations, Boston University

Testifying before a congressional committee, FBI Director James Comey has confirmed that his agency is investigating links between the Donald Trump campaign and Russia.

While this investigation continues, Americans should be reminded of the signs of Russian interference in democratic processes outside the U.S. – specifically, in the Balkans.

Sm...

New health care law would lead to more smoking, disease and tobacco industry profits

Written by Daniel Orenstein, Postdoctoral fellow, University of California, San Francisco

Smoking kills close to 440,000 people in the U.S. each year. California Department of Health Services

House Republicans introduced their American Health Care Act on March 7 to “repeal and replace Obamacare” (the Affordable Care Act). Neither the bill nor Speaker Ryan’s website announcement mentions “tobacco.” But as...

Why is water sacred to Native Americans?

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

The Lakota phrase “Mní wičhóni,” or “Water is life,” has become a new national protest anthem.

It was chanted by 5,000 marchers at the Native Nations March in Washington, D.C. on March 10, and during hundreds of protests across the United States in the last year. “Mní...

Supreme Court justices in the pews and on the bench – and where Neil Gorsuch fits in

Written by Steven K. Green, Professor of Law, Director of the Center for Religion, Law & Democracy, Willamette University

On Jan. 31, President Donald Trump nominated Judge Neil M. Gorsuch of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court occasioned by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The Senate hearing on Judge Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court started on Monday, March 20.

As important as is a Supreme Court...

Making poetry their own: The evolution of poetry education

Written by Laura Apol, Poet, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

A student performs at the 2013 Louder Than a Bomb slam poetry competition in Boston, Massachusetts.John Tammaro / flickr, CC BY-ND

The American poet William Stafford was often asked by friends, readers, students and colleagues: When did you become a poet? The response he regularly offered was: “The question isn’t when I became a poet;...

How companies can stay ahead of the cybersecurity curve

Written by Scott Shackelford, Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics, Indiana University

Companies must work hard to keep their data safe.Graphic via shutterstock.com

If you’re like me, on a given day you interact with a whole range of connected technologies for work and play. Just today, I used Box to share and download files for work, called up Tile to find my keys, relied on Google Maps to run an errand while streaming a...

Private prisons, explained

Written by Brett C. Burkhardt, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Oregon State University

A glimpse behind barsCropped from krystiano/flickr, CC BY

The year 2016 was a wild one for the private prison industry.

During the presidential election campaign, the Democratic challengers both called for an end to private prisons. The leader in the industry announced it would lay off 12 percent of headquarters staff. Then, in August, Obama’s...