The Conversation

AI could help solve the privacy problems it has created

Written by Zhiyuan Chen, Associate Professor of Information Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Artificial systems use reams of data to get a better profiles of individuals.

The stunning successes of artificial intelligence would not have happened without the availability of massive amounts of data, whether its smart speakers in the home or personalized book recommendations. And the spread of AI into new areas of the economy, such as...

What is the slowest thing on Earth?

Written by Katie McCormick, Postdoctoral Scholar of Physics, University of Washington

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

What is the slowest thing on Earth? – Jiwon, Brookline, Massachusetts

In the words of the infamous villain, Dr. Evil: “Lasers.”

Lasers focus a narrow, directed beam of light...

Devil in the detail of SCOTUS ruling on workplace bias puts LGBTQ rights and religious freedom on collision course

Written by Kelsy Burke, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

An LGBTQ rights supporter sets up outside the Supreme CourtChip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling extending workplace discrimination protection to cover sexual orientation and gender identity was cheered by LGBTQ people and allies. Indeed, the June 15 decision represents a big win in the fight for LGBTQ equality.

But...

What the Supreme Court's DACA ruling means for undocumented students and the colleges and universities they attend

Written by Sayil Camacho, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University

Many people with DACA status are in school.Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Editor’s note: The Supreme Court voted, 5-4, on June 18, 2020 that the Trump administration can’t immediately end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA. Sayil Camacho, a Vanderbilt University postdoctoral fellow who studies...

Latest legal hurdle to removing Confederate statues in Virginia: The wishes of their long-dead white donors

Written by Allison Anna Tait, Professor of Law, University of Richmond

Richmond's towering 1890 Robert E. Lee statue is transformed by protests following the killing of George Floyd.John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images

A controversial statue of Robert E. Lee will remain in place in Richmond, the former capital of the American Confederacy –- at least temporarily.

On June 18, a judge extended an...

From grandfather to grandson, the lessons of the Tulsa race massacre

Written by Gregory B. Fairchild, Associate Professor of Business Administration, University of Virginia

Smoke rises from damaged properties after the Tulsa Race Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma June 1921. Oklahoma Historical Society via Getty Images

My family sat down to watch the first episode of HBO’s “Watchmen” last October. Stephen Williams, the director, included quick cuts of gunshots, explosions, citizens fleeing roaming mobs, and...

The right way to breathe during the coronavirus pandemic

Written by Louis J. Ignarro, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles

Breathing in through the nose is an integral part of meditation and delivers virus-fighting gases to the lungs.triloks / Getty Images

Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. It’s not just something you do in yoga class – breathing this way actually provides a powerful medical benefit that can help the body fight viral...

A field guide to Trump's dangerous rhetoric

Written by Jennifer Mercieca, Associate Professor of Communication, Texas A&M University

President-elect Trump at a post-election rally in Mobile, Alabama, Dec. 17, 2016. Mark Wallheiser/Getty

All leaders are demagogues. You may not realize this, because we’ve come to associate the word “demagogue” with only dangerous populist leaders. But in Greek, the word just means “leader of the people” (dēmos...

5 ways the world is better off dealing with a pandemic now than in 1918

Written by Siddharth Chandra, Professor, James Madison College and Director, Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University

Emergency hospital during influenza epidemic at Camp Funston in Kansas around 1918. National Museum of Health and Medicine

Near the end of the First World War, a deadly flu raced across the globe. The influenza pandemic became the most severe pandemic in recent history, infecting about one-third of the world’s population between 1918 and 1920...

Holding on and holding still, a son photographs his father with Alzheimer's

Written by Nick Lehr, Arts + Culture Editor

'With Dad,' Marlborough, Massachusetts, Oct. 29, 1998.Stephen DiRado, Author provided

In 1985, when Stephen DiRado was just a few years out of college, he bought his first large-format, 8x10 camera. Since each exposure cost eight bucks in today’s dollars, the process required contemplation; he couldn’t simply snap 100 images and pick...