The Conversation

Worker-protection laws aren't ready for an automated future

Written by Jeffrey Hirsch, Geneva Yeargan Rand Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Uber and Lyft drivers protest their working conditions in Los Angeles in May 2019.AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Science fiction has long imagined a future in which humans constantly interact with robots and intelligent machines. This future is already happening in warehouses and manufacturing businesses. Other workers use virtual or augmented reality...

5 things to consider before taking out a student loan

Written by David J. Nguyen, Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs, Ohio University, Ohio University

About 1 in 10 student loan borrowers default on their student loans.pathdoc/Shutterstock.com

16.9 million.

That’s how many students are going to college at the undergraduate level this fall. Of that number, roughly half – 46% – will take out federal student loans. It’s a decision that could bring certain rewards – not...

4 reasons why social media election data can misread public opinion

Written by Joseph Cabosky, Assistant Professor of Public Relations, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Online discussion doesn’t always accurately reflect the real political landscape.Russ Vance/Shutterstock.com

I often encounter myths and misunderstandings about political data, whether it’s in the classes I teach or broader news coverage.

A common one is that polls these days are all wrong. But, as the news website FiveThirtyEight has...

You’d be better off lighting your money on fire than giving it to a politician to spend on TV ads

Written by Liberty Vittert, Professor of the Practice of Data Science, Washington University in St Louis

Hillary Clinton may have lost to Donald Trump because she bought the wrong kind of adsAP/David Goldman

Alright, you want to make this country a better place for yourself, your children and the many generations to come. So you make a donation to a political candidate you believe will fight for a better country.

But, in reality, you are wasting your...

Humanitarian forensic scientists trace the missing, identify the dead and comfort the living

Written by Ahmad Samarji, Associate Professor of Forensic Science Education & STEM Education and the Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Phoenicia University

Red Cross forensic specialist Stephen Fonseca, right, searches for bodies in a field of ruined maize in Magaru, Mozambique, after Cyclone Idai, April 4, 2019. AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

The word “forensic” is typically associated with crimes and legal disputes. Forensic medicine, for example, applies medical knowledge to establish...

Why would anyone want to sit on a plane for over 18 hours? An economist takes the world's longest flight

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Senior Lecturer, Boston University

A customer waits for the world's longest flight from Singapore to Newark.AP Photo/Wong Maye-E

Recently Qantas announced plans to conduct test flights from New York and London to Sydney and two other Australian cities.

If commercialized, these routes would become the longest in the world at about 19 hours. Qantas said it will conduct test flights wit...

Blinking lights don't make a better knee brace – fighting cognitive biases in testing orthopedic devices

Written by Mark Geil, Professor and Chair, Kennesaw State University

How do you know if a brace is better versus the patient just believing it is? Praisaeng/Shutterstock.com

As a researcher in a health-care-related field, I am keenly aware of how frequently economics enters the discussion these days. I am a biomedical engineer who works with patients using orthopedic devices: prosthetics, such as an artificial...

Hurricane evacuation of nursing home residents still an unsolved challenge

Written by Lindsay J. Peterson, Instructor, School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida

The nursing home in Hollywood Hills, Fla., where 12 people died after the center lost power from Hurricane Irma in 2017.mpi122/MediaPunch/IPX/AP Photo

Hurricane season is here, with the historical peak of the Atlantic season approaching. While these storms can be terrifying, when a bad one is on the way, people usually have time to prepare. One key...

México quiere construir un tren en el corazón de la región Maya, ¿debería de hacerlo?

Written by Gabriel Diaz Montemayor, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Arkansas

El presidente mexicano Andrés Manuel López Obrador tiene un sueño para la península de Yucatán. Quiere construir un tren que aproveche la economía del turismo de Cancún para atraer más visitantes a las ciudades coloniales, pueblos mayas y sitios arqueológicos dispersos en la...

A new tax on big college and university endowments is sending higher education a message

Written by Sarah Waldeck, Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola University Chicago

Stanford will most likely have to pay a new higher ed tax.AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

The nation’s wealthiest private colleges and universities have a new expense.

Thanks to a provision in the tax reform package that President Donald Trump signed in late 2017, these schools are paying a 1.4% tax on their net investment income. This highly...