The Conversation

Editing genes shouldn't be too scary -- unless they are the ones that get passed to future generations

Written by Eleanor Feingold, Professor of Human Genetics, University of Pittsburgh

Gene editing a fertilized human embryo. Lightspring/Shutterstock.com

Gene editing is one of the scarier things in the science news, but not all gene editing is the same. It matters whether researchers edit “somatic” cells or “germline” cells.

Germline cells are the ones that propogate into an entire organism – either...

Marijuana is a lot more than just THC - a pharmacologist looks at the untapped healing compounds

Written by James David Adams, Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Southern California

Assorted cannabis bud strains.Roxana Gonzalez/Shutterstock.com

Medical marijuana is legal in 33 states as of November 2018. Yet the federal government still insists marijuana has no legal use and is easy to abuse. In the meantime, medical marijuana dispensaries have an increasing array of products available for pain, anxiety, sex and more.

The...

Why a college admissions racket would funnel bribes through a fake charity

Written by Sarah Webber, Associate Professor, Department of Accounting, University of Dayton

Many people aided by the campus admissions scheme wanted to attend the University of Southern California.AP Photo/Reed Saxon

Federal authorities are prosecuting dozens of suspects in the biggest college admissions scandal ever exposed. The joint FBI and IRS investigation, dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues,” uncovered millions of dollars...

Why rich parents are more likely to be unethical

Written by David M. Mayer, Professor of Management & Organizations, University of Michigan

William 'Rick' Singer founder of the Edge College & Career Network, pleaded guilty to charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal.AP Photo/Steven Senne

Federal attorneys have arrested 50 people in a college admission scam that allowed wealthy parents to buy their kids’ admission to elite universities. Prosecutors found...

5 ways the Syrian revolution continues

Written by Wendy Pearlman, Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University

A Syrian refugee child sits on the window of his family's trailer home painted by refugee artists in a camp near Mafraq, Jordan. AP/Raad Adayleh

Bashar al-Assad has “won” the war in Syria – or so many analysts tell us.

His regime has reconquered swaths of territory from rebel forces with starvation-and-surrender sieges, barrel...

Why meritocracy is a myth in college admissions

Written by Morgan Polikoff, Associate Professor of Education, University of Southern California

Clockwise from top left, Georgetown University, Stanford University, Yale University, and University of California, Los Angeles. AP

The most damaging myth in American higher education is that college admissions is about merit, and that merit is about striving for – and earning – academic excellence. This myth is often used as a weapon...

Jamaica leads in Richard Branson-backed plan for a Caribbean climate revolution

Written by Masaō Ashtine, Lecturer in Alternative Energy, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus

Turbines in Manchester Parish, Jamaica, the English-speaking Caribbean's first wind farm.Debbie Ann Powell

After hurricanes Irma and Maria tore through the Caribbean in 2017, devastating dozens of islands – including billionaire Richard Branson’s private isle, Necker Island – Branson called for a “Caribbean Marshall Plan.&rdq...

Consumer rights are worthless without enforcement

Written by Anne Fleming, Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University

John F. Kennedy's 1962 speech inspired the modern consumer rights movement.AP Photo/Bill Allen

Exactly 57 years ago, President John F. Kennedy made an impassioned pitch for stronger consumer rights.

“If consumers are offered inferior products, if prices are exorbitant, if drugs are unsafe or worthless, if the consumer is unable to choose on...

Sandy Hook lawsuit court victory opens crack in gun maker immunity shield

Written by Timothy D. Lytton, Distinguished University Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State University

A detective holds a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, the same type of gun used in the Sandy Hook School shooting.AP Photo/Jessica Hill

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled on March 14 that families of the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting victims could proceed with a lawsuit against the companies that manufactured and sold the semiautomatic rifle used in...

3 days, 3 key votes – and no end in sight for Brexit

Written by Scott L. Greer, Professor, Global Health Management and Policy and Political Science, University of Michigan

On March 12, the British Parliament overwhelmingly rejected – for a second time – a Brexit plan worked out by Prime Minister Theresa May.
A day later, the lawmakers voted against a “hard Brexit” – one without any approved plan.
Then, on March 14, British lawmakers voted 412 to 202 to delay an exit from the European...