The Conversation

Inspired by sci-fi, an airplane with no moving parts and a blue ionic glow

Written by Steven Barrett, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A time-lapse image showing the plane flying across a gymnasium.Steven Barrett, MIT, CC BY-ND

Since their invention more than 100 years ago, airplanes have been moved through the air by the spinning surfaces of propellers or turbines. But watching science fiction movies like the “Star Wars,” “Star Trek” and “Back to the...

La publicidad diseñó el Día de Acción de Gracias tal y como se conoce hoy

Written by Samantha N. N. Cross, Associate Professor of Marketing, Iowa State University

Para las marcas que venden pastel de calabaza, como Borden’s, Snowfrift y Mrs. Smith, el Día de Acción de Gracias es un mercado importante.Jean Beaufort

Siempre he sentido curiosidad por el Día de Acción de Gracias: por las tradiciones, la comida y la idea de un día festivo en Estados Unidos que trata...

Virtual reality tours give rural students a glimpse of college life

Written by Carol Cutler White, Assistant Professor, Community College Leadership, Mississippi State University

Students at Person High School use cardboard goggles to take a virtual tour of University of North Carolina campuses. Person County Schools, Author provided

The first time that Nyah visited the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for a campus tour, there wasn’t much of a chance to see what takes place inside the classrooms.

“We...

The government aims to boost ethanol without evidence that it saves money or helps the environment

Written by André Boehman, Professor of Mechanical Engineering; Director, W.E. Lay Automotive Laboratory, University of Michigan

A fan of fuel blends that contain as much as 85 percent ethanol.AP Photo/Jim Mone

President Donald Trump has promised his supporters in Iowa that the federal government will take a step that may increase corn ethanol sales.

This plant-derived fuel, which comprises about 10 percent of the 143 billion gallons of gasoline Americans buy each year,...

Why bigotry is a public health problem

Written by Ronald W. Pies, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, Lecturer on Bioethics & Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University; and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine, Tufts University

Mourners wait to attend the funeral of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, Virginia, Aug. 16, 2017 after Heyer was killed attending a rally to protest white nationalism. Julia Rendleman/AP Photo

Over a decade ago, I wrote a piece for a psychiatric journal entitled “Is Bigotry a Mental Illness?” At the time, some psychiatrists were...

Amazon's move will gentrify neighborhoods – at what social cost?

Written by Alexandra Staub, Associate Professor of Architecture; Affiliate Faculty, Rock Ethics Institute, Pennsylvania State University

The largest public housing complex in the country, Queensbridge Houses, is located near the spot where Amazon plans to put a new headquarters.AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

When large companies move into an area, politicians often proclaim how the new business will create jobs, increase tax revenues, and thus lead to economic growth. This is one reason...

Rock 'n' roll is dying in Bangladesh

Written by Mubashar Hasan, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo

'It's really difficult to live as a rock musician in Bangladesh," says Samir Hafiz, a guitarist in the heavy metal band Warfaze. Facebook

The seeds of rock ‘n’ roll culture were planted in Bangladesh during the birth of the country in 1971, after a war for liberation separated this majority-Muslim territory from Pakistan.

For most of...

In the 1600s Hester Pulter wondered, 'Why must I forever be confined?' – now her poems are online for all to see

Written by Samantha Snively, PhD Candidate in Early Modern Literature, University of California, Davis

For centuries, Pulter's manuscript lay untouched at the University of Leeds' Brotherton Library.University of Leeds Library, Brotherton Collection, MS Lt q 32, CC BY-NC-SA

In 1996, a graduate student named Mark Robson was creating a digital catalog of the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library when he discovered a small manuscript on the...

Blockchain systems are tracking food safety and origins

Written by Nir Kshetri, Professor of Management, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

It looks good, but where did this pork come from?Artem Shadrin

When a Chinese consumer buys a package labeled “Australian beef,” there’s only a 50-50 chance the meat inside is, in fact, Australian beef. It could just as easily contain rat, dog, horse or camel meat – or a mixture of them all. It’s gross and dangerous,...

Wildfire smoke is becoming a nationwide health threat

Written by Richard E. Peltier, Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst

An image from the International Space Station captures plumes of smoke from California wildfires on August 4, 2018. NASA

The impacts of recent forest fires in California reach well beyond the burned areas. Smoke from the Camp Fire created hazardous air quality conditions in San Francisco, more than 170 miles to the southwest – but it...