The Conversation

Research shows how to grow more cassava, one of the world's key food crops

Written by Stephen P. Long, Professor of Crop Sciences and Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Cassava makes up nearly 50 percent of the diet in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, where populations are projected to increase by more than 120 percent in the next 30 years. CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture, CC BY-NC-SA

What root vegetable is toxic eaten raw but a hunger quencher when cooked, and provides both tapioca flour and the...

Overcoming 'cyber-fatigue' requires users to step up for security

Written by Richard Forno, Senior Lecturer, Cybersecurity & Internet Researcher, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Fatigued via shutterstock.com

As a new presidential administration takes over, it will need to pay significant attention to cybersecurity. Indeed, we’ve already been told to expect “a comprehensive plan” for cybersecurity in the first few months of the new administration. But as a professional who has long been part of the global...

How should you read unnamed sources and leaks?

Written by Anthony Fargo, Director, Center for International Media Law and Policy Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington

'Secrets' via www.shutterstock.com

During my 13-year career in professional journalism, I rarely encountered issues with confidential sources or leaks directly. But during graduate school I became fascinated by the legal complications of journalists protecting sources and have written about the right to speak anonymously for nearly 20 years.

Using...

Why it's hard to 'just get over it' for people who have been traumatized

Written by Joan Cook, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University

A protester at a December speech by an alt-right speaker on the Texas A&M campus. David Phillip/AP

People’s past, present and future are interconnected, and so is our country’s. Being willing to consider the connection between historical trauma and present-day experiences and distress is essential on a personal level – and...

How a major immigration raid affected infant health

Written by Nicole L. Novak, Postdoctoral Fellow, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan

Former Agriprocessors employee Jonas Ordenes, center, at a prayer vigil in Postville, Iowa on May 12, 2009, the anniversary of the 2008 immigration raid at the plant that ended with 389 arrests. AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

On May 12, 2008, 900 federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, armed with military-grade weapons and vehicles,...

The changing nature of America's irreligious explained

Written by Richard Flory, Senior Director of Research and Evaluation, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Who really are America's irreligious? Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, CC BY-ND

A recent survey of the religious profile of the 115th Congress revealed that despite the increase in the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation, members of Congress are overwhelmingly religious, with only one member identifying as having no religion....

Did Jeff Sessions forget wanting to execute pot dealers?

Written by John Donohue, C Wendell and Edith M Carlsmith Professor of Law, Stanford University

Before the Senate Judiciary Committee votes on Jeff Sessions’ nomination to be attorney general, senators should demand an explanation for the sudden bout of amnesia he had at his nomination hearing earlier this month.

When Sen. Patrick Leahy asked him about his past support for imposing mandatory death sentences on people twice convicted of...

Mind the gaps: Reducing hunger by improving yields on small farms

Written by Paul West, Co-Director and Lead Scientist of the Global Landscapes Initiative, Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota

Soybean farmer in MalawiIFPRI/Mitchell Maher via Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

One of the most urgent challenges we face in the next several decades is feeding a growing world population without irreparably damaging Earth’s land, air and water systems. Nearly 800 million people worldwide are undernourished today. The U.N.‘s Sustainable...

Paid family leave policies are expanding, but are new mothers actually taking time off?

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

Bring your baby to work day?Office baby via www.shutterstock.com

The recent presidential campaign reminded us that the U.S. is one of only a handful of countries that doesn’t require companies to provide paid maternity leave.

Maternity leave is important. One of the key reasons is because medical researchers have shown overwhelmingly positive...

Earthquakes triggered by humans pose growing risk

Written by Gillian Foulger, Professor of Geophysics, Durham University

Devastation in Sichuan province after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, thought to be induced by industrial activity at a nearby reservoir.dominiqueb/flickr

People knew we could induce earthquakes before we knew what they were. As soon as people started to dig minerals out of the ground, rockfalls and tunnel collapses must have become recognized...