The Conversation

Want to solve the world's problems? Try working together across disciplines

Written by Jonathan M Adler, Associate Professor of Psychology, Olin College of Engineering

Collaboration across disciplines is key to solving the world's toughest problems, researchers argue.Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock

Labor Day is our New Year’s Eve. Rather than vowing to lose weight or spend less time on our phones, as college professors we head into the new school year with a different kind of resolution: to inspire and...

Prisoner strike exposes an age old American reliance on forced labor

Written by Calvin Schermerhorn, Professor of History, Arizona State University

Prisoners in 17 states and several Canadian provinces are on strike in protest of prison labor conditions.

Their demonstrations are compelling Americans to understand that some everyday foods are produced behind bars, for cents on the hour, in a system many call “modern slavery.” Prisoners in the U.S. harvest and process eggs, orange...

Could Andrew Gillum be the next governor of Florida?

Written by Sharon Austin, Professor of Political Science and Director of the African American Studies Program, University of Florida

Andrew Gillum with wife R. Jai Gillum addresses supporters after winning the Democrat primary for governor.AP Photo/Steve Cannon

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum electrified Democrats with his surprising victory in the Florida’s Democratic primary – but will he go on to win in the general election?

Come November, voters will choose...

Want to live longer? Consider the ethics

Written by John K. Davis, Professor of Philosophy, California State University, Fullerton

Telomeres, a part of DNA that hold the key to biological aging.Lightspring/Shutterstock.com

Life extension – using science to slow or halt human aging so that people live far longer than they do naturally – may one day be possible.

Big business is taking this possibility seriously. In 2013 Google founded a company called Calico to...

Through his art, a former prisoner diagnoses the systemic sickness of Florida's penitentiaries

Written by Nicole R. Fleetwood, Associate Professor of American Studies, Rutgers University

Moliere Dimanche would use anything he could scrounge up – pieces of folders, the back of commissary forms, old letters – as canvases.Moliere Dimanche, Author provided

In 2007, Haitian-American artist Moliere Dimanche was sentenced to 10 years in Florida state prisons, where he ended up serving eight-and-a-half years.

While imprisoned,...

It's 2018. Do you know where your medical records are?

Written by Bita A. Kash, Associate Professor and Director of Center for Outcomes Research at Houston Methodist, Texas A&M University

Electronic medical records could be shared between health systems, allowing doctors to share information and possibly improve care.Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock.com

Can you imagine a future where the question “Did you bring a copy of your test results?” becomes entirely unnecessary?

That could happen, but the methods that most health...

Text messages to parents can help boost children's reading skills

Written by Kalena E. Cortes, Associate Professor of Public Policy, The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University

Sending text-message reminders and tips to parents can help boost their children's reading skills. ESB Professional/www.shutterstock.com

Boosting preschoolers’ literacy can be as simple as sending their parents a few texts – but it’s important not to overdo it.

That was the key finding of a recent study we conducted of a text-messag...

Google News serves conservatives and liberals similar results, but favors mainstream media

Written by Seth Lewis, Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon

Hey Google: How's your news?BigTunaOnline/Shutterstock.com

Google News does not deliver different news to users based on their position on the political spectrum, despite accusations from conservative commentators and even President Donald Trump. Rather than contributing to the sort of “echo chamber” problem that critics fear have...

Injecting wastewater underground can cause earthquakes up to 10 kilometers away

Written by Emily Brodsky, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz

Storage site for wastewater from hydraulic fracturing operations just outside Reno, Texas.AP Photo/LM Otero

Earthquakes in the central and eastern United States have increased dramatically in the last decade as a result of human activities. Enhanced oil recovery techniques, including dewatering and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have made...

Who wants to join a union? A growing number of Americans

Written by Thomas Kochan, George Maverick Bunker Professor of Management Professor, Work and Organization Studies Co-Director, MIT Sloan Institute for Work and Employment Research, MIT Sloan School of Management

Fighting for a $15 an hour wage in PittsburghAP Photo/Keith Srakocic

Only 10.7 percent of American workers belong to a union today, approximately half as many as in 1983. That’s a level not seen since the 1930s, just before passage of the labor law that was supposed to protect workers’ right to organize.

Yet American workers have not...