The Conversation

Why is it so hard to improve American policing?

Written by Frederic Lemieux, Professor and Program Director of Bachelor in Police and Security Studies; Master’s in Security and Safety Leadership; Master’s in Strategic Cyber Operations and Information Management, George Washington University

The use of lethal force by police officers in Minnesota and Baton Rouge has once again sparked protests over the violent dynamic between citizens and the police.

The ideal today is “democratic policing,” a concept developed by scholars like Gary T. Marx at MIT. Broadly, this refers to a police force that is publicly accountable, subject...

A tragic reminder that policing takes a toll on officers, too

Written by John Violanti, Professor of Epidemiology and Environmental Health , University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

The recent police shootings and the murder Thursday of five police officers put a spotlight on the troubled occupation of policing. Recent public perception of police has reached a 22-year low in the United States, with a 2015 poll showing that about only 52 percent have a “great deal” of confidence in the institution. Among those who...

Fed's focus on 'too big to fail' won't save taxpayers from next bank bailout

Written by Oz Shy, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Last month, the Federal Reserve announced that 31 out of 33 U.S. banks had passed its latest “stress test,” designed to ensure that the largest financial institutions have enough capital to withstand a severe economic shock.

Passing the test amounts to being given a clean bill of health by the Fed. So are taxpayers – who were on...

Freaks, geeks, norms and mores: why people use the status quo as a moral compass

Written by Christina Tworek, Ph.D. Student in Developmental Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Does what's most usual seem inherently good to you?Fish image via www.shutterstock.com.

The Binewskis are no ordinary family. Arty has flippers instead of limbs; Iphy and Elly are Siamese twins; Chick has telekinetic powers. These traveling circus performers see their differences as talents, but others consider them freaks with “no values or...

Should parents ask their children to apologize?

Written by Craig Smith, Research Investigator, University of Michigan

Apologies can help improve the feelings of someone hurt.Andrew Yee, CC BY

Have you ever felt deserving of an apology and been upset when you didn’t get one? Have you ever found it hard to deliver the words, I’m sorry?

Such experiences show how much apologies matter. The importance placed on apologies is shared by many cultures. Diverse...

Public health research reduced smoking deaths -- it could do the same for gun violence

Written by Sandro Galea, Dean, School of Public Health, Boston University

After the most recent mass shooting in the U.S. at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said:

Other politicians echoed that sentiment. But prayers are not going to fix the fact that each year 30,000 deaths and many more injuries are caused by firearm violence. Recognizing gun violence for the public health problem...

Debunking one of the biggest stereotypes about women in the gaming community

Written by Cuihua Shen, Professor of Communication, University of California, Davis

When girl gamers do well, men will often find ways to discredit the success.'Gamer' via www.shutterstock.com

Although women now make up almost half of all video game players, the gaming community remains, in some ways, hostile toward women.

For example, the GamerGate controversy, which began in 2014 and involved a harassment campaign against...

There's more than practice to becoming a world-class expert

Written by D. Zachary Hambrick, Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University

What explains the exceptional performance of Stephen Curry?Keith Allison, CC BY-SA

Some people are dramatically better at activities like sports, music and chess than other people. Take the basketball great Stephen Curry. This past season, breaking the record he set last year by over 40 percent, Curry made an astonishing 402 three-point shots...

What would Abraham Lincoln say to Donald Trump about religion, politics and being a 'Know Nothing'?

Written by Donald Nieman, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Binghamton University, State University of New York

As the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump could learn a lot from his party’s first president, Abraham Lincoln. He should start with religion and immigration, topics on which he has appealed to fear and bigotry rather than “the better angels of our nature" as Lincoln did.

Trump has called for a ban on immigration and travel to...

Learning to live with wildfires: how communities can become 'fire-adapted'

Written by Susan J. Prichard, Research Scientist of Forest Ecology, University of Washington

An airtanker in the Chelan Butte wildfire in August 2015.benagain_photo/flickr, CC BY-SA

In recent years wildfire seasons in the western United States have become so intense that many of us who make our home in dry, fire-prone areas are grappling with how to live with fire.

When I moved to a small town in eastern Washington in 2004, I thought I was...