The Conversation

How tech firms have tried to stop disinformation and voter intimidation – and come up short

Written by Scott Shackelford, Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics; Executive Director, Ostrom Workshop; Cybersecurity Program Chair, IU-Bloomington, Indiana University

Facebook and the other social media platform companies are facing a reckoning for their handling of disinformation.AP Photo/Noah Berger

Neither disinformation nor voter intimidation is anything new. But tools developed by leading tech companies including Twitter, Facebook and Google now allow these tactics to scale up dramatically.

As a scholar of cy...

A few heavy storms cause a big chunk of nitrogen pollution from Midwest farms

Written by Chaoqun Lu, Assistant Professor of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University

Corn plants in a flooded field near Emden, Ill., May 29, 2019.Scott Olson/Getty Images

Some effects of extreme weather are visible – like half a million acres of flattened corn in Iowa left behind after a derecho that hit the Midwestern United States on Aug. 10.

Other effects are harder to measure, but can be just as harmful. One example is...

What Day of the Dead tells us about the Aztec philosophy of happiness

Written by Lynn Sebastian Purcell, Associate Professor of Philosophy, State University of New York College at Cortland

For the Aztecs, Day of the Dead rituals helped people find balance in their personal lives and social ties.Eyepix/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Growing up in the United States, I remember on Halloween my mother used to say, “Honey, this is not just a day for costumes and candy. You must also remember your relatives. Know their names.” She...

What it's like to lose a presidential election

Written by Chris Lamb, Professor of Journalism, IUPUI

One of these men will walk away from the 2020 race a loser. But who?Jim Watson/AFP via Getty, Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty

The American public may not find out who wins the presidential election on Nov. 3 or Nov. 4 or even Nov. 5. But, at some point, we will learn whether Republican Donald Trump is elected to a second term or if Democrat Joe Biden...

You have rights when you go to vote - and many people are there to help if there's trouble at the polls

Written by Daniel R. Birdsong, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Dayton

Poll workers, election observers and poll monitors are all on hand at voting places to ensure the 2020 election proceeds smoothly and safely.Macrovector/iStock via GettyImages

Despite all the challenges to this year’s election – long lines, calls for voter intimidation, baseless claims of fraud – voting is a fundamental civil right...

You have rights when you go to vote – and many people are there to help if there's trouble at the polls

Written by Daniel R. Birdsong, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Dayton

Poll workers, election observers and poll monitors are all on hand at voting places to ensure the 2020 election proceeds smoothly and safely.Macrovector/iStock via GettyImages

Despite all the challenges to this year’s election – long lines, calls for voter intimidation, baseless claims of fraud – voting is a fundamental civil right...

The scariest things in the universe are black holes – and here are 3 reasons

Written by Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona

Falling into a black hole is easily the worst way to die.John M Lund Photography Inc/Getty Images

Halloween is a time to be haunted by ghosts, goblins and ghouls, but nothing in the universe is scarier than a black hole.

Black holes – regions in space where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape – are a hot topic in the news these...

100 years ago, the first commercial radio broadcast announced the results of the 1920 election – politics would never be the same

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

When Frank Conrad broadcast the results of the 1920 presidential election, he had no idea that politics would be forever transformed.Bettmann via Getty Images

Only 100 people were listening, but the first broadcast from a licensed radio station occurred at 8 p.m. on Nov. 2, 1920. It was Pittsburgh’s KDKA, and the station was broadcasting the...

Cahokian culture spread across eastern North America 1,000 years ago in an early example of diaspora

Written by Jayur Mehta, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Florida State University

Cahokia's mound-building culture flourished a millennium ago near modern-day St. Louis.JByard/iStock via Getty Images Plus

An expansive city flourished almost a thousand years ago in the bottomlands of the Mississippi River across the water from where St. Louis, Missouri stands today. It was one of the greatest pre-Columbian cities constructed...

How to be a good digital citizen during the election – and its aftermath

Written by Kolina Koltai, Postdoctoral Researcher of Information Studies, University of Washington

You are a key player in efforts to curb misinformation online.John Fedele/The Image Bank via Getty Images

In the runup to the U.S. presidential election there has been an unprecedented amount of misinformation about the voting process and mail-in ballots. It’s almost certain that misinformation and disinformation will increase, including,...