The Conversation

Why a minor change to how EPA makes rules could radically reduce environmental protection

Written by Joseph Aldy, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University

Tighter emissions standards create costs for truck manufacturers yet provide health benefits for society. How should they be weighed?Lesterman

Since the Reagan administration, federal agencies have been required to produce cost-benefit analyses of their major regulations. These assessments are designed to ensure that regulators are pursuing actions...

Drug shortages pose a public health crisis in the US

Written by Sharona Hoffman, Professor of Health Law and Bioethics, Case Western Reserve University

As of June 2018, the U.S. is short on 182 drugs and medical supplies, including IV bags.Sherry Yates Young/shutterstock.com

On June 12, the American Medical Association announced that drug shortages pose an urgent public health crisis. This crisis should be of concern to all Americans.

The Food and Drug Administration defines a drug shortage as a...

Why you should eat popcorn with chopsticks – and other psychological tricks to make life more enjoyable

Written by Robert W. Smith, Assistant Professor of Marketing, The Ohio State University

Give it a try during your next movie night.Betsy Weber/flickr, CC BY-SA

It happens fast. You crack open a bottle of your favorite drink and put it to your lips. The delicious flavor is nearly overwhelming. But a minute later, you’re barely noticing the taste as you drink it.

Or you buy a new car and think it will make you smile every time you...

As Venezuela's public health system collapses, mosquito-borne viruses re-emerge

Written by Gabriela Blohm, Postdoctoral research associate, University of Florida

Psorophora ferox female, a potential vector for Madariaga virus. Photo taken on Heritage Island, Anacostia River, in Washington, D.C., June 30, 2012.Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

The ability to predict which virus will cause the next epidemic is a science, an art and a gamble. We have learned through our work in Venezuela that it’s always a good...

What is the summer solstice? An astronomer explains

Written by Stephen Schneider, Professor of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts Amherst

The Northern Hemisphere gets its biggest dose of daylight.Takmeng Wong and the CERES Science Team at NASA Langley Research Center, CC BY

The summer solstice marks the official start of summer. It brings the longest day and shortest night of the year for the 88 percent of Earth’s people who live in the Northern Hemisphere. People around the...

US communities can suffer long-term consequences after immigration raids

Written by Elizabeth Oglesby, Associate Professor of Latin American Studies and Geography, University of Arizona

Immigration sting at Corso's Flower and Garden Center in Castalia, Ohio, June 5, 2018.AP Photo/John Minchillo, File

U.S. immigration agents raided an Ohio gardening company on June 5, arresting 114 suspected undocumented workers.

This followed other large workplace raids, including a raid on a rural Tennessee meat-processing plant in April. The...

Yemen: Understanding the conflict

Written by Kelly McFarland, Director of programs and research, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University

The military conflict now escalating in Yemen threatens the lives of more than 250,000 people in the port city Hodeidah while 8 million more people across Yemen already risk starvation. The country is also facing the “worst cholera outbreak in modern history.”

I am a scholar who has studied Yemen and worked as an Arabian Peninsula...

One likely winner of the World Cup? Putin

Written by Peter Rutland, Professor of Government, Wesleyan University

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev watch the action during the match between Russia and Saudi Arabia that opened the 2018 World Cup.Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

Half a million soccer fans will head to Russia to watch their national teams compete in the FIFA World Cup. Billions more...

Why New York state is suing the Trumps: 5 questions answered

Written by Megan Tompkins-Stange, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan

Eric, Don Jr., Ivanka and Donald TrumpAP Photo/Evan Vucci

Editor’s note: New York state Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood is suing Donald Trump’s foundation and its board of directors over an alleged “pattern of persistent illegal conduct.” Megan Tompkins-Stange, a University of Michigan public policy professor, explains...

How can a baby have 3 parents?

Written by Jennifer Barfield, Assistant Professor, Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Colorado State University

By Fakhrul Najmi

It seems impossible, right? We have been taught from the time we were young that babies are made when a sperm and an egg come together, and the DNA from these two cells combine to make a unique individual with half the DNA from the mother and half from the father. So how can there be a third person involved in this process?

To...