The Conversation

Our world is getting smaller

Written by Kristina Lerman, Project Leader at the Information Sciences Institute and Research Associate Professor, University of Southern California

Many of us are connected some way, somehow.Arthimedes/Shutterstock.com

Has this happened to you? You strike up a conversation with a complete stranger, only to discover that you share surprising connections. My own brush with this phenomenon took place recently at a conference in Canada.

I was sharing a table with two strangers – one from...

In fire-prone California, many residents can't afford wildfire insurance

Written by Gireesh Shrimali, Precourt Scholar, Stanford University

A helicopter drops water while battling the Saddle Ridge Fire in Porter Ranch, Calif., on Oct. 11, 2019.AP Photo/Noah Berger

California’s relatively quiet 2019 fire season ended in October. Just days after Pacific Gas & Electric cut power to half a million customers in Northern California during high-wind conditions, the Saddle Ridge fire...

Bosses face more discrimination if they are women – from employees of any gender

Written by Martin Abel, Assistant Professor of Economics, Middlebury

Women in upper management are discriminated against by all employees, not just men.fizkes/Shutterstock.com

Imagine that your boss Ethan calls you into his office. He expresses disappointment in your recent performance and lack of commitment. How would you react? Accept the feedback and put in more effort? Would you pout in your office and start...

A UN treaty guarantees youth rights everywhere on earth – except the United States

Written by Jessica Taft, Associate Professor of Latin American & Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

Greta Thunberg speaks out alongside other youth plaintiffs at the UN.AP Photo/Sam Mednick

Fifteen kids from a dozen countries, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, recently brought a formal complaint to the United Nations. They’re arguing that climate change violates children’s rights as guaranteed by the Convention on the Rights...

Pell Grants are getting their due in the 2020 campaign

Written by Donald E. Heller, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, University of San Francisco

A proposal to increase the Pell Grant award amount could help restore the grant's original purchasing power when it was created in 1972.AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

Just as it did in the 2016 election, college affordability has become a critical issue in the 2020 election.

One key difference, however, is unlike in the 2016 election, which was largely dev...

China's worldwide investment project is a push for more economic and political power

Written by Amitrajeet A. Batabyal, Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics, Rochester Institute of Technology

Inspired by the ancient Silk Road, China is investing in a massive set of international development projects that are raising concerns about how the country is expanding its power around the world.

Initially announced in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the so-called “Belt and Road Initiative” has China planning to invest in...

Lower refugee limits are weakening resettlement in the US

Written by Stephanie J. Nawyn, Associate Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Center for Gender in Global Context, Michigan State University

President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will cut the number of refugees it will accept to 18,000 in fiscal year 2020, which began on Oct. 1 of this year.

Many refugee advocates protest that this refugee resettlement ceiling is far too low. It is indeed the lowest ceiling in U.S. history.

However, the new ceiling is also part of a longer trend...

Study: Racism shortens lives and hurts health of blacks by promoting genes that lead to inflammation and illness

Written by April Thames, Associate Professor, Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

African Americans have worse health outcomes and die earlier than whites. Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com

Negative social attitudes, such as racism and discrimination, damage the health of those who are targeted by triggering a cascade of aberrant biological responses, including abnormal gene activity. It is not surprising that reports...

Keeping students safe is a growth industry struggling to fulfill its mission

Written by John S. Carlson, Professor of School Psychology, Licensed Psychologist, Health Service Psychologist, Nationally Certified School Psychologist, Michigan State University

Public schools around the nation, like this one in Beverly Hills, California, are spending more on security.AP Photo/Richard Vogel

In the 25 years I’ve spent working as a school psychologist and professor of school psychology, I’ve never seen so much federal, state and local money spent to “harden” school buildings and...

I study teen suicide and believe clinical science can predict who is at risk

Written by Adam Bryant Miller, Research Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Suicide is a growing health problem.KieferPix/Shutterstock.com

People often ask me what I do for a living. In the past, I would start with something vague, saying things like “I’m a researcher; I work at the university. I work with teenagers.” Inevitably, people wanted to know more. And then I told them, “Actually, I...