The Conversation

The Trump administration wants to dismantle the agency overseeing 2 million federal workers – and weaken safeguards against partisanship

Written by Matthew May, Senior Research Associate, Boise State University

In 1978, President Jimmy Carter spoke at a Northern Virginia high school about civil service changes underway.AP Photo/Jeff Taylor

The U.S. government has put expertise and competence ahead of political considerations when it hires people for more than 135 years.

As a result of changes made during President Chester Arthur’s administration,...

Long before Armstrong and Aldrin, artists were stoking dreams of space travel

Written by Anne Collins Goodyear, Co-Director of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Bowdoin College

Chesley Bonestell's detailed drawings of space stations in Collier's inspired millions of readers. James Vaughan/flickr, CC BY-NC

In the midst of the space race, Hereward Lester Cooke, the former co-director of the NASA Art Program, observed, “Space travel started in the imagination of the artist.”

If the 50th anniversary of the first...

DNA testing companies offer telomere testing – but what does it tell you about aging and disease risk?

Written by Patricia Opresko, Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Pittsburgh

A telomere age test kit from Telomere Diagnostics Inc. and saliva collection kit from 23andMe.Anna Hoychuk/Shutterstock.com

Over the past few years direct-to-consumer genetic tests that extract information from DNA in your chromosomes have become popular. Through a simple cheek swab, saliva collection or finger prick, companies offer the...

How your diet contributes to nutrient pollution and dead zones in lakes and bays

Written by Donald Scavia, Professor Emeritus, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan

Charter boat Capt. Dave Spangler holds a sample of algae from Maumee Bay in Lake Erie, Sept. 15, 2017.AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File

Every year in early summer, scientists at universities, research institutions and federal agencies release forecasts for the formation of “dead zones” and harmful algal blooms in the Gulf of Mexico, the...

Commercial supersonic aircraft could return to the skies

Written by Iain Boyd, Professor of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan

Don't call it a comeback.Aero Icarus/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Flying faster than the speed of sound still sounds futuristic for regular people, more than 15 years after the last commercial supersonic flights ended. The planes that made those journeys, the 14 aircraft collectively known as the Concorde, flew from 1976 to 2003. It traveled three...

Why states and cities should stop handing out billions in economic incentives to companies

Written by Nathan Jensen, Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin

Some states and cities are getting very little for the taxpayer dollars they hand out to companies. Atstock Productions/Shutterstock.com

U.S. states and cities hand out tens of billions in taxpayer dollars every year to companies as economic incentives.

These businesses are supposed to use the money, typically distributed through economic...

How much is your data worth to tech companies? Lawmakers want to tell you, but it's not that easy to calculate

Written by Samuel Lengen, Research Associate at Data Science Institute, University of Virginia

Your social media data is immeasurably valuable.13_Phunkhod/Shutterstock.com

New proposed legislation by U.S. senators Mark R. Warner and Josh Hawley seeks to protect privacy by forcing tech companies to disclose the “true value” of their data to users.

Specifically, companies with more than 100 million users would have to provide each...

How did people clean their teeth in the olden days?

Written by Jane Cotter, Assistant Professor of Dental Hygiene, Texas A&M University

People worked for healthy teeth long before nylon brushes hit the market.Mila Davidovic/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.

Dental hygiene has come a long way since the days of wine-soaked toothpicks and the urine...

'The Farewell' highlights tough conversations families face when confronted with death

Written by Nick Iannarino, Assistant Professor of Health Communication, University of Michigan

When it comes to a terminal diagnosis, how can families talk about the unthinkable?A24

To my 87-year-old grandmother, not many subjects are taboo.

She was treated for colorectal cancer in 1996, and she still laughs when she recounts experiencing uncontrollable flatulence in front of houseguests.

But when death comes up, she has less to say. As my...

An invisible government agency produces crucial national security intelligence, but is anyone listening?

Written by Gregory F. Treverton, Professor of Practice in International Relations, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

President Harry S Truman established the initial version of the National Intelligence Council. AP Photo

This year marks the 40th anniversary of a little-known U.S. organization that has provided crucial intelligence and analysis to presidents for all those decades: the National Intelligence Council.

Right after World War II, President Harry Truman...