The Conversation

I went from prison to professor – here's why criminal records should not be used to keep people out of college

Written by Stanley Andrisse, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Howard University

The U.S. leads the world in the rate of incarceration.kittirat roekburi/www.shutterstock.com

Beginning next year, the Common Application – an online form that enables students to apply to the 800 or so colleges that use it – will no longer ask students about their criminal pasts.

As a formerly incarcerated person who now is now an...

Scientists are developing greener plastics – the bigger challenge is moving them from lab to market

Written by Richard Gross, Professor of Chemistry, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Used once and done.Michael Coghlan, CC BY-SA

Synthetic plastics have made many aspect of modern life cheaper, safer and more convenient. However, we have failed to figure out how to get rid of them after we use them.

Unlike other forms of trash, such as food and paper, most synthetic plastics cannot be easily degraded by live microorganisms or...

Cameras can catch cars that run red lights, but that doesn't make streets safer

Written by Justin Gallagher, Assistant Professor of Economics, Case Western Reserve University

Many major U.S. cities have hidden cameras to catch drivers who run red lights.Gints Ivuskans/shutterstock

The automobile is a killer. In the U.S., 36,675 people died in traffic accidents in 2014. The year before, 2.3 million people were injured in traffic accidents.

During the past decade, over 438 U.S. municipalities, including 36 of the 50 most...

Overcoming vaccination myths: Could addressing the facts during prenatal visits help?

Written by Amanda Sams Bradshaw, Ph.D. candidate in advertising, University of Florida

Studies suggest that pregnant women might be influenced by medical myths on social media. Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock.com

During pregnancy, expectant parents spend countless hours sifting through online resources to make the “right” medical choices for their baby. In addition to decorating a nursery and playing baby shower games,...

Dutch Memorial Day: Erasing people after death

Written by Annemarie Toebosch, Director of Dutch and Flemish Studies, University of Michigan

Dutch Memorial Day commemorated in Amsterdam, May 4, 2014Nationaal Comité 4 en 5 mei, Jasper Juinen, CC BY-SA

As the anniversary of Indonesian independence from the Netherlands approaches, a close look reveals a Dutch narrative that erases people along racial lines.

Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands on Aug. 17, 1945. This...

Small business owners are getting a new incentive to sell to their employees

Written by Joseph Blasi, Director of the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing, Rutgers University

A bartender pours drafts at Harpoon's beer hall in Boston. Harpoon became partially employee-owned in 2014. AP Photo/Charles Krupa

The federal government just made it a lot easier to form an employee-owned business.

In an increasingly rare example of bipartisan cooperation, President Donald Trump on Aug. 13 signed a defense bill into law that...

Why Jewish giving to Israel is losing ground

Written by Hanna Shaul Bar Nissim, Postdoctoral Fellow, Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, Brandeis University

American Jews donate at high levels to charity. One way they support causes in the U.S., Israel and other places is collective, often through large grant-making organizations.

In researching this organized philanthropy, I’ve observed that the proportion of Jewish institutional giving to Israeli causes has fallen since 2009. I believe that...

As a young reporter, I went undercover to expose the Ku Klux Klan

Written by Dick Lehr, Professor of Journalism, Boston University

Connecticut members of the Ku Klux Klan, escorted by Meriden, Conn. police, run for shelter as protesters pelt them in March 1981.AP Photo

Spike Lee’s powerful new film, “BlacKkKlansman,” tells the true story of Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer who infiltrates a local branch the Ku Klux Klan in 1979.

That same...

Following Alfred Russel Wallace's footsteps to Borneo, where he penned his seminal evolution paper

Written by Giacomo Bernardi, Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz

Some of the 'remarkable beetles' Wallace collected in Borneo.A. R. Wallace, CC BY

The chirping of cicadas is deafening, my clothes are sticky and heavy with heat and sweat, my right hand is swollen from ant bites, I am panting, almost passing out from exhaustion – and I have a big grin on my face. At last I’ve reached my goal, Rajah...

Finding nostalgia in the pixelated video games of decades past

Written by Nicholas Bowman, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, West Virginia University

Instruments of nostalgia and psychological well-being?Brian Kenney/Shutterstock.com

Every day, it seems, new ultra-high-resolution video games are released, syncing with players’ social media accounts and ready for virtual reality headsets. Yet old games from the 1970s and 1980s are still in high demand. The Nintendo Corporation has moved...