The Conversation

Suicide nation: What's behind the need to numb and to seek a final escape?

Written by Monica H. Swahn, Professor, epidemiology and public health, Georgia State University

Paramedics and firefighters in Cincinnati respond to a possible opioid overdose at a hotel on Nov. 2, 2017.John Minchillo/AP Photo

Suicide rates in the U.S. have increased nearly 30 percent in less than 20 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported June 7. These mind-numbing statistics were released the same week two very...

Lessons on political polarization from Lincoln's 'House Divided' speech, 160 years later

Written by Bradford Vivian, Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences and Director of the Center for Democratic Deliberation, Pennsylvania State University

The nation was bitterly divided over slavery in 1860, when this political cartoon was publishedLibrary of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

The idea of “two Americas,” or “red” and “blue” states, now dominates public discussion. “Political polarization,” the Pew Research Center reports,...

Four campus free speech problems solved

Written by David Moshman, Emeritus Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

'Free speech zones' and other efforts to limit free speech on campus are igniting controversies across the nation.Chad Zuber/www.shutterstock.com

Concerns about free speech in higher education have reached the point where at least 30 state legislatures have considered, and nearly a dozen – including Arizona and Virginia – have passed, la...

Digital mental health drug raises troubling questions

Written by Anthony Ryan Hatch, Associate Professor of Science in Society, Wesleyan University

Abilify MyCite tracks whether patients are taking their medication. By kaprik/shutterstock.com

Moments after Neo eats the red pill in “The Matrix,” he touches a liquefied mirror that takes over his skin, penetrating the innards of his body with computer code. When I first learned about the controversial new digital drug Abilify MyCite,...

New European rules may give US internet users true privacy choices for the first time

Written by John Rothchild, Associate Professor of Law, Wayne State University

Europe's digital-data regulations are having ripple effects around the world.mixmagic/Shutterstock.com

Europe’s new data privacy rules, the General Data Protection Regulation, have taken effect, but what they actually mean remains to be discovered. And whether the GDPR, as it’s known, really helps protect your private data may depend on...

Why there are so many unsheltered homeless people on the West Coast

Written by Margot Kushel, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

One-quarter of homeless people in the U.S. live in California, despite Californians making up only 12 percent of the population.

Not only is homelessness more common on the West Coast but it is also more visible, because a higher proportion of homeless people are unsheltered. In the U.S., 24 percent of homeless people sleep outside, in vehicles or...

El colapso económico de Venezuela tiene una clara explicación

Written by Henkel Garcia U, Finance Instructor, Professional Studies Extension Programme, Andres Bello Catholic University (UCAB)

Read in English.

Hoy mi país, Venezuela, está en los titulares internacionales casi a diario.

El hambre se extiende debido a la escasez y los altos precios, la gente muere por falta de medicinas y los ciudadanos llevan su cotidianidad en un ambiente de muy elevada inseguridad (Caracas está entre las ciudades más...

Short-term changes in Antarctica's ice shelves are key to predicting their long-term fate

Written by Helen Amanda Fricker, Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego

The northeast edge of the Venable Ice Shelf, near Antarctica's Allison Peninsula.NASA/John Sonntag, CC BY

Antarctica’s ice sheet contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by around 180 feet if it all melted. But dramatic, eye-catching changes to Antarctica’s floating ice shelves, such as calving icebergs, are often highlighted in...

On Germany's national soccer stage, why have East Germans gone missing?

Written by Per Urlaub, Associate Dean of the Language Schools and Associate College Professor, Middlebury College

Toni Kroos is the only East German on the German national soccer team.AP Photo/Martin Meissner

Germany is a soccer powerhouse.

Yet only one member of the national team competing in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, midfielder Toni Kroos, hails from East Germany.

For a period of over 40 years in the 20th century, Germany was divided into two separate...

En Venezuela puede que no haya un final feliz

Written by Miguel Angel Latouche, Associate Professor, Universidad Central de Venezuela

El gobierno venezolano ha utilizado las fuerzas militares para reprimir a las voces disidentes en las protestas diarias.Efecto Eco / Wikimedia, CC BY

Read in English.

En Venezuela se ha roto la lógica de funcionamiento de las instituciones republicanas.

Digo esto sabiendo bien que la semana pasada un número importante de venezolanos se...