The Conversation

Would ousting Trump rebuild the country's faith in government? Lessons from Latin America

Written by Rachel E. Bowen, Associate Professor of Political Science, The Ohio State University

Reporters ask Nancy Pelosi about the formal impeachment inquiry against Trump.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

The House of Representatives has opened an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. But what happens if a president is impeached?

The vice president would take his place, but other parts of the government continue unchanged. Partisan...

Recycling rates could rise significantly with this simple tweak

Written by Karen Winterich, Professor of Marketing, Frank and Mary Smeal Research Fellow, Pennsylvania State University

Americans are not good recyclers. siam.pukkato/Shutterstock.com

Have you ever thought about what happens to the empty Coke cans and food takeout containers you toss in your recycling bins?

Our research suggests that if you’re like most Americans, you’ve probably never considered this question. This was surprising to us given that, by...

The history of the cross and its many meanings over the centuries

Written by Joanne M. Pierce, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

A procession of Christian girls, venerating the Cross, in the village of Qanat Bekish, Lebanon.AP Photo/Hussein Malla

In the fall, Catholics and some other Christian churches celebrate the Feast of the Holy Cross. With the feast, Christians commemorate Jesus Christ’s life, especially his salvific death on the cross and his later...

Curious Kids: Why do old people hate new music?

Written by Frank T. McAndrew, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology, Knox College

For many older people, today's music goes in one ear and out the other.Shutterstock.com/photograph.kiev

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.

Why do old people hate new music? – Holly L., age 14, Belmont, Mass.

When I was a...

Why are private prisons controversial? 3 questions answered

Written by John M. Eason, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The US is one of a few countries that still uses private prisons.AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

Editor’s note: Private prisons have long stirred controversy, most recently over their role in housing undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Several states have banned them, several banks have vowed to stop financing them and...

California polluters may soon buy carbon “offsets” from the Amazon — is that ethical?

Written by Maron Greenleaf, Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer, Dartmouth College

The El Segundo Chevron oil refinery, left, and the Bom Futuro National Forest, right.Pedro Szekely/WikimediaCommons, Reuters/Nacho Doce

Fires in the Brazilian Amazon have outraged the world. But what can people living far from the world’s largest rainforest do to save it?

California thinks it has an answer.

On Sept. 19, the California Air...

Trump, Ukraine and a whistleblower: Ever since 1796, Congress has struggled to keep presidents in check

Written by Jennifer Selin, Kinder Institute Assistant Professor of Constitutional Democracy, University of Missouri-Columbia

George Washington, hero of the American Revolution and the country’s first president, in 1796 withheld documents the House of Representatives had requested from him regarding treaty negotiations with France.

Washington thought that giving the House papers respecting a negotiation with a foreign power would be to establish a dangerous...

Another grim climate report on oceans – what will it take to address the compounding problems?

Written by Cassandra Brooks, Assistant Professor Environmental Studies, University of Colorado Boulder

The U.N.‘s climate panel report released Sept. 25 makes crystal clear that the planet’s oceans, snow and ice are in dire trouble and the damage is causing harm to the people who depend on them. Even with aggressive efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions, many nations will struggle to adapt.

All people on Earth depend on the ocean...

Could climate change fuel the rise of right-wing nationalism?

Written by Joshua Conrad Jackson, Doctoral Student, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

When people feel threatened, they're more receptive to politicians who espouse xenophobic rhetoric.Trybex/Shutterstock.com

Two trends have defined the past decade and both have been on display at this year’s session of the United Nations General Assembly.

One has been the escalating effects of climate change, which were the focus of the...

Universal ethical truths are at the core of Jewish High Holy Days

Written by Ronald W. Pies, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Lecturer on Bioethics & Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University; and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine [through Dec. 2019], Tufts University

Blowing the shofar during Rosh Hashana is one of the holiday's many traditions.AP Photo/Emile Wamsteker

My most vivid adolescent memories of the Jewish High Holy Days are the painful rumbling of my empty stomach as I fasted on Yom Kippur, and the sharp blasts of the shofar – the ram’s horn – sounding from the synagogue pulpit.

I...