The Conversation

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...

Mexican president López Obrador has a woman problem

Written by Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong

After the leftist firebrand Andrés Manuel López Obrador won the Mexican presidency in a landslide last year, he vowed to “govern for all, starting with the poor.”

In Mexico, “the poor” includes many women, who earn 34% less than men for doing the same job. Women in Mexico also face incessant catcalling and...

Western states buy time with a 7-year Colorado River drought plan, but face a hotter, drier future

Written by Brad Udall, Senior Research Scientist, Colorado Water Institute, Colorado State University

The white "bathtub ring" around Arizona's Lake Mead (shown on May 31, 2018), which indicates falling water levels, is about 140 feet high.AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

As Midwest states struggled with record spring flooding this year, the Southwest was wrestling with the opposite problem: not enough water. On May 20, 2019, federal officials and leaders...

At least 2% of US public water systems are like Flint's – Americans just don't hear about them

Written by Laura Pangallozzi, Visiting Assistant Professor of Geography, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Is your community's water tainted with lead? The data might not have been reported.ehrlif/shutterstock.com

More than five years after Flint’s water crisis first hit the news, the city has successfully lowered the lead levels in its water.

The most recently available testing, from the second half of 2018, puts the lead in Flint’s water at...

Selecting groceries ahead of time helps some shoppers make healthier choices

Written by Anya Samek, Associate Professor (Research) of Economics, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Yeah, right Shutterstock.com/Davizro Photography

I often toss items into my grocery cart that I have vowed to never buy again.

Maybe I cave into my 3-year-old’s demands for sugary cereal and cookies. Or perhaps I fail to resist my own urge to snack on chocolate-covered raisins.

I’m not alone. Most Americans consume more added sugar,...