The Conversation

Inside North Korea's literary fiction factory

Written by Meredith Shaw, Ph.D. Candidate in the Politics and International Relations, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

North Korean women work at the cashier table of a bookstore in Pyongyang, North Korea.AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

With colorful rhetoric about dotards and nuclear buttons, North Korean propaganda is attracting attention around the world.

Outside observers can now easily access some of this propaganda by visiting regime-sponsored websites. These have, in...

Does America have a caste system?

Written by Subramanian Shankar, Professor of English (Postoclonial Literature and Creative Writing), University of Hawaii

In the United States, inequality tends to be framed as an issue of either class, race or both. Consider, for example, criticism that Republicans’ new tax plan is a weapon of “class warfare,” or accusations that the recent U.S. government shutdown was racist.

As an India-born novelist and scholar who teaches in the United States,...

Can mirrors boost solar panel output - and help overcome Trump's tariffs?

Written by Joshua M. Pearce, Professor, Michigan Technological University

Now that panel costs in U.S. will go up, will reflectors make a comeback?Joshua M. Pearce, CC BY-SA

Falling costs for solar power have led to an explosive growth in residential, commercial and utility-scale solar use over the past decade. The levelized cost of solar electricity using imported solar panels – that is, the solar electricity...

The comeback and dangers of the drug GHB

Written by Joseph Palamar, Associate Professor of Population Health, New York University Langone Medical Center

The drug GHB gained notoriety during raves decades ago, but it is resurfacing again. Anthony Mooney/Shutterstock.com

A highly potent drug called GHB is making a comeback in nightlife scenes, along with overdoses and even death. On Jan. 23, 2018, “Storm Chaser” star Joel Taylor died on a cruise ship. Celebrity news site TMZ reported that...

Treasury Secretary Mnuchin's weak-dollar myopia is dangerous

Written by Benjamin J. Cohen, Professor of International Political Economy, University of California, Santa Barbara

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin walks through the snow at Davos. AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

Breaking with long-standing tradition, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin endorsed the weakening of the dollar as “good” for the United States.

Speaking during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 24, Mnuchin...

Macron's pledge to wipe out coal is just as meaningless as Trump's plan to revive it

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State University

Emmanuel Macron, president of France, gestures during a special address in Davos, Switzerland. AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

In a speech at the 2018 World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland, French President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to “make France a model in the fight against climate change” and promised to shut all coal-fired...

Fossil jawbone from Israel is the oldest modern human found outside Africa

Written by Rolf Quam, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Fossilized teeth from a modern human who lived in Israel close to 200,000 years ago.Israel Hershkovitz, Tel Aviv University, CC BY-ND

New fossil finds over the past few years have been forcing anthropologists to reexamine our evolutionary path to becoming human. Now the earliest modern human fossil ever found outside the continent of Africa is...

Why climate change is worsening public health problems

Written by Chelsey Kivland, Professor of Anthropology, Dartmouth College

People collect water piped in from a mountain creek in Utuado, Puerto Rico on Oct. 14, 2017, in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans were still without running water. AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa

Around the world, the health care debate often revolves around access.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World...

The state of the US solar industry: 5 questions answered

Written by Joshua D. Rhodes, Research Fellow of Energy, University of Texas at Austin

Dedicating a 31-kilowatt photovoltaic array at Rainshadow Community Charter High School, in Reno, Nevada. BlackRock Solar, CC BY

Editor’s note: On Jan. 22, 2018, the Trump administration announced plans to impose punitive duties on solar panels imported from abroad. This decision came in response to a complaint filed by two solar companies,...

For a North Korean refugee raising her kids in the UK, the past is never far

Written by Jieun Baek, PhD candidate in Public Policy, University of Oxford

Jihyun Park finds joy in the little things many take for granted, whether it's being able to drop her kids off at school or having family dinners. Author provided

Grace Park is an 8-year-old girl from Manchester, United Kingdom, who likes making colorful bracelets with plastic lanyards, playing games with her two older brothers, and writing poems...