The Conversation

Supreme Court polarization is not inevitable — just look at Europe

Written by David Orentlicher, Professor of Law and Co-Director, Health Law Program, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

United States President Donald Trump has nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. His choice solidifies a conservative majority on the nation’s nine-member highest court.

Trump’s conservative bench could overrule Roe v. Wade, eliminating women’s constitutional right to abortion. It also...

Inside the sacred danger of Thailand's caves

Written by Andrew Alan Johnson, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Princeton University

Family members pray in front of a Buddhist statue near the cave where 12 boys and their soccer coach were trapped in northern Thailand.AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit

For the past two weeks, a global audience has been transfixed by the drama of 12 boys and their coach trapped within Tham Luang Nang Non, a cave deep underneath the mountains that form the...

A rare instance when preventative screening is worth the dollar cost

Written by David Hutton, Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy , University of Michigan

A technician holds a blood sample that tested positive for the hepatitis B virus.Jarun Ontakrai/shutterstock.com

Very few people know about hepatitis B, the so-called silent killer, and the billions of dollars it costs the U.S. health care system. The hepatitis B virus can cause chronic infection that is usually asymptomatic for decades until it...

Por qué el censo de 2020 no debería preguntar sobre tu ciudadanía

Written by Jennifer Van Hook, Roy C. Buck Professor of Sociology and Demography, Pennsylvania State University

Ceremonia de naturalización en diciembre de 2015. AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File

Read in English.

“¿Esta persona es ciudadano de los Estados Unidos?”

El 26 de marzo, el Departamento de Comercio de los Estados Unidos anunció que se agregaría una pregunta sobre ciudadanía al censo de 2020. Esta pregunta, que...

Why is the Strait of Hormuz important?

Written by Rockford Weitz, Professor of Practice and Director of the Fletcher Maritime Studies Program, Tufts University

Strait of HormuzWikipedia

Global shipping is constrained by geography.

Massive oil tankers and cargo ships – carrying over 90 percent of global trade flows by weight – converge in narrow straits. The result: The world’s key shipping lanes are often crowded.

As a researcher who has focused on strategic maritime chokepoints for over...

Silicon Valley's cautionary tale shows what can go wrong when charities get obsessed with growth

Written by Brian Mittendorf, Fisher Designated Professor of Accounting and Chair, Department of Accounting & Management Information Systems (MIS), The Ohio State University

Charities should not make amassing more and more money their top priority.Shutterstock.com/Stokkete

An obsession with growth. A failure to intervene when an executive allegedly bullies and sexually harasses staff. High employee turnover and burnout.

This is not the plot of one of those movies dramatizing Wall Street greed. It’s actually a...

7.5 billion and counting: How many humans can the Earth support?

Written by Andrew D. Hwang, Associate Professor of Mathematics, College of the Holy Cross

Slums in Caracas, Venezuela.Wikimedia

Humans are the most populous large mammal on Earth today, and probably in all of geological history. This World Population Day, humans number in the vicinity of 7.5 to 7.6 billion individuals.

Can the Earth support this many people indefinitely? What will happen if we do nothing to manage future population...

How the Catholic Church came to oppose birth control

Written by Lisa McClain, Professor of History and Gender Studies, Boise State University

Pope Paul VI banned contraception for Catholics in the 1968 encyclical, "Humanae Vitae."AP Photo/Jim Pringle

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark “Humanae Vitae,” Pope Paul VI’s strict prohibition against artificial contraception, issued in the aftermath of the development of the birth control pill. At the time,...

Considering race in college admissions – 3 questions answered

Written by Stella M Flores, Associate Professor of Higher Education; Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Diversity; Director of Access and Equity, Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, New York University

Federal guidance on race is college admissions is changing.www.shutterstock.com

On July 3, the Trump administration announced it will reverse several policy memos outlining how colleges and universities can use race as a factor in admissions.

The memos aren’t law, but rather Obama-era guidance – issued jointly by the departments of...

Alcohol's health benefits hard to prove, but harms are easy to document

Written by Christina Mair, Assistant professor, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh

Alcohol is part of American life, but its health risks may be underplayed.graphic.mooi/shutterstock.com

Alcohol is the most widely used drug in the world, including in the United States.

About 70 percent of adults in the United States report past-year alcohol consumption, with over 37 million drinkers reporting binge drinking (defined for women as...