The Conversation

Lise Meitner – the forgotten woman of nuclear physics who deserved a Nobel Prize

Written by Timothy J. Jorgensen, Director of the Health Physics and Radiation Protection Graduate Program and Associate Professor of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown University

Lise Meitner was left off the publication that eventually led to a Nobel Prize for her colleague.

Nuclear fission – the physical process by which very large atoms like uranium split into pairs of smaller atoms – is what makes nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants possible. But for many years, physicists believed it energetically...

Did academia kill jazz?

Written by Adam Gustafson, Instructor in Music, Pennsylvania State University

At some point, jazz went from the music of youthful rebellion to that of the cultured elite.Freedom Master/shutterstock

Jazz seems to be experiencing a bit of a renaissance among movie directors – look no further than documentaries such as “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool,” which just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival,...

ICE detainees on hunger strike are being force-fed, just like Guantánamo detainees before them

Written by A. Naomi Paik, Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Protesters depicting detainees of the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is force-feeding nine detainees who are on a hunger strike at a detention center in El Paso, Texas.

The protesters are mostly from India and are being held in ICE custody while their...

Journalism needs an audience to survive, but isn't sure how to earn its loyalty

Written by Jacob L. Nelson, Assistant Professor of digital audience engagement, Arizona State University

Is connecting with their audience key to journalism's future?Shutterstock

Journalism is in the midst of an existential crisis: the profession has undergone decades of declines in readership, revenue and public trust, with no obvious end in sight.

Many in the industry believe that the best way for newsrooms to recover both revenue and public trust is...

Fossil fuels are bad for your health and harmful in many ways besides climate change

Written by Noel Healy, Associate Professor of Geography, Salem State University

The Flint Hills Resources oil refinery, near downtown Houston.AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Many Democratic lawmakers aim to pass a Green New Deal, a package of policies that would mobilize vast amounts of money to create new jobs and address inequality while fighting climate change.

Led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey, they are...

Why stop at plastic bags and straws? The case for a global treaty banning most single-use plastics

Written by Anastasia Telesetsky, Professor of International Environmental Law , University of Idaho

Joyce Njeri, 8, walks amidst garbage and plastic bags in the Dandora slum of Nairobi, Kenya. AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File

Single-use plastics are a blessing and a curse. They have fueled a revolution in commercial and consumer convenience and improved hygiene standards, but also have saturated the world’s coastlines and clogged landfills. By...

Why the US has higher drug prices than other countries

Written by Simon F. Haeder, Assistant Professor of Political Science, West Virginia University

Policymakers and consumers are well aware of rising pharmaceuticals prices.AP Photo/Elise Amendola

Spending on pharmaceuticals is on the rise worldwide. And it well should be. Today, we are able to cure some diseases like hepatitis C that were virtual death sentences just a few years ago. This progress required significant investments by...

I fight anti-GMO fears in Africa to combat hunger

Written by Walter Suza, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Agronomy, Iowa State University

As a child, I remember feeling hungry most of the time. Growing up in rural Tanzania, I walked to school barefoot and most of the time had one meal a day. After school, I helped my mother with various farming chores, including feeding the animals, weeding, harvesting and planting. I often heard my mother express concerns about the lack of ways to...

Amazon HQ2: Texas experience shows why New Yorkers should be skeptical

Written by Nathan Jensen, Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin

Amazon's plan to build a new headquarters in Long Island City faces mounting resistance. AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

New York offered Amazon close to US$3 billion to build a “second” headquarters in Long Island City on the promise of 25,000 jobs.

Since the deal was joyfully announced in November, however, many local residents and some...

Democrats court rural Southern voters with Stacey Abrams' State of the Union response

Written by Sharon Austin, Professor of Political Science and Director of the African American Studies Program, University of Florida

Stacey Abrams is the first African-American woman to deliver a State of the Union response in the 53-year history of this tradition.Pool video image via AP

In a brief, direct and optimistic speech about fighting immigrant scapegoating, racism and voter suppression, Stacey Abrams celebrated diversity in her Democratic rebuttal to Donald...