The Conversation

When it comes to your health, where you live matters

Written by Jessica Young, Assistant Professor, American University

Shoppers browsing vegetables at a farmers market.Pixabay

According to a recent report, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia have the worst health in the U.S. These states have higher rates of premature deaths, chronic diseases and poor health behaviors year after year.

Why are people in some places in the U.S. consistently...

Medicaid work requirements could cost the government more in the long run

Written by Diane Dewar, Associate Professor of Health Policy, Management and Behavior, University at Albany, State University of New York

Tammie Jackson, looking at the prescription drugs she could not obtain before enrolling in Montana's expanded Medicaid program, in the summer of 2017.AP Photo/Bobby Caina Calvan

After the Trump administration gave states permission to impose new restrictions on Medicaid eligibility, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin wasted no time.

Within days, Kentucky...

Another continuing resolution won't solve the real problem within the Republican Party

Written by William B. Heller, Associate Professor of Political Science, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Senator Mitch McConnell walks to the chamber on the first morning of a government shutdown.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Republicans can’t agree on a budget.

That lack of agreement has made it necessary for Congress to pass a series of continuing resolutions to keep the government open.

There’s no budget agreement because factions within...

Healthy to eat, unhealthy to grow: Strawberries embody the contradictions of California agriculture

Written by Julie Guthman, Professor of Social Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz

Suspected infestation of Macrophomina phaseolina, a "novel" soil pathogen, in the non-fumigated buffer zone of a strawberry fieldJulie Guthman, CC BY-ND

Agricultural abundance is a pillar of the California dream. In 2016 the state turned out more than US$45 billion worth of meat, milk and crops. Long before nutritionists agreed that fresh fruits...

There are better ways to foster solar innovation and save jobs than Trump's tariffs

Written by Edward Barbier, Professor of Economics, Colorado State University

Sights like this Brooklyn rooftop covered with solar panels with a view of the Manhattan skyline have become more commonplace amid a U.S. renewable energy industry boom.AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

President Donald Trump’s decision to impose punitive duties on imported solar panels and related equipment is rankling most of the industry.

This was the...

What are chronophilias?

Written by Michael Seto, Forensic Research Director at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group and Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto

Some people have unusual attractions to specific age groups.Varshesh Joshi on Unsplash, CC BY

Mr. Smith was a 27-year-old man referred for psychological treatment after sexually offending against a 13-year-old boy. He initially denied the charge, but eventually admitted to sexually abusing multiple youth. He later admitted he’d been attracted...

Is attraction to an age group another kind of sexual orientation?

Written by Michael Seto, Director of Forensic Rehabilitation Research at the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group and Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto

Some people have unusual attractions to specific age groups.Varshesh Joshi on Unsplash, CC BY

What might explain the unhappiness epidemic?

Written by Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology, San Diego State University

Although measures of teen and adult happiness dropped during the high unemployment rates of the Great Recession, it didn’t rebound when the economy started to improve.ASDF_MEDIA/Shutterstock.com

We’d all like to be a little happier.

The problem is that much of what determines happiness is outside of our control. Some of us are...

Guarding against the possible Spectre in every machine

Written by Scott Shackelford, Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics; Director, Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance; Cybersecurity Program Chair, IU-Bloomington, Indiana University

A call to better track manufacturing, shipping and distribution.Travel mania/Shutterstock.com

Security vulnerabilities in technology extend well beyond problems with software. Earlier this month, researchers revealed that the hardware at the heart of nearly every computer, smartphone, tablet and other electronic device is flawed in at least two...

Secret memo shows bipartisanship during Watergate succession crisis

Written by Joseph J. Fins, The E. William Davis Jr, M.D. Professor of Medical Ethics and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University

Gerald Ford, left, and Carl Albert wave on Dec. 6, 1973, just after Ford was sworn in as vice president. AP Photo

It was the height of Watergate and the Democratic speaker of the House, Carl Albert, needed advice. With Vice President Spiro Agnew’s resignation, and the Nixon presidency imperiled, Albert was suddenly next in line to become...