The Conversation

Why the Democrats' new 'debt-free' college plan won't really make college debt-free

Written by Robert Kelchen, Assistant Professor of Higher Education, Seton Hall University

A new 'debt-free' college plan has little chance of success.ARENA Creative/www.shutterstock.com

Rising student loan debt and concerns about college affordability got considerable attention from Democrats in the 2016 presidential campaign. Those issues are bound to get renewed attention since House Democrats recently introduced the Aim Higher Act &nd...

How Puerto Rico's economy is holding back recovery: 3 essential reads

Written by Nicole Zelniker, Editor

Puerto Rico made headlines last September when Hurricane Irma swept through the island, closely followed by Hurricane Maria, leaving death and devastation in their wake.

A recent study estimated that as many as 5,000 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria alone – compared with the official estimate of just 64 – while the financial...

Millennials are so over US domination of world affairs

Written by Bruce Jentleson, Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Duke University

Millennials are not into the 'We are the greatest country' idea.Shutterstock

Millennials, the generation born between 1981 and 1996, see America’s role in the 21st century world in ways that, as a recently released study shows, are an intriguing mix of continuity and change compared to prior generations.

For over 40 years the Chicago Council...

A conservative activist's quest to preserve all network news broadcasts

Written by Thomas Alan Schwartz, Professor of History, Vanderbilt University

Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon smiles for the cameras during a 1968 news conference.AP Photo

Fifty years ago, in the middle of a typically hot and humid Nashville summer, a Metropolitan Life insurance manager named Paul Simpson sat with Frank Grisham, the director of the Vanderbilt University Library, in the rare books room of the...

Why the rescued Thai soccer team has ordained as Buddhist novice monks

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

Members of the team who were rescued from a flooded cave prepare to be ordained to become Buddhist novices and monks.AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit

After their dramatic rescue from Nang Non cave, the Thai boys and their soccer coach have ordained as novice monks for a period of nine days, as a part of paying respect to the Thai Navy SEAL, Saman Gunan, who...

Natural selection in action: Hurricanes Irma and Maria affected island lizards

Written by Colin Donihue, Postdoctoral Fellow in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

Holding on in hurricane-force winds.Colin Donihue, CC BY-ND

The Turks and Caicos anole is a small brown lizard found running through the undergrowth in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It’s an endemic species, meaning these few islands are the only place to find Anolis scriptus anywhere in the world. Despite the species being fairly common...

Los estudiantes multilingües en EEUU logran mejores resultados que nunca

Written by Karen D. Thompson, Assistant Professor of Education, Oregon State University

De acuerdo con un nuevo estudio, los estudiantes multilingües han progresado de forma constante en los últimos añosMonkey Business Images/Shutterstock

Entre 2003 y 2015, los estudiantes multilingües en EE UU mostraron dos o tres veces mayores progresos en lectura y matemáticas que los estudiantes que solo hablan...

Spiraling wildfire fighting costs are largely beyond the Forest Service's control

Written by Cassandra Moseley, Associate Vice President for Research and Research Professor , University of Oregon

Fighting wildfires with air tankers, like this one dropping fire retardant on the Willow Fire in California on September 2, 2015, is expensive and not always effective.USFS, CC BY

Just six months after the devastating Thomas Fire – the largest blaze in California’s history – was fully contained, the 2018 fire season is well under...

Truck drivers are overtired, overworked and underpaid

Written by Michael Belzer, Associate Professor, Economics, Wayne State University

More than half of all U.S. truck drivers exceed the federal limit of 60 hours per week.5m3photos/shutterstock.com

Research shows that economic pressure pushes drivers to work extremely long hours, contributing significantly to truck crashes.

A 2010 survey by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health showed that, on average,...

A turbulent future may be in store for US-Turkish relations

Written by Doga Ulas Eralp, Professorial Lecturer, American University School of International Service

Turkey’s June elections confirmed one important political reality in the country: The state always wins.

And that’s likely bad news for the future of Turkey’s long relationship with the United States.

I’m a scholar and practitioner of international conflict resolution who has studied Turkey and its relations with other...