The Conversation

Designed to deceive: How gambling distorts reality and hooks your brain

Written by Mike Robinson, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Wesleyan University

The longer they keep you plugged in to a game, the better it is for the house.AP Photo/Seth Wenig

To call gambling a “game of chance” evokes fun, random luck and a sense of collective engagement. These playful connotations may be part of why almost 80 percent of American adults gamble at some point in their lifetime. When I ask my...

Immigration activists fighting to abolish ICE have a bigger vision

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

There’s a phrase being thrown around a lot these days: “Abolish ICE.” It’s a hashtag, it’s used in political speeches and demonstrations, and it appears all over Facebook.

What does it mean and where did it come from?

ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency that enforces immigration laws...

Saudi women can drive, but are their voices being heard?

Written by Nermin Allam, Assistant Professor of Politics, Rutgers University Newark

A woman in Saudi Arabia drives to work for the first time in Riyadh.AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty

Earlier this summer, Saudi Arabia lifted the decades-long ban on women’s driving. The move is part of a series of reforms that the country has been implementing. In April the kingdom loosened male guardianship laws – under which women need the...

The promise of personalized medicine is not for everyone

Written by Daniel R. Weinberger, Director of the Lieber Institute for Brain Development and Professor, Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology, Neuroscience and The Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University

African-Americans are underrepresented in large-scale genetic and neuroscience studies.Wadi Lissa/Unsplash

Could your medical treatment one day be tailored to your DNA? That’s the promise of “personalized medicine,” an individualized approach that has caught the imagination of doctors and researchers over the past few years. This...

Obesity and diabetes: 2 reasons why we should be worried about the plastics that surround us

Written by Bruce Blumberg, Professor, Developmental & Cell Biology , University of California, Irvine

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is used in a variety of applications from plumbing to health care to electronics.By SIRIKANLAYA KHLIBNGERN/shutterstock.com

Today, nearly 40 percent of U.S. adults and 21 percent of youth are obese. This trend is on the upswing and the worldwide population is becoming more obese – which is increasing the risk of other...

A socialist's primary win doesn't herald a workers revolution in the US

Written by Daniel Pout, Instructor School of Politics & Global Studies, Arizona State University

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a California fundraiser in AugustAP/Jae C. Hong

Anyone anticipating a golden dawn of Marxist-Leninist communism soon in the United States might have to wait a while longer – perhaps forever.

The surprise victory of socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over longtime Democratic New York Congressman John Crowley in a...

The start of high school doesn't have to be stressful

Written by David Yeager, Associate professor, University of Texas at Austin

Up to two-thirds of students experience 'ninth grade shock,' which can affect everything from grades to mental health.ABO Photography/www.shutterstock.com

This month, more than 4 million students across the nation will begin high school.

Many will do well.

But many will not.

Consider that nearly two-thirds of students will experience the “ninth...

America has 1.5 million nonprofits and room for more

Written by Robert Christensen, Associate Professor, Romney Institute of Public Management, Brigham Young University

Overcrowding is harder to define than it may appear.adike/Shutterstock.com

The nation’s 1.5 million nonprofits do everything from fielding Little League teams to funding orchestras.

Despite all the good these organizations do, some donors worry that the nation has more nonprofits than it can sustain. In America alone, more than 36,000 of them...

The ghost of Roy Orbison goes on tour – and some aren't happy about it

Written by Peter Lehman, Professor, Department of English and Director, Center for Film, Media and Popular Cutlure, Arizona State University

In January, the production company Base Hologram announced its forthcoming Roy Orbison hologram tour, “In Dreams,” with the U.S. leg of the tour set to kick off on Oct. 1 in Oakland. For the unitiated: A computer-generated hologram of Orbison will be performing alongside an orchestra and band.

Shortly after the announcement, a handful...

Walmart tried to make sustainability affordable. Here's what happened

Written by Andrew Spicer, Associate Professor of International Business, University of South Carolina

Can Walmart go green while maintaining its commitment to low prices?AP Photo/Tom Uhlman

What a difference the birth of a granddaughter can make.

For Lee Scott, who ran Walmart from 2000 to 2009, the arrival of his granddaughter not only convinced him the threat of global warming was real but set him on a course that altered the very DNA of the world...