The Conversation

Heat waves can be deadly for older adults: An aging global population and rising temperatures mean millions are at risk

Written by Deborah Carr, A&S Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Innovation in Social Science, Boston University

Older adults face health risks from high heat for many reasons, including medications.AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

A deadly heat wave gripped large regions of Asia for weeks in April and May 2024. As temperatures climbed past 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) in India on May 7, campaigning politicians, local news announcers and voters waiting in...

Heat waves can be deadly for older adults: An aging global population and rising temperatures mean millions are at risk, as Asia is experiencing

Written by Deborah Carr, A&S Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Innovation in Social Science, Boston University

Older adults face health risks from high heat for many reasons, including medications.AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

A deadly heat wave gripped large regions of Asia for weeks in spring 2024, sending temperatures in India’s capital region over 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 Celsius) in late May. Officials in Delhi warned residents that they could face po...

More military veterans and active duty service members are dying by suicide than in battle – understanding why can help with prevention

Written by April Smith, Associate Professor of Psychological Sciences, Auburn University

Active duty service members and veterans experience unique stresses that can lead to suicide.MivPiv/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Although service members know they may lose their lives in combat in service of their country, they may not expect to lose their lives – or those they love – to suicide. A 2021 study estimated that four times...

How opioid treatment centers can overcome bipartisan NIMBYism to build local support

Written by Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

Democrats and Republicans are equally less likely to support a drug treatment clinic if it's in their neighborhood. Can Merey/picture alliance via Getty Images

Some residents of Fairmount, an upper-middle-income neighborhood of Philadelphia, are irate that a nearby homeless shelter is being turned into an addiction “triage” center withou...

An ancient manuscript up for sale gives a glimpse into the history of early Christianity

Written by Ian N. Mills, Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics and Religious Studies, Hamilton College

The Crosby-Schoyen Codex at Christie's auction house in Paris. The manuscript goes up for auction in London on June 11, 2024.Julien De Rosa/AFP via Getty Images

An important piece of early Christian history, the Crosby-Schøyen Codex, is up for auction at Christie’s in London. This codex is a mid-fourth century book from Egypt...

US participation in space has benefits at home and abroad − reaping them all will require collaboration

Written by Cheyenne Black, Graduate Research Assistant in the Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, University of Oklahoma

"Cosmic cliffs” in the Carina nebula, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope.NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

When people think about what we get from the U.S. space program, it may be along the lines of NASA technology spin-offs such as freeze-dried food and emergency space blankets.

But space activities do much more that benefits life on Earth....

Campus protests are part of an enduring legacy of civil disobedience improving American democracy

Written by Lawrence Torcello, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology

A protester cleans up after a pro-Palestinian demonstration ended peacefully at Brown University.AP Photo/David Goldman

They didn’t illegally camp out in local parks or on college campuses, as many protesters did across the U.S. recently. But back in 1773, the Boston Tea Partiers broke the law when they protested British Colonial taxes by...

Kenyan president will receive White House praise over troops-to-Haiti move − but lack of action across Americas should prompt regional soul-searching

Written by Jorge Heine, Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University

Kenyan President William Ruto will attend a rare U.S. state reception for an African leader on May 23, 2024 – but much of the chat will be about a third country: Haiti.

Kenyan troops are preparing to deploy to the Caribbean nation as part of a U.N.-backed mission aimed at bringing stability to a country ravaged by gang violence.

The White...

Biden and Trump will fight for Michigan’s votes county by county in a state where little things matter a lot

Written by Dante Chinni, Director, American Communities Project, Michigan State University

Somali Americans cast their early votes at the Lansing city clerk's office on November 2, 2020, in Lansing, Michigan. John Moore/Getty Images

Between now and Election Day, journalists are going to spend a lot of time talking about Michigan as one of a group of “crucial battleground states” in the 2024 campaign. There will be stories...

Soviet media downplayed the significance of the D-Day invasion

Written by Stephen Norris, Professor of History; Director of the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies, Miami University

The Soviet Union's leading newspaper only mentioned D-Day in small print at the very top of its front page on June 7, 1944.Pravda

When Russian President Vladimir Putin was not invited to participate in the 75th anniversary commemorations of D-Day held in France in 2019, he claimed it was “not a problem” because the Allied invasion of...