The Conversation

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...

The price of a miracle: Should we limit spending on lifesaving drugs?

Written by C. Michael White, Professor and Head of the Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Connecticut

If your baby has a rare disease, should we put a limit on how much to spend on the drug that may save her?Chaikom/Shutterstock.com

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” is a familiar quote from the opening of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities,” but the phrase is also applicable to the specialty...

'Screen time' is about more than setting limits

Written by Nathan Fisk, Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Education, University of South Florida

How much is too much screen time for kids?Dragon Images/Shutterstock

In today’s media-rich world (or media-saturated, depending on your view), one rarely has to look far to find parents concerned about the ways that kids engage with technology. Recently, managing “screen time” seems to be on everyone’s mind –...

We're not ready for the 'silver tsunami' of older adults living with cancer

Written by Keith M. Bellizzi, Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Connecticut

The number of adults living with cancer will likely triple in size by 2030.Ruslan Guzov/Shutterstcok.com

In the next few decades, the number of adults living with cancer is expected to triple in size.

Age is the single greatest risk factor for cancer. By 2030, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the population of Americans...