The Conversation

Most students borrow for college, but are they financially literate?

Written by Catherine Montalto, Associate Professor of Consumer Sciences, The Ohio State University

What do students know when they are taking out loans?Tulane Public Relations, CC BY

August is here, and many families are preparing their children for the next academic challenge – a college education.

By and large, a college degree is viewed as an important credential for gainful employment and professional success. At the same time, college...

Turkey's coup and the call to prayer: Sounds of violence meet Islamic devotionals

Written by Denise Gill, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology, Washington University in St Louis

The sounds of the recent military coup will long be remembered by people in Turkey.

Yet as Turks in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and other urban centers strained to differentiate the sounds of explosive devices from the sonic booms of F-16s on July 15, 2016, they were most shocked by another sound, at once familiar and deeply startling: the Islamic call...

When disaster-response apps fail

Written by Nicholas Kman, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, The Ohio State University

The scene in Nice the morning after the July 14 terror attack – during which an emergency-warning app failed to give timely notice.Michel Abada, CC BY-SA

When a terrorist struck Nice, France, on July 14, a new French government app designed to alert people failed. Three hours passed before SAIP, as the app is called, warned people in and...

Uber's Didi deal dispels Chinese 'El Dorado' myth once and for all

Written by Erik Gordon, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Michigan

Plenty of gold but little growth.Golden dragons via www.shutterstock.com

Didi, the Chinese ride-sharing service, did more than run the American ride service, Uber, out of China. In my view, it destroyed the China El Dorado myth.

The El Dorado (“the golden one”) myth referred to a supposed city of gold somewhere in Latin America. Spanish...

What can a 1.7-million-year-old hominid fossil teach us about cancer?

Written by Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University

Volume rendered image of the external morphology of the foot bone shows the extent of expansion of the primary bone cancer beyond the surface of the bone.Patrick Randolph-Quinney (UCLAN)

In late July, an international team of researchers announced that they had identified evidence of cancer in the fossilized remains of a biological relative of...

The flossing flap: Mind your dentist, and floss every night

Written by Julie Rezk, Professor of Dentistry, Vanderbilt University

While flossing may not be fun, it is still good for you.From www.shuttertock.com

“To floss or not to floss?” has become a big question in the past week. News reports have conflicted, leading to confusion.

First came a story from the Associated Press on Aug. 2 that the Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services had droppe...

When doping wasn't considered cheating

Written by Duncan Stone, Visiting Researcher, University of Huddersfield

Jim Thorpe and Ben Johnson were both banned from the Olympics. But if each had played at different points in history, they would have been allowed to compete. Nick Lehr/The Conversation, CC BY-SA

Trying to gain an advantage over your opponent is as old as sport itself. But what’s considered fair and unfair is often up for debate.

In cricket,...

Why utilities have little incentive to plug leaking natural gas

Written by Catherine Hausman, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of Michigan

The EPA has issued rules to regulate methane emission from new oil and gas wells in the face of industry and political pushback. gas storage via www.shutterstock.com

The Aliso Canyon leak in California earlier this year focused public attention on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.

Methane is the primary component of natural gas, and...

Biohybrid robots built from living tissue start to take shape

Written by Victoria Webster, Ph.D. Candidate in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Case Western Reserve University

Biohybrid sea slug, reporting for duty.Dr. Andrew Horchler, CC BY-ND

Think of a traditional robot and you probably imagine something made from metal and plastic. Such “nuts-and-bolts” robots are made of hard materials. As robots take on more roles beyond the lab, such rigid systems can present safety risks to the people they interact...

Some good news on opioid epidemic: Treatment options are expanding

Written by William Greene, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, University of Florida

Governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and unidentified woman at a rally in November aiming to destigmatize addiction. Joanne DeCaro/flickr, CC BY-NC-SA

In the past two decades, the devastation associated with opioid addiction has escaped the relative confines of the inner city and extended to suburban and rural America. Due in large part to the...