The Conversation

Don't automate the fun out of life

Written by Peter Hancock, Professor of Psychology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, University of Central Florida

Would a robot appreciate this view?soft_light/Shutterstock.com

Imagine you are about to go on vacation. You have been looking forward to it for some time. But your robotic personal assistant has other ideas. It calmly explains to you that it will be cheaper, safer and more efficient for it to take your place on the holiday trip.

In one sense,...

Look up at the super blue blood full moon Jan. 31 – here's what you'll see and why

Written by Shannon Schmoll, Director, Abrams Planetarium, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University

As long as clouds don't get in the way, the view should be spectacular.NASA Goddard, CC BY

During the early hours of Jan. 31, there will be a full moon, a total lunar eclipse, a blue moon and a supermoon – all at the same time. None of these things is really all that unusual by itself. What is rare is that they’re happening all together...

4 things you need to know right now to protect yourself from the flu

Written by Arnold Monto, Professor, Epidemiology, University of Michigan

Donnie Cardenas, on bed, waits with his roommate Torrey Jewett at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido, Calif., Jan. 10, 2018. Cardenas had the flu.AP Photo/Greg Bull

This has been a particularly bad influenza season, starting early especially in the South and West Coast in the U.S. This follows a severe season in Australia during our summer.

There...

How talented kids from low-income families become America's 'Lost Einsteins'

Written by Alexander Bell, PhD Candidate, Economics, Harvard University

New research concludes that there are many “Lost Einsteins” in America – children who had the ability to become inventors but didn't because of where they were born.Shutterstock.com

Innovation is widely viewed as the engine of economic growth.

To maximize innovation and growth, all of our brightest youth should have the opportunity...

DACA isn't just about social justice – legalizing Dreamers makes economic sense too

Written by Amy Hsin, Associate Professor of Sociology, City University of New York

Demonstrators chant slogans during an immigration rally in support of DACA.AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Earlier this month, hopes were high that a bipartisan deal could be reached to resolve the fate of the “Dreamers,” the millions of undocumented youth who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Those hopes all but vanished on Jan. 11 as...

Successful businesses need proactive leadership – and so does Congress

Written by Thomas Bateman, Professor of Management, University of Virginia

Congress could learn a thing or two about acting proactively from Elon Musk, seen here with his Dragon space capsule.AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Imagine you’re speeding along on a highway. Suddenly, the traffic ahead of you slows, forcing you to hit the breaks. Eventually you arrive at the source of the bottleneck: a mattress lying in the right...

Is it time for a 21st-century version of 'The Day After'?

Written by Marsha Gordon, Professor of Film Studies, North Carolina State University

It’s beginning to feel like the 1980s all over again.

Already this year, we’ve seen Donald Trump tweeting provocative nuclear threats about North Korea. A terrifying (but false) incoming missile alert set Hawaiians on edge, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention planned (and then postponed) a nuclear attack preparedness...

Is a unified Korea possible?

Written by Ji-Young Lee, Assistant Professor, American University School of International Service

North and South Korean athletes will march under one flag during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.

The “Korean Unification Flag” is both a highly symbolic marker of reconciliation and a reminder of a divided Korea, a condition that has lasted since 1945.

As a scholar of East Asian international...

Unrest in Iran will continue until religious rule ends

Written by Haidar Khezri, Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Central Eurasian Studies (CEUS), Indiana University

The two-week protest movement that rocked cities across Iran earlier this year has largely subsided, but the fallout from the government’s harsh response has just begun. More than 3,700 people were arrested and 23 were killed in sometimes violent nationwide marches that started on Dec. 28, 2017, in response to an austerity budget proposed by...

Spanish use is steady or dropping in US despite high Latino immigration

Written by Phillip M Carter, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Florida International University

Hidden just beneath the surface of the ongoing heated debate about immigration in the United States lurks an often unspoken concern: language. Specifically, whether immigration from Spanish-speaking countries threatens the English language’s dominance.

Language and immigration have long been politically linked in the U.S. When Farmers...