The Conversation

Politicians, lies and election legitimacy – it's an old story

Written by Gideon Cohn-Postar, Graduate Student in History, Northwestern University

Lies can help a political campaign be successful.Shutterstock

If you lose an election to an opponent because an interest group runs ads based on false information against you, is the election result legitimate?

The 2016 presidential election featured a Russian troll farm that used fake social media accounts to try to turn voters against Hillary...

Plagiarists or innovators? The Led Zeppelin paradox endures

Written by Aram Sinnreich, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, American University School of Communication

Robert Plant, the lead singer of Led Zeppelin, performs in Hamburg, Germany in 1973.Heinrich Klaffs, CC BY-NC-SA

Fifty years ago – in September 1968 – the legendary rock band Led Zeppelin first performed together, kicking off a Scandinavian tour billed as the New Yardbirds.

The new, better name would come later that fall, while drummer...

4 charts show Venezuela's worsening migrant crisis

Written by Rebecca Hanson, Assistant Professor Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law and Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida

A few years ago, Venezuela seemed to be setting the standard for social welfare in the region.

In 2015, the United Nations recognized Venezuela as having made the most advances in the fight against hunger in the Latin American and Caribbean region. National rates of poverty and inequality declined under President Hugo Chávez from the early...

New technique heals wounds with reprogrammed skin cells

Written by Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, Professor, Gene Expression Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies and Adjunct Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of California San Diego

Patient with leg ulcers.Chaikom/Shutterstock.com

People with severe burns, bedsores or chronic diseases such as diabetes are at risk for developing wounds known as cutaneous ulcers, which can extend through multiple layers of the skin.

Apart from being extremely painful, these wounds can lead to serious, sometimes deadly, infections or amputations....

Lesson from Brazil: Museums are not forever

Written by Chip Colwell, Lecturer on Anthropology, University of Colorado Denver

Brazil's gutted National Museum now resembles an archaeological ruin itself.AP Photo/Mario Lobao

We now know what history going up in flames looks like.

On Sept. 2, the National Museum of Brazil lit up Rio de Janeiro’s night sky. Perhaps started by an errant paper hot air balloon landing on the roof or a short circuit in a laboratory, the...

Colapso de Nicaragua agrava la crisis migratoria en Centroamérica

Written by Jose Miguel Cruz, Director of Research, Florida International University

Fuerzas rebeldes protegen las barricadas en la ciudad de Masaya después del asedio de policía y fuerzas pro Ortega el 17 de julio, 2018. AP Photo/Cristibal Venegas

Por años, los migrantes centroamericanos han estado al centro de lo que varios gobiernos estadounidenses han llamado “la crisis migratoria”.

Cada...

Serena Williams' catsuit controversy evokes the battle over women wearing shorts

Written by Deirdre Clemente, Associate Professor of History, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Serena Williams – wearing her controversial catsuit – returns a shot during the first round of the French Open in May 2018.AP Photo/Michel Euler

At the French Open, Serena Williams wore a custom-made black catsuit. On August 24, the president of the French Tennis Federation said the outfit “wouldn’t be back.” It...

Drones to track one of the largest dam removals on the Eastern Seaboard

Written by Matthew E. Baker, Professor of Geography and Environmental Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Bloede Dam (ca. 2016) near Ilchester, MarylandMatthew Baker/UMBC, CC BY-SA

This month, the Bloede Dam will be removed from the Lower Patapsco River near Ilchester, Maryland.

The restoration is a one-of-a-kind natural experiment that will help test how relatively inexpensive drones can help scientists like me understand the integrity of streams and...

Asking customers to donate when they buy stuff may be good for business

Written by Benjamin Lawrence, Aziz Hashim Professor of Franchise Entrepreneurship and Associate Professor of Hospitality, Georgia State University

Do you want to make a donation with that?Shutterstock.com/Jacob Lund

Cashiers asking customers to donate small sums to charity while they’re at cash registers, known as checkout charity, is becoming a big business.

All that spare change, taken together with donations solicited through e-commerce, collectively raised at least US$440 billion in...

How slot machines work – and why you should think twice before playing them

Written by Anthony Frederick Lucas, Professor of Casino Management, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

A night at the slots. CC BY-SA

The gaming industry is big business in the U.S., contributing an estimated US$240 billion to the economy each year, while generating $38 billion in tax revenues and supporting 17 million jobs.

What people may not realize is that slot machines, video poker machines and other electronic gaming devices make up the bulk...