The Conversation

What Thomas Jefferson, Donald Trump and the American people think about freedom of the press

Written by Jill Darling, Survey Director, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

“No government ought to be without censors and where the press is free no one ever will,” wrote Thomas Jefferson to George Washington.

It is a powerful description of press freedom and the crucial role of the press in a democracy.

Here Jefferson sees the press as “censors” in the ancient Roman sense: They guard against the...

Would a Space Force mean the end of NASA?

Written by Wendy Whitman Cobb, Associate Professor of Political Science, Cameron University

Crowds watch as the space shuttle Discovery lifts off from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. AP Photo/Phil Sandlin

Space, that final frontier, is something that catches the attention of a country naturally inclined to believe in ideas like “Manifest Destiny” and American exceptionalism. But how well does a Space Force fit...

Why health apps are like the Wild West, with Apple just riding into town

Written by Michael L. Millenson, Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

Jeff Williams, chief operating officer of Apple, talks about the Apple Watch 4 and its ability to detect irregularities in heartbeat on Sept. 12, 2018 in Cupertino, California.Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Photo

The heart rate monitor built into the new Apple Watch has sparked sharp debate over its risks and benefits, even though the feature was cleared by...

How Turkey and Saudi Arabia became frenemies – and why the Khashoggi case could change that

Written by Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of Practice in Economics of the Middle East, Brandeis University

Things between Saudi Crown Prince Salman and Turkish President Erdogan have become rather tense.AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici

The Oct. 2 disappearance of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi at his country’s consulate in Istanbul has put a spotlight on the deteriorating relations between Turkey and the Persian Gulf kingdom.

Articles based on ano...

Partisanship runs deep in America - even among 'independents'

Written by Christopher Devine, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Dayton

Dolly the elephant and Dottie the donkey.AP Photo/Bob Schutz

In voting, it doesn’t really matter which party you register with on paper.

Besides, 18 states don’t even register voters by party. What really matters is what political scientists like myself call your “political identity” – your psychological attachment to...

The Violence Against Women Act is unlikely to reduce intimate partner violence – here's why

Written by Leigh Goodmark, Professor of Law, University of Maryland, Baltimore

Most dollars spent on fighting domestic violence go to the criminal justice system.Shutterstock/Fure

The Violence Against Women Act, the federal government’s signature legislation aimed at responding to domestic violence, rape, sexual assault and stalking, expired at the end of September.

Legislative wrangling over the act’s provisions...

America's archaeology data keeps disappearing -- even though the law says the government is supposed to preserve it

Written by Keith Kintigh, Professor, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University

A fragment of an ancestral Pueblo jar dating to c. A.D. 1150.Keith Kintigh, Arizona State University, CC BY

Archaeology – the name conjures up images of someone carefully sifting the sands for traces of the past and then meticulously putting those relics in a museum. But today’s archaeology is not just about retrieving artifacts and...

How monitoring local water supplies can build community

Written by John M. Carroll, Distinguished Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, Pennsylvania State University

Volunteers prepare to take flow measurements on Muddy Creek.Centre County Pennsylvania Senior Environmental Corps, CC BY-ND

Water insecurity is a touchstone for 2018. Our planet isn’t running out of water, but various kinds of mismanagement have led to local water crises across the planet, directly threatening millions of people.

Ensuring...

Meet AICAN, a machine that operates as an autonomous artist

Written by Ahmed Elgammal, Professor of Computer Vision, Rutgers University

'Psychedelic,' an image created by the algorithm AICAN.Ahmed Elgammal, Author provided

When artificial intelligence has been used to create works of art, a human artist has always exerted a significant element of control over the creative process.

But what if a machine were programmed to create art on its own, with little to no human involvement?...

Open-source hardware could defend against the next generation of hacking

Written by Joshua M. Pearce, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan Technological University

What if you could make a microchip at home?Vladimir Nenezic/Shutterstock.com

Imagine you had a secret document you had to store away from prying eyes. And you have a choice: You could buy a safe made by a company that kept the workings of its locks secret. Or you could buy a safe whose manufacturer openly published the designs, letting everyone...