The Conversation

Memo to next president: Here's how to avoid our history of energy policy mistakes

Written by Michael E. Webber, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Deputy Director of the Energy Institute, University of Texas at Austin

Domestic energy production, both fossil fuels and renewables, has surged in the past decade, yet policy priorities haven't.dingatx/flickr, CC BY-NC

With all of the hubbub surrounding this year’s presidential election, something important has slipped by with little notice: Despite the fact that it affects our economy, environment and national...

Psychology expert: Why extremists use violence in their quest for significance

Written by Arie Kruglanski, Professor of Psychology, University of Maryland

The recent attack in New York, which left 29 persons wounded, the bombings in New Jersey and the knife attack in Minnesota serve as a grim reminder that this year of blood and fury carries on.

“We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio stated Monday afternoon in reference to the bombings...

Suffering from Fed rate hike anxiety? You're not the only one

Written by Alexander Kurov, Associate Professor of Finance, West Virginia University

I saw one of my undergraduate students reading the Wall Street Journal the other day. I’m a finance professor, so this was a welcome sight.

“What’s happening in the markets?” I asked. He said he wanted to learn more about this week’s Federal Reserve meeting about whether or not to raise its target interest rate, which...

What is terrorism, and is it getting worse?

Written by Frederic Lemieux, Professor and Program Director of Bachelor in Police and Security Studies; Master’s in Homeland Security; Master’s in Cybersecurity Strategy and Information Management, George Washington University

A bomb exploded in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan on Saturday, injuring 29 people. Police discovered a second explosive device nearby. Like the bomb used in the Boston Marathon attack, these devices were built from pressure cookers and loaded with shrapnel.

On Monday morning, a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey led to the arrest of...

'Snowden,' a picture of the cybersecurity state

Written by Sanjay Goel, Professor of Information Technology Management, University at Albany, State University of New York

What can 'Snowden' teach us about cybersecurity?Jürgen Olczyk/Open Road Films, CC BY

With the release of a new film about Edward Snowden, the man who revealed secret documents detailing a massive U.S. government spying program, the debate about his character continues. That includes a renewed effort to encourage President Obama to pardon him....

Taking the GUESSwork out of video game satisfaction

Written by Barbara Chaparro, Professor of Psychology, Wichita State University

What makes a video game fun?Gamers via shutterstock.com

People who play video games are often wary of buying new games – they don’t know whether they’ll actually be fun to play. So they read reviews and try out games in stores or at friends' houses before deciding on a purchase.

Game designers have a similar problem – how to...

How Congress is failing on Zika

Written by Ana Santos Rutschman, Jaharis Faculty Fellow in Health Law and Intellectual Property, DePaul University

Three times Congress has taken up legislation to fund the continuing response to the Zika outbreak.

Three times the bill, which would allocate US$1.1 billion to fight the disease, has fallen short of attracting bipartisan support.

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention close to exhausting available funds for Zika preparedness and...

How random is your randomness, and why does it matter?

Written by David Zuckerman, Professor of Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin

What if the person flipping the coin cheats?Coin and hand via shutterstock.com

Randomness is powerful. Think about a presidential poll: A random sample of just 400 people in the United States can accurately estimate Clinton’s and Trump’s support to within 5 percent (with 95 percent certainty), despite the U.S. population exceeding 300...

Should Wells Fargo execs responsible for bilking customers be forced to return their pay?

Written by Lee Reiners, Director of Global Financial Markets Center, Duke University

In Wells Fargo's case, a discussion often wasn't required. Wells Fargo via www.shutterstock.com

Having spent five years supervising large financial institutions on Wall Street, I am rarely surprised by the latest news of banks behaving badly.

But even the most hardened cynics, such as myself, were taken aback by the recent announcement that Wells...

Black Americans may be more resilient to stress than white Americans

Written by Shervin Assari, Research Investigator of Psychiatry, University of Michigan

White Americans live on average 3.6 years longer than black Americans. If you look only at men, the difference becomes 4.4 years.

As I found in a recent study, the main reason behind this disparity is that black Americans are at higher risk of most chronic medical conditions, such as hypertension, obesity, heart disease, stroke and cancer than other...