The Conversation

How summer and diet damage your DNA, and what you can do

Written by Adam Barsouk, Research Assistant, University of Pittsburgh

Bright sun and fatty foods are a bad recipe for your DNA.By Tish1/shutterstock.com

Today, your body will accumulate quadrillions of new injuries in your DNA. The constant onslaught of many forms of damage, some of which permanently mutates your genes, could initiate cancer and prove fatal. Yet all is not doomed: The lives we lead determine how well...

Born in the USA: Having a baby is costly and confusing, even for a health policy expert

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

Lukas Haeder, the author's son, on his birthday. Simon Haeder/Author, CC BY-SA

It is hard to believe that it has been just over since five months since our second son, Lukas, was born on Feb. 3. His mother, Hollyanne, is doing well, which is something to be thankful for, given the excessive maternal mortality rates in the U.S. Lukas is also healthy...

Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected to 'transform' Mexico. Can he do it?

Written by Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong

Over 30 million Mexicans voted for Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the country’s July 1 presidential election, handing the former Mexico City mayor a landslide victory over three opponents with 53 percent of the vote.

López Obrador’s agenda – to root out corruption, reduce violence, rethink Mexico’s gas...

Why I teach math through knitting

Written by Sara Jensen, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Carthage College

Math in yarn.Carthage College, CC BY-SA

One snowy January day, I asked a classroom of college students to tell me the first word that came to mind when they thought about mathematics. The top two words were “calculation” and “equation.”

When I asked a room of professional mathematicians the same question, neither of those...

Do I want an always-on digital assistant listening in all the time?

Written by Heather Woods, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Technology, Kansas State University

Siri, should you even be here?Daisy Daisy/Shutterstock.com

The smart device market is exploding. Smart home kits for retrofitting “non-smart” houses have become cheaper. Earlier this year, Apple released the HomePod speaker, the company’s response to dominant smart devices Google Home and Amazon Echo. Amazon, too, is expanding its...

Trade war could chill China’s growing investment in US economy

Written by Francisco Urdinez, Professor of International Political Economy, Universidad Católica de Chile

The U.S. is the biggest destination for Chinese foreign investment.Jason Lee/Pool Photo via AP

The U.S. and China are currently engaged in an ever-escalating trade war with no end in sight. While the focus of the dispute has centered on tariffs, the consequences are expected to spill well beyond imports and exports to other aspects of the...

When race triggers a call to campus police

Written by Brian N. Williams, Visiting Professor of Public Policy, University of Virginia

College campuses can be unwelcoming environments for racial minorities.Mr. Doomits/www.shutterstock.com

On a beautiful spring afternoon on a picturesque college campus, two campus police officers responded to a black professor’s “good afternoon” with a request to see his identification.

The professor paused for a moment but decided...

How your social network could save you from a disaster

Written by Daniel P. Aldrich, Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Urban Affairs and Director, Security and Resilience Program, Northeastern University

Evacuating Corpus Christi, Texas ahead of Hurricane Bret in 1999.FEMA

In early November 2017, Brooks Fisher’s neighbor in Sonoma, California, pounded on his door at 2 a.m., rang the doorbell and shouted, “There’s a fire coming and you need to get out now! I can hear trees exploding!”

The sky was orange and the smell of smoke...

3 charts explain how Russians see Trump and US

Written by Erik C. Nisbet, Associate Professor of Communication, Political Science, and Environmental Policy and Faculty Associate with the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, The Ohio State University

Just before the one-on-one summit between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held on July 16, Russian pollster VCIOM asked the Russian public how they viewed the American president and U.S.-Russian relations.

Though an authoritarian country, public opinion is still an important factor that the Russian government takes into account when...

As Putin-Trump summit nears, 3 charts explain how Russians see the US

Written by Erik C. Nisbet, Associate Professor of Communication, Political Science, and Environmental Policy and Faculty Associate with the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, The Ohio State University

Donald Trump sits down with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16 in Helsinki for their first one-on-one summit.

In anticipation of this event, Russian pollster VCIOM asked the Russian public this week about how they viewed the American president and U.S.-Russian relations. Though an authoritarian country, public opinion is still an...