The Conversation

How Cambridge Analytica’s Facebook targeting model really worked – according to the person who built it

Written by Matthew Hindman, Associate Professor of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University

How accurately can you be profiled online?Andrew Krasovitckii/Shutterstock.com

The researcher whose work is at the center of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data analysis and political advertising uproar has revealed that his method worked much like the one Netflix uses to recommend movies.

In an email to me, Cambridge University scholar Aleksandr...

These are the VA's 3 main problems -- leadership isn't one of them

Written by Richard Lachmann, Professor of Sociology, University at Albany, State University of New York

White House physician Ronny Jackson.AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

President Donald Trump dismissed Secretary of Veterans Affairs David J. Shulkin on March 28 because he resisted plans to privatize VA medical services, according to Shulkin.

If confirmed, Shulkin will be replaced by Adm. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician who has no experience...

Cuba's new president: What to expect

Written by William M. LeoGrande, Professor of Government, American University

Leadership changes don’t happen often in Cuba – just one since 1959, in fact. That was in 2006, when President Fidel Castro fell ill and was replaced by his brother Raúl.

Raúl Castro turned out to be a real agent of change. But after two terms as president, the 86-year-old is stepping down. On April 19, the National...

Military mission in Puerto Rico after hurricane was better than critics say but suffered flaws

Written by Birthe Anders, Senior Fellow, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Harvard University

Some 17,000 U.S. troops aided in the Caribbean relief effort after hurricanes Irma and Maria. That's roughly equivalent to the U.S. military's humanitarian mission in the Philippines after Typhoon Hiyan in 2013.U.S. Department of Agriculture

It’s been over six months since powerful back-to-back storms left “catastrophic” damage in...

Langston Hughes' hidden influence on MLK

Written by Jason Miller, Professor of English, North Carolina State University

Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream – which alternated between shattered and hopeful – can be traced back to Hughes' poetry.AP Photo

For years, Martin Luther King Jr. and poet Langston Hughes maintained a friendship, exchanging letters and favors and even traveling to Nigeria together in 1960.

In 1956, King recited Hughes’ poem “Mo...

This 'Final Four' takes place over the board – with talent from around the world

Written by Alexey W. Root, Lecturer in Education, University of Texas at Dallas

In the Final Four of College Chess, most of the players come from abroad.posteriori/Shutterstock

While millions of Americans plan to watch the Final Four of college basketball on TV this weekend, I plan to check out a livestream of the Final Four of College Chess.

As a former U.S. Women’s Chess Champion, my interest in the Final Four goes...

Much of what you think you know about Linda Brown – a central figure in Brown v. Board of Education – is wrong

Written by Charise Cheney, Associate Professsor of Ethnic Studies, University of Oregon

Linda Brown Smith, right, and her two children in their Topeka, KS home 1974.AP

As the nation commemorates the life of Linda Brown Thompson – the public face of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case – Brown is being celebrated as a heroic young girl from Topeka who “brought a case that ended segregation in public schools in...

The invisible power of 'flutter' – from plane crashes to snoring to free energy

Written by Justin Webster, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Flapping flags flutter.withGod/shutterstock.com

With the car windows down on the first warm day of spring, the urge is unshakable. You extend your arm into the wind, tracing the city skyline in a natural motion somewhere between swimming and waving. As you move your hand, you alter the flow of the air. The redirected air in turn exerts a force on...

How Texas is 'building back better' from Hurricane Harvey

Written by Nicole Errett, Lecturer in Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Washington

Hurricane Harvey flooded one-third of Houston and displaced more then 30,000 people in the region.Janelle Rios, CC BY-ND

For most Americans, the one-two punch of last fall’s hurricanes is ancient history. But hard-hit communities in Texas, Florida and the Caribbean are still rebuilding.

I recently traveled with public health students from the...

A VA hospital you may not know: the Final Salute, and how much we doctors care

Written by Sanjay Saint, George Dock Professor of Medicine, University of Michigan

A veteran salutes a flag. There is often a final one that occurs inside a VA hospital.flysnowfly/Shutterstock.com

Death is never easy. Even when expected, a person’s death leaves a void for those who remain. As a physician, it is especially difficult for me when one of my patients dies.

I practice medicine at one of America’s...