The Conversation

Migrants' latest health challenge: Scabies

Written by Jackson Thomas, Assistant Professor/Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy, University of Canberra

Scabies, long considered a disease of the past in the developed world, is making its way back. This highly contagious parasitic skin disease, which is caused by the burrowing itch mite Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis, is most commonly transmitted through personal contact in close living quarters and institutional settings, such as schools, aged...

How female protagonists have changed – and stayed the same – in young adult fiction

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

Female protagonists are forging a new way in contemporary young adult fiction.Workman Publishing

Strong female protagonists in young adult fiction are nothing new. From Nancy Drew to Annemarie Johansen – Lois Lowry’s selfless heroine in Holocaust-era “Number the Stars” – to a plucky young Lucy Pevensie in “The...

Trump may intervene in the power markets to keep coal and nuclear plants running. Does that make sense?

Written by James Van Nostrand, Director, Center for Energy and Sustainable Development; Professor of Law, West Virginia University

The Indian Point nuclear power station outside New York City will be decommissioned by 2021. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

President Donald Trump recently ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take “immediate steps” to stop the closure of coal and nuclear power plants.

And according to a draft memo that surfaced the same day, the federal...

Here’s why Trump’s new strategy to keep ailing coal and nuclear plants open makes no sense

Written by James Van Nostrand, Director, Center for Energy and Sustainable Development; Professor of Law, West Virginia University

The Indian Point nuclear power station outside New York City will be decommissioned by 2021. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

President Donald Trump recently ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take “immediate steps” to stop the closure of coal and nuclear power plants.

And according to a draft memo that surfaced the same day, the federal...

¿Igualdad de género? Para las mujeres en política esto no existe

Written by Virginia García Beaudoux, Professor of Political Communication and Public Opinion, University of Buenos Aires

Read in English.

Como experta en comunicación y género, mi trabajo me ha brindado la oportunidad de conocer y asesorar profesionalmente a casi un millar de mujeres líderes y políticas alrededor del mundo, desde la República Dominicana o Bolivia, hasta Honduras.

En América Latina, me compenetré con las...

California's jungle primary sets up polarized governor's race for November

Written by Thad Kousser, Professor of Political Science, University of California San Diego

Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at his campaign's night watch party in San Francisco.AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Voters who took part in California’s innovative and anti-party “jungle” primary delivered a typical and predictably partisan result in the governor’s race.

They sent Democratic Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom as the heavy...

Leyes de deportación de Trump dejan terribles huellas psicológicas en los migrantes

Written by Alejandra Rivera, Research Professor, Department of Psychology , Universidad Autonoma de la Ciudad de Mexico

Read in English.

En febrero de 2017 un hombre se suicidió en Tijuana. El joven de 25 años había sido deportado de los Estados Unidos y se arrojó de un puente vehicular en Tijuana, Baja California, a pocos kilómetros de la frontera Estados Unidos-México.

Este penoso caso demuestra la precariedad de las...

I want your (anonymized) social media data

Written by Anthony Sanford, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Washington

Balancing personal privacy with detailed insights.Dawn Hudson/Shutterstock.com

Social media sites’ responses to the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal and new European privacy regulations have given users much more control over who can access their data, and for what purposes. To me, as a social media user, these are positive developments:...

EPA staff say the Trump administration is changing their mission from protecting human health and the environment to protecting industry

Written by Chris Sellers, Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Study of Inequalities, Social Justice, and Policy, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)

Protesters at a rally on the state of the EPA organized by the American Federation of Government Employees union, April 25, 2018, in Washington, D.C. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The Environmental Protection Agency made news recently for excluding reporters from a “summit” meeting on chemical contamination in drinking water. Episodes like...

Why long-term separation from parents harms kids

Written by David Rosenberg, Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Wayne State University

Children are often sad when separated from their parents for a short time, but the effects are pronounced if the separation is long.Eakachai Lessin/Shutterstock.com

As a society, we often wax eloquent about how important it is to nurture, support and protect our children. The sad reality, however, is that all too often major, life-changing...