The Conversation

'World Heritage' site selection is Eurocentric – and that shapes which historic places get love and money

Written by Victoria Reyes, Assistant Professor, University of California, Riverside

The April 2019 fire that engulfed France’s Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris, led to an outpouring of grief and introspection.

Historians explained how the 800-year-old church had survived political upheaval. Theologians examined its “secret life” and symbolism and architects recounted its structural changes through the centuries.

Bu...

People with traumatic brain injury, who often lose empathy, can regain it with treatment

Written by Dawn Neumann, Associate Professor of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, IUPUI

Understanding the facial cues from another person is a component of empathy.Pressmaster/Shutterstock.com

Most people can easily determine when a loved one is feeling sad or anxious. This recognition will often trigger the person to offer a comforting gesture or even have a contagious emotional reaction, causing them to also feel sad or anxious,...

Mathematics of scale: Big, small and everything in between

Written by Mitchell Newberry, Assistant Professor of Complex Systems, University of Michigan

How many lakes are in Alaska? Thermokarst lakes on Alaska's North Slope are self-similar and fractal.Painting by Cherissa Dukelow, CC BY-SA

Breathe. As your lungs expand, air fills 500 million tiny alveoli, each a fraction of a millimeter across. As you exhale, these millions of tiny breaths merge effortlessly through larger and larger airways into...

As Airbnb grows, this is exactly how much it's bringing down hotel prices and occupancy

Written by Tarik Dogru, Assistant Professor of Hospitality Management, Florida State University

Airbnb is a growing threat to the major hotel chains. Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com

Airbnb has grown exponentially since its founding in 2008 and is expected to soon go public in an initial public offering that would rank it among the world’s most valuable hotel companies.

In fact, U.S. consumers spent more money on Airbnb last year than...

The history of China's Muslims and what's behind their persecution

Written by Kelly Anne Hammond, Assistant Professor of History, University of Arkansas

A delegate in traditional Uighur dress listens to a speaker during a meeting with delegates from China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in Beijing,AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Over 1 million Uighur Muslims are being held in detention centers in the far western province of Xinjiang, China.

Uighur leaders and experts located outside China have...

Facebook doesn't fool me – but I worry about how it affects you

Written by Joseph B. Walther, Professor of Communication; Director, Center for Information Technology and Society, University of California, Santa Barbara

I'm safe, but you should be more careful online.Rapeepat Pornsipak/Shutterstock.com

A number of prominent figures have called for some sort of regulation of Facebook – including one of the company’s co-founders and a venture capitalist who was one of Facebook’s early backers.

Much of the criticism of Facebook relates to how the...

Recent attempts at reparations show that World War II is not over

Written by Timothy Webster, Associate Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University

Chen Yabian, 74, of Hainan Province, southern China, testifies during the International Symposium on Chinese 'Comfort Women' in 2000 in Shanghai that she was 14 when Japanese Imperial Army soldiers forced her to work as a sex slave during the war. AP/Eugene Hoshiko

World War II ended in 1945.

But the world has never stopped debating its legacy and...

Chicago's Urban Prep Academy – known for 100% college acceptance rates – put reputation ahead of results

Written by Chezare A. Warren, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, Michigan State University

Despite being known for high college acceptance rates, Urban Prep Academies recently lost a charter to operate a school on Chicago's west side.Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

When I joined Urban Prep Academies in 2006 as the founding math teacher at what was to become the nation’s first all-boys public charter high school, the school’s faculty...

US is already fighting a conflict with Iran – an economic war that is hurting the wrong people

Written by David Cortright, Director of Policy Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame

Many are worried about the risk of war with Iran after the Trump administration leaked discussions of a troop deployment in response to claimed threats to U.S. warships in the region.

And in recent days, the rhetoric has only gotten more heated, with President Donald Trump saying a war would be “the official end of Iran.” Iranian...

Could a lack of humility be at the root of what ails America?

Written by Frank T. McAndrew, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology, Knox College

What happens when everyone thinks they're smarter than everyone else?Ljupco Smokovski/Shutterstock.com

There are a lot of reasons behind the political polarization of the country and the deterioration of civic discourse.

I wonder if a lack of humility is one of them.

In his recent book, “The Death of Expertise,” national security expert...