The Conversation

The battle between NBC and CBS to be the first to film a Berlin Wall tunnel escape

Written by Mike Conway, Associate Professor of Journalism, Indiana University

NBC Berlin correspondent Piers Anderton inside the tunnel during the network's 1962 escape project.Special Collections & University Archives, University of Maryland, Author provided

When the Berlin Wall was completed in August 1961, East German residents immediately tried to figure out ways to circumvent the barrier and escape into West Berlin.

B...

E-bikes are coming to federally owned trails: 4 questions answered

Written by John Freemuth, Cecil D. Andrus Endowed Chair for Environment and Public Lands and University Distinguished Professor, Boise State University

A cyclist in San Bernadino National Forest, where e-bikes were previously banned.AP/Brian Melley

Editor’s note: In August, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced an order stating that electric bicycles will be allowed on all trails on federally owned land where normal bikes can ride. The move has led to some confusion and controversy,...

Apple, Disney and Netflix's streaming battle isn't winner-take-all

Written by Amanda Lotz, Professor of Media Studies, Queensland University of Technology

Apple TV Plus has focused on recruiting big names for its shows. AP Photo/Tony Avelar

With the recent launch of Apple TV Plus and the imminent arrival of Disney Plus, the video landscape has never looked so competitive.

These services join a crowded marketplace of subscription streaming services that includes Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video...

WTF? Slurs offend young adults more than swearing

Written by Benjamin Bergen, Professor of Cognitive Science; Director of the Language and Cognition Lab, University of California San Diego

Lizzo's hit songs include a lot of profanity.Photo by Brent N. Clarke/Invision/AP)

In 1972, the comedian George Carlin performed a comedy routine in which he listed the seven words you couldn’t say on television. He opined that profanity related to sexual activities, body parts and bodily functions wasn’t inherently good or bad. All...

World's deadliest inventor: Mikhail Kalashnikov and his AK-47

Written by Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University

The inventor with his eponymous weapon.AP Photo/Vladimir Vyatkin

What is the deadliest weapon of the 20th century?

Perhaps you think first of the atomic bomb, estimated to have killed as many as 200,000 people when the United States dropped two on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

But another weapon is responsible for far more...

He was Trump before Trump: VP Spiro Agnew attacked the news media 50 years ago

Written by Thomas Alan Schwartz, Professor of History, Vanderbilt University

Vice President Spiro T. Agnew on Aug. 8, 1973 at a Washington news conference.AP/file

Americans witnessed an unprecedented event 50 years ago: live television coverage on all three national networks of a speech by the vice president of the United States.

Speeches by vice presidents never received such attention. But the address on Nov. 13, 1969, by...

The forgotten mass destruction of Jewish homes during 'Kristallnacht'

Written by Wolf Gruner, Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of History; Founding Director, USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

A looted Jewish shop in Aachen, Germany on the day after Kristallnacht, Nov. 10, 1938.Wolf Gruner and Armin Nolzen (eds.). 'Bürokratien: Initiative und Effizienz,' Berlin, 2001., Author provided

Every November, communities around the world hold remembrances on the anniversary of the Nazis’ brutal assault on the Jews during...

Emperor Penguins could march to extinction if nations fail to halt climate change

Written by Stephanie Jenouvrier, Associate Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Emperor Penguin in Antarctica. Stephanie Jenouvrier, CC BY-ND

The concept of a canary in a coal mine – a sensitive species that provides an alert to danger – originated with British miners, who carried actual canaries underground through the mid-1980s to detect the presence of deadly carbon monoxide gas. Today another bird, the Emperor...

Here's why colleges are being forced to close their doors - and what they can do to stay open

Written by Robert Massa, Adjunct Professor, Rossier School of Education, USC, University of Southern California

Marlboro College plans to close its Vermont campus after the 2019-2020 school year and move its programs to Emerson College in Boston.Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC-SA

When Cincinnati Christian University became aware of its declining enrollment and dwindling tuition revenue in 2015, the university made a “series of bold bets” to stay...

Salad bars and water systems are easy targets for bioterrorists -- and America's monitoring system is woefully inadequate

Written by Ana Santos Rutschman, Assistant Professor of Law, Saint Louis University

Hospital workers wearing biohazard suits scrub down a man in a decontamination drill.AP Photo/Nati Harnik

In October 2019, a House Homeland Security Committee subcommittee held a hearing entitled “Defending the Homeland from Bioterrorism: Are We Prepared?” The answer was a resounding no.

The experts testified that our biodefense system...