The Conversation

Fight or switch? How the low-carbon transition is disrupting fossil fuel politics

Written by Cara Daggett, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Virginia Tech

Commuters idle in rush-hour traffic outside Philadelphia. AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma

As the Trump administration works to weaken regulations on fossil fuel production and use, a larger struggle is playing out across multiple industries. Until recently, oil companies and their defenders generally reacted to calls for regulating carbon emissions by spr...

Cartel sieges leave Mexicans wondering if criminals run the country

Written by Angélica Durán-Martínez, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Clouds of smoke from burning cars mark the skyline of Culiacan, Mexico, during a 12-hour siege by the Sinaloa Cartel, Oct. 17, 2019. AP Photo/Hector Parra

Recent deadly attacks by criminal organizations have instilled fear across Mexico.

In mid-October, shootouts between cartels and police in the states of Guerrero and Michoacán killed over...

Do lockdown drills do any good?

Written by Jaclyn Schildkraut, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, State University of New York Oswego

Drills can help people learn how to respond when an active shooter situation arises, as recently occurred in Santa Clarita, Calif.AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

School lockdown drills and exercises are controversial today, due in large part to some troubling examples making headlines.

Teachers in Monticello, Indiana, for example, were hurt when they...

Americans bankrupted by health care costs: 4 questions answered

Written by Simon F. Haeder, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Pennsylvania State University

Amanda Gershon testifies at a public hearing on Medicaid expansion in Lincoln, Nebraska, Oct. 16, 2018. Gershon had $60,000 worth of medical debt at age 22 because of an autoimmune illness.Nati Harnik/AP Photo

Medical bankruptcy has been a talking point for many Democratic candidates as they make their individual cases for health care reform. This...

Vitamin E and vaping injuries: What's safe in your diet is rarely safe in your lungs

Written by Cosby Stone, Instructor in Allergy/Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University

A vitamin E acetate sample during a tour of the Medical Marijuana Laboratory of Organic and Analytical Chemistry at the Wadsworth Center in Albany, New York on Nov. 4, 2019.Hans Pennink/AP Photo

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced a preliminary finding that implicates a vitamin E additive as the potential cause of lung...

Gluten-sensitive liberals? Investigating the stereotype suggests food fads unite us all

Written by Trey Malone, Assistant Professor and Extension Economist, Michigan State University

Lots of common foods tend to be full of gluten.Ezume Images/Shutterstock.com

Sitting down for a family feast, do you need to gird yourself for battle in the ongoing sociopolitical culture war? In today’s hyperpartisan United States, common food products have become proxies for conservative and liberal values. Meat-eating Republicans versus qui...

Documentary provides rare look at higher education in prison

Written by Mneesha Gellman, Associate Professor of Political Science, Emerson College

Students in an advanced bachelor's degree seminar in the Bard Prison Initiative at Eastern New York Correctional Facility.Skiff Mountain Films

What is prison for? Should it include a college education?

Those two questions are at the heart of “College Behind Bars,” a new documentary that airs Nov. 25 and 26 on PBS. The documentary –...

A major democracy fights to maintain the rule of law -- this time, it's Israel

Written by David A. Frank, Professor of Rhetoric, University of Oregon

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.AP/Oded Balilty

Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit charged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with three counts of corruption on Nov. 21.

At the same moment, former White House Russia expert Fiona Hill was testifying before the House Intelligence Committee about the Trump Administration’s...

On TV, political ads are regulated – but online, anything goes

Written by Ari Lightman, Professor of Digital Media and Marketing, Carnegie Mellon University

There are different rules for ads on TV versus online.Goran Petric/Shutterstock.com

With the 2020 election just a year away, Facebook is under fire from presidential candidates, lawmakers, civil rights groups and even its own employees to provide more transparency on political ads and potentially stop running them altogether.

Meanwhile, Twitter has...

Broken trust: How Iraqis lost their faith in Washington, long before the Kurds did

Written by Mieczysław P. Boduszyński, Assistant Professor of Politics, Pomona College

A mass grave is excavated in Khan Al-Rubea in 2003 that witnesses say is filled with the remains of Shia whom Saddam executed in 1991. AP/Hasan Sarbakhshian

In all the hand-wringing that critics and commentators have done since President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria, one of the common refrains emphasizes...