The Conversation

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,...

4 questions answered on sex trafficking in the US

Written by Monti Datta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Richmond

Hotels and motels along major highways are common spots for sex trafficking.Ken Stocker/shutterstock.com

The revelations about billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who is accused of sex trafficking girls, paint a grim picture of sex trafficking in the U.S. The buying and selling of human beings is strong in America more than 150 years since the end of the...

The long, bipartisan history of dealing with immigrants harshly

Written by Anthony W. Fontes, Assistant Professor of Human Security, American University School of International Service

A group of Mexican laborers boarding a train in Chicago to be deported in 1951.AP Photo

From the Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban to its family separation policy, many Americans object to the White House’s hardline immigration policies as a historical aberration out of sync with U.S. values.

Having explored the evolution of these...

The forgotten history of segregated swimming pools and amusement parks

Written by Victoria W. Wolcott, Professor of History, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

When a group of white and African American integrationists entered a St. Augustine, Fla. segregated hotel pool in 1964, the hotel manager poured acid into it.AP Photo

Summers often bring a wave of childhood memories: lounging poolside, trips to the local amusement park, languid, steamy days at the beach.

These nostalgic recollections, however,...

A booming international movie market is transforming Hollywood

Written by Weiko Lin, Associate Professor in Screenwriting, Emerson College

China is projected to surpass the U.S. in box office receipts in 2020.DGArt3D/Shutterstock.com

Marvel’s “Shang-Chi” – the studio’s first Asian superhero movie – is a sign of the times.

Destin Daniel Cretton, who is of Asian descent, will be directing the film, which will feature a Chinese superhero who...

Neuroscience and artificial intelligence can help improve each other

Written by Gabriel A. Silva, Professor of Bioengineering and Neurosciences; Founding Director, Center for Engineered Natural Intelligence, University of California San Diego

Neurons treated with a fluorescent dye show their interconnections.Silva Lab, CC BY-ND

Despite their names, artificial intelligence technologies and their component systems, such as artificial neural networks, don’t have much to do with real brain science. I’m a professor of bioengineering and neurosciences interested in understanding...

Women are less supportive of space exploration – getting a woman on the Moon might change that

Written by Wendy Whitman Cobb, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies

NASA is making a new effort to encourage women to pursue STEM careers.Khakimullin Aleksandr/Shutterstock.com

In March 2019, Vice President Mike Pence stated that the goal of NASA should be to return humans to the Moon by 2024. While the cost of such a venture isn’t known yet, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has supported the effort and gone...

How Congress lost power over trade deals – and why some lawmakers want it back

Written by William Hauk, Associate Professor of Economics, University of South Carolina

Congress was once the seat of all power on U.S. trade policyAP Photo

Some in Congress want to wrest control of trade policy back from the president. It might surprise you to learn that lawmakers ever had it.

Until the 1930s, it was Congress that set the terms of U.S. trade negotiations with other countries and raised and lowered tariffs as it saw...