The Conversation

Battlefields around the world are finding new purpose as parks and refuges

Written by Todd Lookingbill, Associate Professor of Geography and the Environment, University of Richmond

Antietam National Battlefield, Pennsylvania, site of a savage Civil War battle on Sept. 17, 1862.NPS

The horrors of war are all too familiar: lives lost, homes destroyed, entire communities forced to flee. Yet as time passes, places that once were sites of death and destruction can become peaceful natural refuges.

One of the deadliest battles...

Health care workers wanted: A veteran needs you to work at a VA hospital

Written by Sanjay Saint, George Dock Professor of Medicine, University of Michigan

Vietnam veteran Marvin Nolin of Dover, Tenn., visits the Poppy Wall of Honor on the National Mall in Washington, Friday, May 24, 2019.Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo

Flying home from Florida recently, I was seated across the aisle from an elderly man wearing a hat identifying himself as a Marine. His wife sat next to him and helped him store his cane in...

Before you decide to work in college, ask yourself these questions

Written by Laura Perna, Professor of Higher Education, University of Pennsylvania

Working in college helps pay the bills, but working too many hours can bring some ill effects, research shows.GaudiLab

For many undergraduates, working for pay during the academic year is a necessary part of the college experience. If they don’t work while enrolled, they may not have the money needed to pay tuition and other fees, keep a roof...

Curious Kids: What is a whistleblower?

Written by Sarah Webber, Associate Professor of Accounting, University of Dayton

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, right, on Capitol Hill in Washington, in February . 2016.AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

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 a whistleblower? Sofia V., 13, Alexandria, Virginia

Have you ever seen a referee...

American youth don't know much about the juvenile justice system

Written by Tammy Chang, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, University of Michigan

About 1.6 million minors are arrested in the U.S. every year.chatiyanon/Shutterstock.com

Young people in the U.S. who end up in the juvenile justice system often leave the system much worse than when they entered.

But American youth know little to nothing about the juvenile justice system that would determine their future if they were ever accused...

NASA's TESS spacecraft is finding hundreds of exoplanets – and is poised to find thousands more

Written by Daniel Apai, Associate Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona

This artist's impression shows a view of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the solar system. NASA/ESO/M. Kornmesser

Within just 50 light-years from Earth, there are about 1,560 stars, likely orbited by several thousand planets. About a thousand of these extrasolar planets – known as...

Does the Civil Rights Act protect LGBT workers? The Supreme Court is about to decide

Written by Julie Manning Magid, Professor of Business Law, Indiana University

The complicated history of the Civil Rights Act in the U.S. is about to get even more so.

In 1964, the act – specifically, Title VII of the act – made it illegal for employers to discriminate based on race, religion and sex, among other things.

In October 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard three cases that raise the question whether the...

Why Joe Biden was denied communion at a church

Written by Bruce T. Morrill, Edward A. Malloy Chair of Catholic Studies, Professor of Theological Studies, Vanderbilt University

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at a town hall in Florence, South Carolina. He was denied communion by a priest in South Carolina.Sarah Blake Morgan

Former Vice President Joseph Biden, who is a Roman Catholic, recently stopped on the campaign trail to attend Sunday Mass at a church in Florence, South Carolina. But the pastor,...

California is living America's dystopian future

Written by Stephanie LeMenager, Professor of English Literature, University of Oregon

The Maria Fire billows above Santa Paula, California on Oct. 31.AP/Noah Berger

The Golden State is on fire, which means that an idea of American utopia is on fire, too.

Utopias are the good places of our imagination, while dystopias are the places where everything goes terribly wrong, where evil triumphs and nature destroys her own. Frequently...

Homicide is declining around the world – but why?

Written by Mateus Renno Santos, Assistant Professor of Criminology, University of South Florida

Homicide has gradually declined over three decades.simon jhuan/Shutterstock.com

Americans are currently living in one of the lowest crime periods ever – and so are many people in the rest of the world.

Following decades of increasing crime during the 1960s, ‘70s and '80s, U.S. homicide rates declined by almost 40% throughout the 1990s,...