The Conversation

Can you life-hack your way to love?

Written by Joseph Reagle, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Northeastern University

True love could be hiding inside mounds of data.xtock/Shutterstock.com

There’s never been a shortage of dating advice from family, friends and self-help authors. Yet in the digital age, people are turning to nerdy hacker-types as guides.

At first, they might seem like an odd source of romantic advice, but think again: Computer programmers...

How will generations that didn't experience the Holocaust remember it?

Written by Timothy Langille, Lecturer, Arizona State University

Childhood Holocaust survivors Simon Gronowski and Alice Gerstel Weit touring the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum.AP Photo/Reed Saxon

The Soviet Red Army liberated the most notorious of the Nazi death camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau, on Jan. 27, 1945.

This year, the United Nations and 39 countries will commemorate that date with International Holocaust...

Vital economic data was likely lost during the shutdown – here's why it matters to all Americans

Written by Amitrajeet A. Batabyal, Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics, Rochester Institute of Technology

Wall Street traders aren't the only ones who rely on government economic data.AP Photo/Richard Drew

The shutdown may be over – for now – but its consequences will linger on.

One of those concerns is the dizzying amount of economic data the federal government collects on everything from the state of the economy and investment to the cost...

How corruption in forensic science is harming the criminal justice system

Written by Jessica S. Henry, Associate Professor, Department of Justice Studies, Montclair State University

Television crime dramas like “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and its many spin-offs have fostered the popular belief that forensic science, or the use of science to solve crimes, is infallible.

Yet, as forensic scandal after forensic scandal sweeps the nation, a competing truth has emerged. Forensic science is only as reliable as the...

In Haiti, climate aid comes with strings attached

Written by Keston K. Perry, Postdoctoral researcher, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University

Haiti had not yet recovered from its devastating 2010 earthquake when it was hit hard by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. It is one of the world's most vulnerable nations to climate change.AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

Perhaps no people know better than Haitians just how dangerous, destructive and destabilizing climate change can be.

Haiti – which had...

Live cargo: How scientists pack butterflies, frogs and sea turtles for safe travels

Written by Jaret Daniels, Associate Professor of Entomology; Associate Curator and Program Director, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida

Scientists are raising Miami blue butterflies in captivity and reintroducing them in south Florida. Jeff Gage/Florida Museum of Natural History, CC BY-ND

Scientists who work with live organisms often have to move them between locations. This requires knowing what conditions creatures can tolerate well, and also can involve some unusual packing...

3 ways to make your voice heard besides protesting

Written by Kristina Lambright, Associate Dean of the College of Community and Public Affairs, and an Associate Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Destiny Watford and other Baltimore youth leaders derailed plans to build a big incinerator in their neighborhood.The Goldman Environmental Prize, CC BY-NC-ND

More Americans are trying to make their voices heard these days.

Approximately one in five Americans participated in a protest or rally between early 2016 and early 2018, according to a...

Why the Davos elites are still relevant

Written by Christopher Michaelson, Professor of Ethics and Business Law, University of St. Thomas

A police officer stands guard over the global elites who decided to make the trek to Davos this year.AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

Has Davos lost its mojo?

After U.S. President Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and other world leaders nixed plans to attend the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Switzerland, some began to claim “Davo...

I studied buttons for 7 years and learned these 5 lessons about how and why people push them

Written by Rachel Plotnick, Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, Indiana University

Press here – to do what, exactly?Pornthip Pongpakpatporn/Shutterstock.com

All day every day, throughout the United States, people push buttons – on coffee makers, TV remote controls and even social media posts they “like.” For more than seven years, I’ve been trying to understand why, looking into where buttons came...

University scientists feel the pain of the government shutdown, too

Written by Nicholas Bond, Washington State Climatologist and Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington

Federal and university employees normally work side by side on many big science projects.ITAE, CC BY-ND

I am very fortunate. My work involves research on topics of interest and importance (OK maybe I’m biased) related to the climate and oceanography of the North Pacific, and the weather of the Pacific Northwest.

My primary office is at the...