The Conversation

Secrecy versus sunshine: Efforts to hide government records never stop

Written by Brent Walth, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon

Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen testifies in February at a public hearing at the Washington legislature against limiting legislative branch disclosure. AP/Ted S. Warren

It’s spring, and in America’s state capitals legislatures are winding up their business and, too often, bringing out the padlocks.

All 50 states give the public...

Retired oil rigs off the California coast could find new lives as artificial reefs

Written by Ann Scarborough Bull, Visiting Researcher, Marine Science institute, University of California, Santa Barbara

A school of juvenile bocaccio in the midwaters of Platform Gilda, Santa Barbara Channel, Calif.Scott Gietler, CC BY-ND

Offshore oil and gas drilling has been a contentious issue in California for 50 years, ever since a rig ruptured and spilled 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil off Santa Barbara in 1969. Today it’s spurring a new debate:...

We’re just beginning to grasp the toll of the Islamic State's archaeological looting in Syria

Written by Fiona Greenland, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Virginia

A Syrian archeologist holds an artifact that was transported to Damascus for safe-keeping during the Syrian Civil War.AP Photo/Hassan Ammar

The Islamic State surrendered its last scrap of territory, in Baghouz, Syria, this past March.

While some argue that celebrations of IS’s demise are premature, there’s no question that the terrorist...

Buttigieg's call for universal public service would mark a big departure from historically small volunteer programs

Written by Christopher Staysniak, Visiting Assistant Professor of History, College of the Holy Cross

JFK shaking hands with one of the first Peace Corps volunteers in 1961P Photo/William J. Smith

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg recently proposed massively expanding national service programs.

The South Bend, Indiana, mayor told MSBNC journalist Rachel Maddow he thinks it should be “not legally obligatory, but certainly a...

Facebook's 'transparency' efforts hide key reasons for showing ads

Written by Oana Goga, Research scientist, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Université Grenoble Alpes

Why is that ad targeting you?Olivier Le Moal/Shutterstock.com

Facebook’s advertising platform was not built to help social media users understand who was targeting them with messages, or why. It is an extremely powerful system, which lets advertisers target specific users according to a detailed range of attributes. For example, in 2017,...

How traumatic injury has become a health care crisis

Written by Lynn Marie Frydrych, General Surgery Resident, University of Michigan

Doctors care for a trauma patient. While survival rates for trauma victims have improved, if you live to leave the hospital, you’re still at risk of dying.MonkeyBusinessImages/Shutterstock.com

Traumatic injury, or sudden physical injury requiring immediate medical attention, is an epidemic in the United States. It affects individuals of all...

Tooth fairy study reveals children near lead smelters are exposed to dangerous lead in the womb

Written by Jill Johnston, Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California

A worker recycling lead in a lead acid battery recovery facility.National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

The environmental tragedy in Flint, Michigan, in which drinking water contaminated with lead raised fears of potential health effects for exposed children, revealed the failure of a regulatory system to protect residents from lead...

Boredom in the mating market: Guppies demonstrate why it’s good to stand out

Written by Mitchel Daniel, Postdoctoral Fellow in Ecology and Evolution, Florida State University

A male guppy looks good when he looks different.Mitchel Daniel, CC BY-ND

If you’re looking for love, it pays to stand out from the crowd. Or at least that’s how it works in some parts of the animal kingdom. Scientists have found that in several species – green swordtail fish, Trinidadian guppies, fruit flies, Poecilia parae fish...

Sunscreen wouldn't have saved Bob Marley from melanoma, and it won't help other dark-skinned people

Written by Adewole S. Adamson, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine (Division of Dermatology), University of Texas at Austin

An image of Bob Marley at a Bob Marley Exhibit in Miami Oct. 16, 2013. Lynne Slakdy/AP Photo

Melanoma is a potentially deadly form of skin cancer linked to overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun. Sunscreen can block UV rays and therefore reduce the risk of sun burns, which ultimately reduces the risk of developing melanoma. Thus, the...

Is the brain parasite _Toxoplasma_ manipulating your behavior, or is your immune system to blame?

Written by Bill Sullivan, Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Indiana University

The parasite _Toxoplasma gondii_ only reproduces sexually in cats.fotovapl/Shutterstock.com, CC BY-SA

We’re not the same when we get sick. Whether it is sneezing when we get a cold, or ferociously biting people when we get rabies, germs change our behavior.

That’s because germs need to transmit from one host to another. Consequently,...