The Conversation

For mothers who lose their babies, donating breast milk is a healing ritual

Written by Ayelet Oreg, Ph.D. Candidate, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Stillbirth and neonatal loss are painful in many ways.

But increasingly, some of the more than 24,000 American women whose pregnancies end with the loss of their babies are choosing to do something they find both demanding and healing – giving their breast milk away.

As a social worker, a scholar of...

'Bystander effect' and sexual assault: What the research says

Written by Heather Hensman Kettrey, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Clemson University

Sexual assault, pushed into public conversation by the #MeToo movement, once again dominates the U.S. news cycle. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faces allegations that he sexually assaulted professor Christine Blasey Ford, a former high school classmate.

The allegations have led to a number of important questions regarding victim testimony,...

Massacres, disappearances and 1968: Mexicans remember the victims of a 'perfect dictatorship'

Written by Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong

Mexican soldiers killed up to 300 student protesters and arrested 1,000 more on Oct. 3, 1968, in an event that's come to be known as the Tlatelolco massacre.AP Photo

Ten days before the opening ceremony of the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, uniformed soldiers and rooftop snipers opened fire on student protesters in a plaza in the capital...

'Coming of Age in Mississippi' still speaks to nation's racial discord, 50 years later

Written by Leigh Ann Wheeler, Professor of History, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Most memoirs are soon forgotten.

A rare exception is Anne Moody’s “Coming of Age in Mississippi,” which was published in 1968. It spoke to the day’s pressing issues – poverty, race and civil rights – with an urgent timeliness.

Fifty years later, the book still commands a wide readership. Read each year by...

5 habilidades matemáticas que los niños en edad preescolar deben aprender: enséñeselas de forma divertida

Written by Susan Sonnenschein, Professor, Applied Development Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Cómo lograr que su hijo esté listo para la escuela.Studio.g photography/shutterstock

Los padres desempeñan un papel fundamental en la enseñanza temprana de matemáticas de sus hijos: no solo pueden proporcionar juguetes y entretenimientos relacionados con las matemáticas, sino que pueden convertirse en el...

Why trade deficits aren't so bad

Written by William D. Lastrapes, Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

The trade deficit, and how much a country exports or imports, is only part of the story. AP Photo/Reed Saxon

Most Americans seem to think international trade deficits are a bad thing.

A March poll, for example, showed that more than two-thirds think the U.S. should take steps to reduce the trade deficit with China, even if a resulting trade war...

Does a man's social class have anything to do with the likelihood he'll commit sexual assault?

Written by Jamie L. Small, Assistant Professor, University of Dayton

Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, arrives in the East Room of the White House, July 9, 2018. AP/Alex Brandon

Defending his reputation against Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual assault, Judge Brett Kavanaugh worked hard, and angrily, to present himself as a respectable man in his statement...

Controversial young adult novel offers insight into Kavanaugh hearings, sexual assault

Written by Kelly Roberts, Associate Professor of English; Program Coordinator, 6-9 and 9-12 licensure programs in English, Meredith College

Young adult fiction books on display at an independent bookstore.Andrew Cline/www.shutterstock.com

The confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh should remind educators of the vital need to talk to young people about sexual assault, consent, underage drinking – and how the choices they make as teenagers can affect the rest...

Think journalism's a tough field today? Try being a reporter in the Gilded Age

Written by Randall S. Sumpter, Associate Professor of Communication, Texas A&M University

An 1899 photograph of the pressroom of the Planet, a newspaper in Richmond, Va.Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com

The internet has upended the journalism industry – and not in a good way.

Over the past decade, over 100,000 journalism jobs have been shed, while advertising revenue has fallen US$30 billion since 2004.

Nobel goes to chemists who learned to 'hack' evolution in the lab

Written by Brian Bachmann, Professor of Chemistry, Vanderbilt University

Scientists are now using evolution to create designer proteins for therapies and industrial processes.Johan Jarnestad / The Royal Academy of Sciences, CC BY-SA

The three 2018 Nobel Prize winners for chemistry were recognized for inventing fast and reliable methods for “hacking” evolution – techniques that have transformed...