The Conversation

The Fed changed its strategy on interest rates – here's what it means

Written by Thomas Gilbert, Associate Professor of Finance and Business Economics, University of Washington

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at a news conference.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The Federal Reserve just took the monetary policy equivalent of a sharp 90-degree turn.

On Jan. 30, the U.S. central bank signaled that it was done raising benchmark interest rates after two years of aggressive rate hikes. As such, the Fed held its target rate...

Protecting the world's wetlands: 5 essential reads

Written by Jennifer Weeks, Environment + Energy Editor, The Conversation

Marshes at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on Maryland's Eastern Shore.Ataraxy22/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

World Wetlands Day on Feb. 2 marks the date when 18 nations signed the Convention on Wetlands in 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Since that time, scientists have shown that wetlands provide many valuable...

Capturing carbon to fight climate change is dividing environmentalists

Written by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Georgetown University

Environmental activists are teaming up with fresh faces in Congress to advocate for a Green New Deal, a bundle of policies that would fight climate change while creating new jobs and reducing inequality. Not all of the activists agree on what those policies ought to be.

Some 626 environmental groups, including Greenpeace, the Center for Biological...

Facebook at 15: It's not all bad, but now it must be good

Written by Bhaskar Chakravorti, Dean of Global Business, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Doth the CEO protest too much?AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

It is almost too easy to bash Facebook these days. Nearly a third of Americans feel the country’s most popular social media platform is bad for society. As the company approaches its 15th birthday, Americans rate its social benefit as better than Marlboro cigarettes, but worse than...

First private spacecraft shoots for the moon

Written by John Horack, Neil Armstrong Chair and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University

Artist's concept of Beresheet on the lunar surface.Oshratsl / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

“Moon of Israel” is an epic 1924 film from the golden era of silent movies, and helped launch the directing career of Michael Curtiz, of “Casablanca” fame. Sequels seldom live up to the original. But if Israel’s plans to put a...

How Howard Thurman met Gandhi and brought nonviolence to the civil rights movement

Written by Walter E. Fluker, Professor of Ethical Leadership, Boston University

Howard Thurman's image on Howard University chapel's stained glass window.Fourandsixty from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Director Martin Doblmeier’s new documentary, “Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story,” is scheduled for release on public television in February. Thurman played an important role in the civil rights...

Text analysis of thousands of grant abstracts shows that writing style matters

Written by David Markowitz, Assistant Professor of Social Media Data Analytics, University of Oregon

What to write to get that next grant?Stokkete/shutterstock.com

Is there a financial relationship to what or how people communicate?

Placing a value on words can feel crude or highfalutin – unless you’re in academia, where words are often tied to money. More publications can lead to a promotion, and receiving grant aid can fund new...

The new Congress likely won't impeach Trump and remove him from office – here's why

Written by Jacob Neiheisel, Assistant Professor in Political Science, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

The line of succession works like this: If Trump is removed from office, Pence takes over. If both Trump and Pence go, Pelosi would take over. AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Removing a president from office is a two-step process. The first step is impeachment. That’s when members of the House indict, or charge, the president with an impeachable...

Keeping the lights on during extreme cold snaps takes investments and upgrades

Written by Zhaoyu Wang, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, Iowa State University

Heavy, wet snow can knock down tree limbs -- and power lines.AP Photo/Bill Sikes

Polar vortexes. Hurricanes. Wildfires.

With climate change making extreme weather events more frequent and intense, it is getting harder to keep the lights on and HVAC systems running.

As a power system researcher, I believe utilities need to get better at withstanding...

Scientist at work: I'm a geologist who's dived dozens of times to explore submarine volcanoes

Written by Michael Perfit, Distinguished Professor of Geology, University of Florida

Staring up into the night sky as a kid and wondering what was out there started my journey to a career that involves diving in a cramped submersible vessel into the darkness of the deep sea to see what’s there.

By the time I was 15 years old, I discovered I was already too big to fit in those small early space capsules as an astronaut. My...