The Conversation

Lessons from White House disinformation a century ago: 'It's dangerous to believe your own propaganda'

Written by John Maxwell Hamilton, Global Scholar at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC and Hopkins P Breazeale Professor, Manship School of Mass Communications, Louisiana State University

Bolshevik leaders Nikolai Lenin and Leon Trotsky

One hundred years ago, the U.S. government published documents that fueled the mounting Red Scare, helped justify the American military invasion of Russia and poisoned American-Russian relations for years to come.

Newspapers across the United States began to publish the fake papers on Sept. 15, 1918.

U...

Want to help after hurricanes? Give cash, not diapers

Written by Julia Brooks, Researcher in international law and humanitarian response, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI), Harvard University

Roberto Clemente State Park employees in New York, with donated bottled water bottles bound for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

Some companies and community groups didn’t wait for Hurricane Florence to make landfall before organizing donation drives.

But as a researcher with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, an...

Why we love robotic dogs, puppets and dolls

Written by S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate, Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Hamilton College

Why are we drawn to tech toys?Ars Electronica, CC BY-NC-ND

There’s a lot of hype around the release of Sony’s latest robotic dog. It’s called “aibo,” and is promoted as using artificial intelligence to respond to people looking at it, talking to it and touching it.

Japanese customers have already bought over 20,000...

Hurricanes can cause enormous damage inland, but emergency plans focus on coasts

Written by Craig E. Colten, Carl O. Sauer Professor of Geography, Louisiana State University

Farm near Seven Springs, North Carolina, surrounded by water on Oct. 25, 1999, nearly six weeks after Hurricane Floyd.AP Photo/Karen Tam

As Hurricane Florence approaches the U.S. coast, over a million people have been ordered to evacuate from barrier islands and low-lying areas from South Carolina to Virginia. Precautions like this have been part...

How social networks can save lives when disasters strike

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

Assembling sandbags in Virginia Beach, Va., before Hurricane Florence's arrivalAP Photo/Alex Brandon

Soon after my family moved to New Orleans in the summer of 2005, we heard Mayor Ray Nagin’s first warnings about Hurricane Katrina. With two young children, a job I hadn’t started yet, and little in the way of savings, my wife and I...

Why the Russians might hack the Boy Scouts next

Written by Susan Landau, Professor of Computer Science, Law and Diplomacy and Cybersecurity, Tufts University

Civic groups like the Boy Scouts are likely under attack by Russian agents – and likely don't know it.Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock.com

In the two years since Russia made headlines for targeting an American political organization – the Democratic National Committee – and undermining Hillary Clinton’s race for the presidency,...

India's sodomy ban, now ruled illegal, was a British colonial legacy

Written by Amy Bhatt, Associate Professor of Gender and Women's Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Hindu texts from thousands of years ago demonstrate acceptance of a 'third gender.' Today, transgender Indians, or hijras, remain visible members of society.AP Photo/Bikas Das

The Indian Supreme Court has legalized homosexuality, overturning a 157-year ban on consensual gay sex.

In a nearly 500-page unanimous decision issued on Sept. 6,...

How Les Moonves got to leave CBS on his own terms while others in #MeToo miscreant club got canned

Written by Elizabeth C. Tippett, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Oregon

On Sept. 9, CBS Chairman Les Moonves resigned, following accusations by 12 women of harassment and assault.

His departure, however, has not followed the script of other executives publicly shamed over harassment allegations and thrown out onto the curb.

Unlike television hosts Matt Lauer or Charlie Rose, he kept his job for several weeks after The...

What is flood insurance and why the system is broken: 6 questions answered

Written by Robert W. Klein, Director, Center for RMI Research, Associate Professor, Risk Management and Insurance, Georgia State University

High tides, whipped in by Hurricane Hazel in 1954, shattered boats and buildings in Swansboro, N.C.AP Photo, File

Editor’s note: Homeowners generally rely on insurance provided by the federal government to cover the costs of rebuilding their lives after a flood. We asked an insurance expert to explain the government program and its challenges....

New data paint an unpleasant picture of poverty in the US

Written by Steven Pressman, Professor of Economics, Colorado State University

On a budget.hd connelly/shutterstock

On Sept. 12, the U.S. Census Bureau released national poverty data for 2017.

The headline was that 39.7 million people were poor in 2017. This works out to 12.3 percent of the population or one in eight Americans. The good news is that the U.S. poverty rate has fallen since 2010, when it hit 15.1 percent, and is...