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The Conversation

Mexican Mennonites combat fears of violence with a new Christmas tradition

  • Written by Rebecca Janzen, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, University of South Carolina
The countryside around Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua, is home to the country's largest Mennonite population. AP Photo/Gregory Bull

Mennonites in Mexico are promoting a bright new Christmas tradition – one born of somber origins.

The “Parade of Lights,” a nighttime procession of decorated vehicles...

Read more: Mexican Mennonites combat fears of violence with a new Christmas tradition

Like 'Little Women,' books by Zitkála-Šá and Taha Hussein are classics

  • Written by Sheila Cordner, Senior Lecturer of Humanities, Boston University
Louisa May Alcott has delighted readers for generations.AP Photo/Steven Senne

I’m a scholar of literature who spends a lot of time thinking about why certain stories continue to be revisited, and what works can be considered classics today.

So I’m looking forward to seeing Greta Gerwig’s film version of “Little Women,”...

Read more: Like 'Little Women,' books by Zitkála-Šá and Taha Hussein are classics

We calculated emissions due to electricity loss on the power grid – globally, it's a lot

  • Written by Sarah Marie Jordaan, Assistant Professor of Energy, Resources and Environment and Canadian Studies, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
In some countries, as much as half of the generated electricity is lost in transmission.yelantsevv/Shutterstock.com

When it comes to strategies for slowing the effects of climate change, the idea of reducing wasted energy rarely gets a mention. But our recent Nature Climate Change article makes the case that reducing wastage in the power sector,...

Read more: We calculated emissions due to electricity loss on the power grid – globally, it's a lot

Not every campus is a political battlefield

  • Written by Graham Wright, Associate Research Scientist, Maurice & Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University
The headlines blare stories about political battles on college campuses in the U.S., but the reality is different.AP/Rick Bowmer

As the House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearings were livestreamed from Capitol Hill, a group of students at the University of Florida launched an attempt to impeach their student body president for his role in...

Read more: Not every campus is a political battlefield

5 new ways for schools to work with families

  • Written by Ann M. Ishimaru, Associate Professor, University of Washington
A new way is needed for schools to engage with parents.Shutterstock

Text messages, email alerts, open houses, fundraising appeals, robocalls – parents know the drill. They are inundated with requests from children’s schools.

These missives aren’t really asking for engagement. Rather they can be viewed as ways for educators to tell...

Read more: 5 new ways for schools to work with families

What happens when black Americans leave their segregated hometowns

  • Written by Christine Leibbrand, Acting Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Washington
More than half of black people in the U.S. live in highly segregated areas.Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock.com

Where someone grows up is profoundly important for their life chances. It influences things like the schools they attend, the jobs, parks and community resources they have access to and the peers they interact with.

Because of this comprehensive...

Read more: What happens when black Americans leave their segregated hometowns

'Robotic blacksmithing': A technology that could revive US manufacturing

  • Written by Glenn S. Daehn, Fontana Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University
Robots already assemble and weld products in factories. Can they make the components parts themselves, too?Factory_Easy/Shutterstock.com

Although it may not be obvious, there’s a close link between manufacturing technology and innovation. Elon Musk often talks of the “machines that build the machines” as being the real enabler in...

Read more: 'Robotic blacksmithing': A technology that could revive US manufacturing

Paul Volcker helped shape an independent Federal Reserve – a vital legacy that's under threat

  • Written by Michael Klein, Professor of International Economic Affairs at The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Paul Volcker was a courageous central banker.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Paul Volcker, who died on Dec. 8, is the poster boy for central bank independence and why it matters.

One of his legacies, as you may have read in the many obituariespublished since his death, is taming the runaway inflation that posed an existential threat to the U.S....

Read more: Paul Volcker helped shape an independent Federal Reserve – a vital legacy that's under threat

What can drones do to protect civilians in armed conflict?

  • Written by Michael Yekple, Ph.D. Candidate in Security Studies, University of Central Florida
U.N. technicians prepare an unarmed drone for flight over the Democratic Republic of Congo.MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti/Flickr, CC BY-SA

Drones are usually in the news for bad reasons, like controversial killings of suspected terrorists in the Middle East, bombings of Saudi oil facilities or an assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro...

Read more: What can drones do to protect civilians in armed conflict?

Fat-shaming pregnant women isn't just mean, it's harmful

  • Written by Angela Rodriguez, Assistant professor of Psychology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Criticizing pregnant women about their weight can be bad for them and their babies.kzenan/Shutterstock.com

December is considered the most fertile month, a time when there’s the greatest likelihood that children will be conceived. Some experts even pinpoint Dec. 11 as the most fertile day.

But in the lead up to giving birth and in the time...

Read more: Fat-shaming pregnant women isn't just mean, it's harmful

More Articles ...

  1. Millions of burnt trees and rusted cars: Post-disaster cleanup is expensive, time-consuming and wasteful
  2. Taliban negotiations resume, feeding hope of a peaceful, more prosperous Afghanistan
  3. Super rats or sickly rodents? Our war against urban rats could be leading to swift evolutionary changes
  4. How the 'extreme abstinence' of the purity movement created a sense of shame in evangelical women
  5. In its anti-'Medicare for All' push, the health insurance industry pulls from an old playbook
  6. A brief guide to how the China-US trade war will affect your holiday shopping
  7. What the Roman senate's grovelling before emperors explains about GOP senators' support for Trump
  8. New studies show discrimination widely reported by women, people of color and LGBTQ adults
  9. Risk rooted in colonial era weighs on Bahamas' efforts to rebuild after Hurricane Dorian
  10. What makes wine dry? It's easy to taste, but much harder to measure
  11. Why the holidays are a prime time for elder abuse, and what you can do to thwart it
  12. Payday lenders have embraced installment loans to evade regulations – but they may be even worse
  13. Why are kids today less patriotic?
  14. Nicolas Bourbaki: The greatest mathematician who never was
  15. Courts have avoided refereeing between Congress and the president, but Trump may force them to wade in
  16. Why it can be hard to stop eating even when you're full: Some foods may be designed that way
  17. What makes Christmas movies so popular
  18. Why the US military usually punishes misconduct but police often close ranks
  19. American influence could take the hit as Putin, Zelenskiy try to make peace in Donbass
  20. Large-scale education tests often come with side effects
  21. American influence could take the hit as Putin, Zelenskiy try to make peace in Ukraine
  22. From their balloons, the first aeronauts transformed our view of the world
  23. NPR is still expanding the range of what authority sounds like after 50 years
  24. Limited eating times could be a new way to fight obesity and diabetes
  25. Turning gray and into the red: The true cost of growing old in America
  26. 5 ways to check a college's financial health
  27. 'Stop-and-frisk' can work, under careful supervision
  28. An ethicist explains why philanthropy is no license to do bad stuff
  29. India's plan to identify 'illegal immigrants' could get some Muslims declared 'foreign'
  30. Why are moths attracted to light?
  31. Bolivia after Morales: An 'ungovernable country' with a power vacuum
  32. How toys became gendered – and why it’ll take more than a gender-neutral doll to change how boys perceive femininity
  33. What's in a title? When it comes to 'Doctor,' more than you might think
  34. The company that makes OxyContin could become a 'public trust' – what would that mean?
  35. Why your generic drugs may not be safe and the FDA may be too lax
  36. Trump's border wall threatens an Arizona oasis with a long, diverse history
  37. Inequity takes a toll on your gut microbes, too
  38. Robotics researchers have a duty to prevent autonomous weapons
  39. 'Blue' space: Access to water features can boost city dwellers' mental health
  40. 'The Mandela Effect' is the perfect film for our age of distrust and doubt
  41. Why Americans are staying put, instead of moving to a new city or state
  42. Currency manipulation and why Trump is picking on Brazil and Argentina
  43. At 70, is NATO still important? 5 essential reads
  44. Climate, not conflict, drove many Syrian refugees to Lebanon
  45. Faith made Harriet Tubman fearless as she rescued slaves
  46. A quantum computing future is unlikely, due to random hardware errors
  47. Haitian migrants face deportation and stigma in hurricane-ravaged Bahamas
  48. The tricky ethics of Google's Project Nightingale, an effort to learn from millions of health records
  49. Invasive grasses are fueling wildfires across the US
  50. Pregnant women have a higher risk of delivering early on unseasonably hot days