The Conversation

Is Venezuela's president afraid of a coup d'etat?

Written by Marco Aponte-Moreno, Assistant Professor of Global Business, St Mary's College of California

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced the release of 39 political prisoners on June 1, 2018, as a sign of his administration's "goodwill."AP Photo/Fernando Llano

Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek Saab announced on June 11 that the government would release more political prisoners, the third such group offered clemency since President...

Mind molding psychedelic drugs could treat depression, and other mental illnesses

Written by David E. Olson, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry; Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine; Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis

By agsandrew/shutterstock.com

It seems that psychedelics do more than simply alter perception. According to the latest research from my colleagues and me, they change the structures of neurons themselves.

My research group has been studying the effects of psychedelics on neuronal structure and function, and we found that these compounds cause...

Could science diplomacy be the key to stabilizing international relations?

Written by Paul Arthur Berkman, Director of the Science Diplomacy Center and Professor of Practice in Science Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

A different kind of international dialogue.Kyle Glenn on Unsplash, CC BY

It’s no secret that United States–Russia relations are currently rife with tension and mistrust. The news is full of reports of Russia meddling in U.S. elections, seeding U.S. media with fake news, supporting the Syrian regime and so on.

The relationship between...

Living with neighborhood violence may shape teens' brains

Written by Darby Saxbe, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Violence in communities may have an additional unseen victim: young peoples' developing brains.Zoran Karapancev/Shutterstock.com

Flinching as a gunshot whizzes past your window. Covering your ears when a police car races down your street, sirens blaring. Walking past a drug deal on your block or a beating at your school.

For kids living in...

Why religions of the world condemn suicide

Written by Mathew Schmalz, Associate Professor of Religion, College of the Holy Cross

A mourner reads a sympathy card left for Anthony Bourdain at a makeshift memorial in New York.AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

The recent suicides of fashion designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef and writer Anthony Bourdain have reminded all of us that, even for the wealthy, life can become too painful to bear.

The sad truth is that suicide rates have been...

Can Facebook use AI to fight online abuse?

Written by Daniel Lowd, Associate Professor of Computer and Information Science, University of Oregon

It can be complicated to teach a computer to detect harassment and threats.Palto/Shutterstock.com

Facebook has released statistics on abusive behavior on its social media network, deleting more than 22 million posts for violating its rules against pornography and hate speech – and deleting or adding warnings about violence to another 3.5...

Iran's mild response to unprecedented truckers' strike could be due to Trump's influence

Written by Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of Practice in Economics of the Middle East, Brandeis University

Demonstrators show their support for anti-government protests in Iran in front of the White House in January. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Last month, the Trump administration backed out of the 2015 deal his predecessor made with Iran that traded giving up nuclear ambitions for sanctions relief.

The U.S. is expected to soon tighten the screws...

Stress is bad for your body, but how? Studying piglets may shed light

Written by Adam Moeser, Matilda R. Wilson Endowed Chair, Associate Professor of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Michigan State University

Pigs and humans have a lot in common, particularly their digestive tracts. Krumanop/Shutterstock.com

Stress affects most of us to one degree or another, and that even includes animals. My lab studies early-life stress in pigs and how it impacts their health later in life, specifically in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Pigs, whose GI tracts are...

School safety commission misses the mark by ignoring guns

Written by F. Chris Curran, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos stated recently that guns are not a focus of a federal school safety commission meant to tackle school shootings.Africa Studio/www.shutterstock.com

A federal school safety commission that formed after the Parkland, Florida, school massacre won’t be focusing on guns.

That’s according to Secretary of...

John McCain helped build a country that no longer reflects his values

Written by Elizabeth Sherman, Assistant Professor Department of Government, American University School of Public Affairs

Arizona Sen. John McCain – scion of Navy brass, flyboy turned Vietnam war hero and tireless defender of American global leadership – now faces terminal brain cancer.

I am a scholar of American politics. And I believe that, regardless of his storied biography and personal charm, three powerful trends in American politics thwarted...