The Conversation

Why is the Strait of Hormuz important?

Written by Rockford Weitz, Professor of Practice and Director of the Fletcher Maritime Studies Program, Tufts University

Strait of HormuzWikipedia

Global shipping is constrained by geography.

Massive oil tankers and cargo ships – carrying over 90 percent of global trade flows by weight – converge in narrow straits. The result: The world’s key shipping lanes are often crowded.

As a researcher who has focused on strategic maritime chokepoints for over...

Silicon Valley's cautionary tale shows what can go wrong when charities get obsessed with growth

Written by Brian Mittendorf, Fisher Designated Professor of Accounting and Chair, Department of Accounting & Management Information Systems (MIS), The Ohio State University

Charities should not make amassing more and more money their top priority.Shutterstock.com/Stokkete

An obsession with growth. A failure to intervene when an executive allegedly bullies and sexually harasses staff. High employee turnover and burnout.

This is not the plot of one of those movies dramatizing Wall Street greed. It’s actually a...

7.5 billion and counting: How many humans can the Earth support?

Written by Andrew D. Hwang, Associate Professor of Mathematics, College of the Holy Cross

Slums in Caracas, Venezuela.Wikimedia

Humans are the most populous large mammal on Earth today, and probably in all of geological history. This World Population Day, humans number in the vicinity of 7.5 to 7.6 billion individuals.

Can the Earth support this many people indefinitely? What will happen if we do nothing to manage future population...

How the Catholic Church came to oppose birth control

Written by Lisa McClain, Professor of History and Gender Studies, Boise State University

Pope Paul VI banned contraception for Catholics in the 1968 encyclical, "Humanae Vitae."AP Photo/Jim Pringle

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark “Humanae Vitae,” Pope Paul VI’s strict prohibition against artificial contraception, issued in the aftermath of the development of the birth control pill. At the time,...

Considering race in college admissions – 3 questions answered

Written by Stella M Flores, Associate Professor of Higher Education; Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Diversity; Director of Access and Equity, Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, New York University

Federal guidance on race is college admissions is changing.www.shutterstock.com

On July 3, the Trump administration announced it will reverse several policy memos outlining how colleges and universities can use race as a factor in admissions.

The memos aren’t law, but rather Obama-era guidance – issued jointly by the departments of...

Alcohol's health benefits hard to prove, but harms are easy to document

Written by Christina Mair, Assistant professor, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh

Alcohol is part of American life, but its health risks may be underplayed.graphic.mooi/shutterstock.com

Alcohol is the most widely used drug in the world, including in the United States.

About 70 percent of adults in the United States report past-year alcohol consumption, with over 37 million drinkers reporting binge drinking (defined for women as...

Is the Supreme Court's legitimacy undermined in a polarized age?

Written by Kevin J. McMahon, Professor of Political Science & Director of the Graduate Program in Public Policy, Trinity College

The U.S. Supreme CourtShutterstock

When I learned Justice Anthony Kennedy would retire, my thoughts went immediately to the confirmation of the newest justice, Neil Gorsuch.

The Senate’s confirmation of Gorsuch was unprecedented in the history of the country. Never before had a “minority president” named a “minority...

What next for the EPA? Here's what Reagan did

Written by Seema Kakade, Assistant Professor of Law and Director, Environmental Law Clinic, University of Maryland

Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., speaks about EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and the state of the EPA during a protest on April 25, 2018, in Washington. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Scott Pruitt’s resignation as EPA administrator caught many by surprise because President Donald Trump had repeatedly supported Pruitt’s efforts to dismantle...

We estimate China only makes $8.46 from an iPhone – and that's why Trump's trade war is futile

Written by Jason Dedrick, Professor, Syracuse University

The Trump administration’s tariffs on China have so far targeted mostly industrial goods like aircraft engines and gas compressors. But the administration has also threatened to slap tariffs on US$200 billion in other goods if the dispute continues.

No list of goods has been released, but the list would have to include consumer electronics,...

Poland's judicial purge another step toward authoritarian democracy

Written by Brian Porter-Szücs, Professor of History, University of Michigan

Crowds protesting the forced retirement of judges, in front of Poland's Supreme Court building, WarsawAP/Czarek Sokolowski

Since the elections of 2015, Poland has been ruled by the Law and Justice Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, or PiS), a far-right nationalist group that has transformed the country beyond recognition.

Poland had once been...