The Conversation

Silicon Valley's latest fad is dopamine fasting – and that may not be as crazy as it sounds

Written by A. Trevor Sutton, Ph.D. Student in Doctrinal Theology, Concordia Seminary

Dopamine fasting, the newest fad to hit Silicon Valley, is being used as a way to get over addictive habits.SewCream/Shutterstock.com

Silicon Valley’s newest fad is dopamine fasting, or temporarily abstaining from “addictive” activities such as social media, music, internet gaming – even food.

Twitter’s CEO, Jack...

Is it OK for teens to drink coffee?

Written by Jennifer L. Temple, Associate Professor of Nutrition; Director, Nutrition and Health Research Laboratory, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Too much caffeine interferes with sleep.Luis Molinero/Shutterstock.com

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.

Is it OK for teens to drink coffee? – Lucy G., Arlington, Virginia

When my daughter was around 14 years old, she...

The dramatic dismissal of a landmark youth climate lawsuit might not close the book on that case

Written by Mary Wood, Philip H. Knight Professor of Law, University of Oregon

The legal battle these young plaintiffs are waging might not be over yet.AP Photo/Steve Dipaola

A sharply divided panel of three federal judges on Jan. 17 dismissed a high-profile climate lawsuit brought on behalf of 21 young people against the federal government.

The Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals’ ruling accepted with unusual...

Snakes could be the original source of the new coronavirus outbreak in China

Written by Haitao Guo, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh

Chinese cobra (_Naja atra_) with hood spread.Briston/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

Snakes – the Chinese krait and the Chinese cobra – may be the original source of the newly discovered coronavirus that has triggered an outbreak of a deadly infectious respiratory illness in China this winter.

The many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus), also...

Can capitalism solve capitalism’s problems?

Written by Elizabeth Schmidt, Professor of Practice, Nonprofit Organizations; Social & Environmental Enterprises, University of Massachusetts Amherst

A session at Davos highlighted the consequences of capitalism. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

Capitalism is in trouble – at least judging by recent polls.

A majority of American millennials reject the economic system, while 55% of women age 18 to 54 say they prefer socialism. More Democrats now have a positive view of socialism than...

Ozzy Osbourne has a type of Parkinson's disease called Parkin: A neurologist explains

Written by Michael Okun, Professor of Neurology, University of Florida

Ozzy Osbourne and wife Sharon Osbourne after Ozzy received a Golden God Award at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods ceremony in London on June 11, 2018.Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP Photo

For many, hearing the word “Parkinson’s” conjures an image of tremors. But Parkinson’s disease, brought about by loss of nerve and other brain...

How Iran's military outsources its cyberthreat forces

Written by Dorothy Denning, Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Defense Analysis, Naval Postgraduate School

In the wake of the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general and Iran’s retaliatory missile strike, should the U.S. be concerned about the cyberthreat from Iran? Already, pro-Iranian hackers have defaced several U.S. websites to protest the killing of General Qassem Soleimani. One group wrote “This is only a small part of Iran’s...

If the Romance Writers of America can implode over racism, no group is safe

Written by Christine Larson, Assistant Professor of Journalism, University of Colorado Boulder

While 97% of Romance Writers of America members are women, only 14% are people of color.Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Over the past month, Romance Writers of America, one of the country’s largest writing associations, with over 9,000 members, has erupted in a race-related scandal.

The controversy began when...

What a bundle of buzzing bees can teach engineers about robotic materials

Written by Orit Peleg, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of Colorado Boulder

Individuals working together as one.Orit Peleg and Jacob Peters, CC BY-ND

Gathered inside a small shed in the midst of a peaceful meadow, my colleagues and I are about to flip the switch to start a seemingly mundane procedure: using a motor to shake a wooden board. But underneath this board, we have a swarm of roughly 10,000 honeybees, clinging to...

Stoneflies and mayflies, canaries of our streams

Written by Boris Kondratieff, Professor of Entomology and Curator of the C. P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity, Colorado State University

The presence of mayflies and stone flies indicates clean water is nearby.Andrew/flickr, CC BY-NC

Experienced anglers recognize that for a trout, the ultimate “steak dinner” is a stonefly or mayfly. That’s why fly fishing enthusiasts will go to extreme lengths to imitate these graceful, elegant and fragile insects.

I share their...