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The Conversation

Organic food health benefits have been hard to assess, but that could change

  • Written by Cynthia Curl, Assistant Professor, Boise State University
Freshly harvested organic foods such as these radishes may seem to be healthier, but it is difficult to say for sureFedorovacz/Shutterstock.com

“Organic” is more than just a passing fad. Organic food sales totaled a record US$45.2 billion in 2017, making it one of the fastest-growing segments of American agriculture. While a small...

Read more: Organic food health benefits have been hard to assess, but that could change

What's behind the protests in Kashmir?

  • Written by Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana University
Kashmiri Muslims shout slogans during a protest after Eid prayers in Srinagar.AP Photo/ Dar Yasin

India recently enacted a law which will end a special autonomous status given to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, known in the West as simply “Kashmir.”

Amit Shah, India’s minister for home affairs, announced in Parliament that the...

Read more: What's behind the protests in Kashmir?

Why building community – even through discomfort – could help stressed college students

  • Written by Shawna Shapiro, Associate Professor of Writing and Linguistics; Director of Writing & Rhetoric Program, Middlebury
A sense of belonging can enhance the college experience. Shutterstock

It is a growing problem on campuses across America. Students entering college are reporting levels of anxiety, depression and social isolation higher than previous generations. The phrase “mental health crisis” has become commonplace within higher education circles.

Tod...

Read more: Why building community – even through discomfort – could help stressed college students

Shouldn’t there be a law against reckless opioid sales? Turns out, there is

  • Written by Nicolas Paul Terry, Professor of Law, IUPUI
Protests and lawsuits against opioid manufacturers are growing more common, but drug distributors are also facing scrutiny.AP Photo/Charles Krupa

The massive scale of prescription opioid shipments as the ongoing overdose epidemic unfolded has started to come into focus.

Drug companies shipped 76 billion opioid pain pills to U.S. health care...

Read more: Shouldn’t there be a law against reckless opioid sales? Turns out, there is

What's the right way for scientists to edit human genes? 5 essential reads

  • Written by Maggie Villiger, Senior Science + Technology Editor
Ethical frameworks, rules, laws: all try to have their say.Tati9/Shutterstock.com

Since scientists first figured out how to edit genes with precision using a technology called CRISPR, they’ve been grappling with when and how to do it ethically. Is it reasonable to edit human genes with CRISPR? What about human genes in reproductive cells that...

Read more: What's the right way for scientists to edit human genes? 5 essential reads

Why are so many languages spoken in some places and so few in others?

  • Written by Marco Túlio Pacheco Coelho, Ph.D. Student in Ecology, Universidade Federal de Goias
What factors contribute to some places having many, while other places have few?VLADGRIN/Shutterstock.com

People across the world describe their thoughts and emotions, share experiences and spread ideas through the use of thousands of distinct languages. These languages form a fundamental part of our humanity. They determine whom we communicate...

Read more: Why are so many languages spoken in some places and so few in others?

A brief astronomical history of Saturn's amazing rings

  • Written by Vahe Peroomian, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the Sun's blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before.

Many dream of what they would do had they a time machine. Some would travel 100 million years back in time, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Not many, though, would think of taking a telescope with them,...

Read more: A brief astronomical history of Saturn's amazing rings

Fifty years ago, Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock anthem expressed the hopes and fears of a nation

  • Written by Mark Clague, Associate Professor of Musicology, University of Michigan
Hendrix's version of the National Anthem combined reverence and revolution.nelag0/pixabay, CC BY

One of the most powerful, searing renditions of the national anthem ever recorded, Jimi Hendrix’s iconic Woodstock anthem, almost never happened.

In his memoir, Hendrix’s drummer, Mitch Mitchell, admitted that the band “hadn’t...

Read more: Fifty years ago, Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock anthem expressed the hopes and fears of a nation

50 years ago, Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock anthem expressed the hopes and fears of a nation

  • Written by Mark Clague, Associate Professor of Musicology, University of Michigan
Hendrix's version of the National Anthem combined reverence and revolution.nelag0/pixabay, CC BY

One of the most powerful, searing renditions of the national anthem ever recorded, Jimi Hendrix’s iconic Woodstock anthem, almost never happened.

In his memoir, Hendrix’s drummer, Mitch Mitchell, admitted that the band “hadn’t...

Read more: 50 years ago, Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock anthem expressed the hopes and fears of a nation

One budget line Congress can agree on: Spending billions on the US military

  • Written by Rebecca U. Thorpe, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Washington
Since WWII, there's been strong partisan support for military spending.Mircea Moira/Shutterstock.com

The two-year budget deal signed into law in July marks a rare bipartisan agreement.

The deal adds US$320 billion over current spending levels spread across defense and non-defense programs, averting the threat of debt default until after the 2020...

Read more: One budget line Congress can agree on: Spending billions on the US military

More Articles ...

  1. Huge wildfires in the Arctic and far North send a planetary warning
  2. Mexico wants to run a tourist train through its Mayan heartland — should it?
  3. Surprising volunteers with awards is one way to keep them on board
  4. We use satellites to measure water scarcity
  5. Want better sleep? Try a warm bath or shower 1-2 hours before bedtime, study suggests
  6. New laws give victims more time to report rape or sexual assault – even Jeffrey Epstein's
  7. Saving endangered species: 5 essential reads
  8. Restoring soil can help address climate change
  9. Guatemala's next president has few plans for fixing rampant corruption, crime and injustice
  10. I'm one of hundreds of archaeologists exiled from Syria who's mourning what the war is costing us
  11. A neuroscience-based action plan to deal with stress after El Paso and Dayton shootings
  12. Making money off of politics isn't new – it was business as usual in the Gilded Age
  13. The journalist who exposed the Jeffrey Epsteins of Victorian London
  14. New climate change report underscores the need to manage land for the short and long term
  15. Why the 2020 census matters for rural Americans
  16. Talking about Charlottesville with alt-right students
  17. Remote control for brain cells: scientists use ultrasound waves to activate neurons
  18. The new field of sonogenetics uses sound waves to control the behavior of brain cells
  19. Companies promoting causes can be accused of 'wokewashing' – allying themselves only for good PR
  20. Curious Kids: Is homework worthwhile?
  21. Saudi women are fighting for their freedom – and their hard-won victories are growing
  22. Americans’ support for immigration is at record highs – but the government is out of sync with their views
  23. Can experts determine who might be a mass killer? 3 questions answered
  24. I traveled to American Samoa 5 times to study the secret to its football success
  25. 5 tips for parents to build communication skills with children with autism spectrum disorder
  26. NASCAR may be the fastest way to learn about physics
  27. Trump's fight to count US citizens and non-citizens: 5 questions answered
  28. Gender equality at home takes a hit when children arrive
  29. Climate change will mean more multiyear snow droughts in the West
  30. 5 reasons why Trump's Venezuela embargo won't end the Maduro regime
  31. A tick detective wants to understand what drives tick abundance
  32. What 1860 and 1968 can teach America about the 2020 presidential election
  33. French cannabis legalization debate ignores race, religion and the mass incarceration of Muslims
  34. Mass shootings aren't growing more common – and evidence contradicts common stereotypes about the killers
  35. Blood tests for Alzheimer’s: Two experts on why new studies are encouraging
  36. The US-China trade war: 5 essential reads
  37. How to grow human mini-livers in the lab to help solve liver disease
  38. Drilling deeper wells is a band-aid solution to US groundwater woes
  39. Everything in Mecca gets 5 stars — and online reviews of other holy sites are wildly inflated, too
  40. The facts on the US children and teens killed by firearms
  41. The 'warspeak' permeating everyday language puts us all in the trenches
  42. Guns and mental illness: A psychiatrist explains the complexities
  43. From across the globe to El Paso, changes in the language of the far-right explain its current violence
  44. Space travel might fry your brain, causing permanent learning and memory problems
  45. Astronauts' brains are subject to long-lasting damage due to low dose space radiation
  46. Police are more likely to kill men and women of color
  47. Stop blaming video games for mass killings
  48. How the University of Alaska – and other public U.S. universities – now struggle for funding
  49. This tax credit wasn't meant to help with housing, but that's exactly what it's doing
  50. Will Trump’s trade war with China ever end?