The Conversation

The tragic story of America's only native parrot, now extinct for 100 years

Written by Kevin R. Burgio, Postdoctoral Fellow in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut

John James Audubon's 'Carolina Parakeets.'Wikimedia Commons

It was winter in upstate New York in 1780 in a rural town called Schoharie, home to the deeply religious Palatine Germans. Suddenly, a flock of gregarious red and green birds flew into town, seemingly upon a whirlwind.

The townspeople thought the end of the world was upon them. Though the...

Trump plan to execute 'big drug pushers' will do nothing to stop opioid overdoses

Written by Angélica Durán-Martínez, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell

On March 19, President Donald Trump unveiled his administration’s plan to stem the opioid overdose crisis in the United States, which has claimed some 350,000 lives since 2000. Among other measures, it proposes severe punishment for people involved in the illegal drug trade, including longer minimum jail sentences and potentially the death...

Who is John Bolton and what does he want?

Written by Steven Feldstein, Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs & Associate Professor, School of Public Service, Boise State University

John Bolton.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

President Donald Trump’s announcement on March 22 that John Bolton would become the new national security adviser took the policy world – and Bolton – by surprise.

Bolton’s hawkish views are well known. During his run as a Fox News commentator, he advocated for preemptively bombing North Korea...

Trump's go-it-alone approach to China trade ignores WTO's better way to win

Written by Charles Hankla, Associate Professor of Political Science, Georgia State University

Trump may have launched first salvo in a trade war.AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

President Donald Trump seems to be changing his tune on trade.

On March 8, he imposed across-the-board tariffs on the importation of steel and aluminum, angering allies and adversaries alike. Exactly two weeks later, the president launched a new salvo in what could turn into an...

What the staff does matters more than what's in an organization's mission statement

Written by David Berlan, Assistant Professor of Public Administration, Askew School of Public Administration and Policy, Florida State University

The late Sen. Ted Kennedy, reading from "A Nation of Immigrants," a book by his brother, President John F. KennedyAP Photo/Dennis Cook

Mission statements, not normally in the news, are getting more attention than usual.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the State Department and other...

Kids' fitness is improving, but they still aren't as fit as their parents were

Written by Grant Tomkinson, Professor, University of North Dakota

Kids' aerobic fitness declined for several decades but shows signs of improving in some countries.stockforce/Shutterstock.com

Physical fitness is important for success in sports and athletics, but it is also important for good health. If you are generally fit, you probably have a strong heart, brain, muscles and bones, all of which help you to...

Babe Ruth in a kimono: How baseball diplomacy has fortified Japan-US relations

Written by Steven Wisensale, Professor of Public Policy, University of Connecticut

Tokyoites watch Hideo Nomo pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers at Sony Plaza on June 30, 1995.Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo

On Feb. 9, 2001, an American submarine, the USS Greenville, surfaced beneath the Ehime Maru, a Japanese ship filled with high school students who were training to become fishermen. The ship sank, and nine students and teachers died....

Congress left a little something for waiters and dishwashers in its $1.3 trillion budget

Written by Nicole Hallett, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Lawmakers have been generous. Trudy Wilkerson/Shutterstock.com

While federal workers were breathing a sigh of relief that Congress managed to avoid a government shutdown, another group of workers also had reason to cheer. That’s because hidden deep in the US$1.3 trillion budget deal that President Donald Trump signed on March 23 was a measure...

The countries that trust Facebook the most are also the most vulnerable to its mistakes

Written by Bhaskar Chakravorti, Senior Associate Dean, International Business & Finance, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Every month, over two billion people worldwide log into Facebook.hxdbzxy/shutterstock.com

The latest shoe has dropped on Facebook: Private data on 50 million users found its way to a shadowy research outfit, Global Science Research, and then on to Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm launched by former White House adviser Steve Bannon.

Zu...

The everyday ethical challenges of self-driving cars

Written by Johannes Himmelreich, Interdisciplinary Ethics Fellow, Stanford University McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society

Decisions made by engineers today will determine how all cars drive.Grendelkhan, CC BY-SA

A lot of discussion and ethical thought about self-driving cars have focused on tragic dilemmas, like hypotheticals in which a car has to decide whether to run over a group of schoolchildren or plunge off a cliff, killing its own occupants. But those sorts of...