The Conversation

University of North Carolina at Charlotte shooting has these things in common with other campus shootings

Written by Jillian Peterson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University

Police secure the main entrance to UNC Charlotte after a shooting at the school that left at least two people dead, Tuesday, April 30.Jason E. Miczek/AP

The April 30 shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte follows a familiar pattern of mass shootings at college campuses in the United States.

If authorities better understood these...

3 moral reasons why parents need to get their children vaccinated against measles and other diseases

Written by Joel Michael Reynolds, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Several parents do not want their children vaccinated, for religious or other reasons.Tatevosian Yana/Shutterstock

The U.S. hit a terrible and entirely preventable milestone this week: Measles cases are at a 25-year high.

This alarming statistic is not due to changes in public health policy or medical practice, but the rise of the anti-vax...

As air pollution increases in some US cities, the Trump administration is weakening clean air regulations

Written by Jason West, Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Oil refineries and other industrial sources in and around Houston create some of the highest ozone levels in the nation. AP Photo/Pat Sullivan

Air pollution kills. In the United States, 1 of every 25 deaths occurs prematurely because of exposure to outdoor air pollution.

It kills more Americans than all transportation accidents and gun shootings co...

3 ways $2 trillion for infrastructure can fight inequality too

Written by Steven Pressman, Professor of Economics, Colorado State University

Imagine you have US$2 trillion to spend on patching up America’s crumbling roads, levees and other infrastructure. What would you fix first?

The nation’s needs are great. The American Society of Civilian Engineers’ latest report, from 2017, highlighted derailing trains, roads full of potholes, levees breaching, bridges...

Asteroid dust brought back to Earth may explain where our water came from with hydrogen clues

Written by Maitrayee Bose, Assistant Professor of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University

Planetary scientists believe that Earth was formed by the conglomeration of meteorites and comets -- which also brought water.Festa/SHutterstock.com

Oceans cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, and scientists argue that the planet’s interior also contains a lot of water. But where did all this water come from?

I and my postdoc Zili...

Is the Assange indictment a threat to the First Amendment?

Written by Ofer Raban, Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Oregon

A British court on Wednesday sentenced Julian Assange to almost a year in prison for jumping bail.

That’s not the end of Assange’s legal problems: On May 2, Assange, the co-founder of WikiLeaks, will appear at a London court in relation to his requested extradition to the U.S.

The American government has many reasons to dislike Assange,...

Why abusive husbands kick dogs but angry neighbors poison them

Written by Laura A. Reese, Professor of Political Science and Director of Global Urban Studies Program, Michigan State University

Breaking down the numbers on animal neglect.Sergio Foto/shutterstock.com

Volunteering with animal rescue and shelter organizations in Detroit brought me face to face with many manifestations of animal cruelty: dogs left outside and frozen in their yards; dogs with chain link collars embedded in their necks; cats that had gaping wounds full of...

From Paris to Boston, the crucial role of fire chaplains

Written by Wendy Cadge, Professor of Sociology and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis University

Chaplain of the Paris Fire Department, Jean-Marc Fournier.AP Photo/Thibault Camus

Chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, Jean-Marc Fournier, is credited with saving several items of great significance – such as the crown of thorns – from the Cathedral of Notre Dame as it burned.

Previously a military chaplain in Afghanistan, Fournier also...

A 'coup des gens' is underway – and we're increasingly living under the regime of the algorithm

Written by Simon Gottschalk, Professor of Sociology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

It's almost impossible for users to detect which information is being collected, who's collecting it and what they do with it.Sarawut sriphakdee/Shutterstock.com

I recently attended a large meeting of faculty to discuss graduate students’ evaluation, recruitment and retention.

“Let the data drive your goals,” one of the speakers...

Prescription for journalists from journalists: Less time studying Twitter, more time studying math

Written by John P. Wihbey, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Innovation, Northeastern University

Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office, April 14, 2019.AP/Evan Vucci

You hear a lot of heated claims and baseless generalities these days about what’s wrong with the news media.

What’s seldom heard is what the underlying data indicate about true problem areas and where journalists need to improve.

News reporting requires doing a...