The Conversation

Ban 'killer robots' to protect fundamental moral and legal principles

Written by Bonnie Docherty, Lecturer on Law and Associate Director of Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection, International Human Rights Clinic, Harvard Law School, Harvard University

The U.S. military is already testing a Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System.Lance Cpl. Julien Rodarte, U.S. Marine Corps

When drafting a treaty on the laws of war at the end of the 19th century, diplomats could not foresee the future of weapons development. But they did adopt a legal and moral standard for judging new technology not covered by...

Civil lawsuits are the only way to hold bishops accountable for abuse cover-ups

Written by Timothy D. Lytton, Distinguished University Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State University

Victims or their family members react to a Pennsylvania grand jury investigation that identified more than 1,000 child victims of clergy sexual abuse. AP/Matt Rourke

Last week, a Pennsylvania grand jury documented 70 years of concerted efforts by Catholic bishops in that state to conceal more than 1,000 cases of child sexual abuse by priests...

Swift's telescope reveals birth, deaths and collisions of stars through 1 million snapshots in UV

Written by Michael Siegel, Research Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University

Technicians prepare Swift's UVOT for vibration testing on Aug. 1, 2002, more than two years before launch, in the High Bay Clean Room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Imagine if the color camera had never been invented and all our images were in black and white. The world would still look...

Saving the brain with a new nerve agent antidote

Written by Janice Chambers, Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine; Director, Center for Environmental Health Sciences, Mississippi State University

An old gas mask lies abandoned on the ground.By Khamidulin Sergey / shutterstock.com

Terror on a Tokyo subway, 1995; attacks on Syrian civilians, 2013 and 2017; assassinations in an airport in Kuala Lumpur, 2017; attempted assassination in London, 2018. Tremors, foaming at the mouth, seizures, respiratory shutdown, sometimes death. What do these...

Turkey's currency collapse shows just how vulnerable its economy is to a crisis

Written by Can Erbil, Professor of the Practice of Economics, Boston College

Sometimes you have to look back to move forward. AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis

If you happen to be a tourist in Turkey right now, consider yourself lucky. Otherwise, things look grim.

The Turkish lira has lost as much as a third of its value relative to the U.S. dollar in less than a month and recently hit a record low. As a result, all imported...

Why it matters that teens are reading less

Written by Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology, San Diego State University

SAT reading scores in 2016 were the lowest they've ever been.Aha-Soft/Shutterstock.com

Most of us spend much more time with digital media than we did a decade ago. But today’s teens have come of age with smartphones in their pockets. Compared to teens a couple of decades ago, the way they interact with traditional media like books and movies...

How the Trump Foundation illustrates the limits of charity regulations

Written by Ellen P. Aprill, Professor of Law; John E. Anderson Chair in Tax Law, Loyola Law School Los Angeles

Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago clubAP Photo/Evan Vucci

Since 2008, nearly every donation Donald Trump’s foundation has made near his Mar-a-Lago mansion and club in Florida funded charities that hosted events there, according to recent investigative reporting.

This pattern, first reported by The Palm Beach Post, follows an accusation New York...

Advertising is obsolete – here's why it's time to end it

Written by Ramsi Woodcock, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Kentucky

Since it first became clear that Russian agents spent thousands of dollars a month on political advertising on social media in the runup to the 2016 presidential election, Americans have been asking how the powerful advertising infrastructure run by Google and Facebook could have been thrown open to foreign agents.

But fewer have stopped to ask whet...

Stop worrying about how much energy bitcoin uses

Written by Katrina Kelly-Pitou, Research Associate in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Pittsburgh

The word “bitcoin” is as likely to garner feverish excitement as it is glaring criticism. The financial community sees speculative promise in the form of trade that currently has little to no regulation. Meanwhile, others argue that it’s a distraction that detracts from the overall longevity of U.S. financial institutions.

Bitcoin...

Dangerous stereotypes stalk black college athletes

Written by Joseph Cooper, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, University of Connecticut

Brains vs. brawn: Does big-time college sports value black student-athletes?Brynn Anderson/AP

If you go strictly by the official account, heatstroke was the cause of death for University of Maryland football player Jordan McNair. McNair died earlier this year following a grueling practice in which training staff failed to properly diagnose and...