The Conversation

Our laws don't do enough to protect our health data

Written by Sharona Hoffman, Professor of health law and bioethics, Case Western Reserve University

You might be surprised to find what your data says about your past – and future – health.Scanrail1/Shutterstock.com

Have you ever wondered why your computer often shows you ads that seem tailor-made for your interests? The answer is big data. By combing through extremely large datasets, analysts can reveal patterns in your behavior.

A...

Will Obamacare marketplaces suffer as open enrollment begins?

Written by Michael Morrisey, Professor, Health Policy and Management, Texas A&M University

Pres. Trump shows off an executive order he signed Oct. 12, 2017 to undo parts of the Affordable Care Act. AP Photo/Evan Vucci

The Trump administration’s executive order changing some elements of the Affordable Care Act’s administration are creating uncertainty as open enrollment for the health insurance marketplaces is set to start...

Terrorist leaders in the Philippines are dead – will democracy be restored?

Written by Jessica Trisko Darden, Assistant Professor of International Affairs, American University School of International Service

Explosions continue in Marawi, a day after President Duterte declared the city liberated.AP Photo/Bullit Marquez

For almost five months, 21 million people in the southern Philippines have been living under martial law.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in the province of Mindanao in May in response to increasing Islamist...

In Central America, gangs like MS-13 are bad – but corrupt politicians may be worse

Written by Jose Miguel Cruz, Director of Research, Florida International University

Is Mara Salvatrucha, the Salvadoran youth gang menacing residents in some U.S. cities, really America’s public enemy number one?

After months of boasting that it would “destroy” MS-13, the Trump administration has now declared the group a top crime-fighting priority. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has instructed the...

The IRS targeting scandal was fake, but IRS budget woes are a real problem

Written by Philip Hackney, James E. & Betty M. Phillips Professor of Law, Louisiana State University

Members of the tea party movement seen rallying outside the Capitol in 2013. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Conservatives have been seething since 2013 over what they say was an unfair and imbalanced effort by the IRS to scrutinize right-leaning organizations more closely than other groups seeking nonprofit status.

As a new report from the Treasury...

Does regulating artificial intelligence save humanity or just stifle innovation?

Written by Jeremy Straub, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, North Dakota State University

Should robots and artificial intelligence face additional restrictions?maxuser/Shutterstock.com

Some people are afraid that heavily armed artificially intelligent robots might take over the world, enslaving humanity – or perhaps exterminating us. These people, including tech-industry billionaire Elon Musk and eminent physicist Stephen...

Is local news on the cusp of a renaissance?

Written by Damian Radcliffe, Caroline S. Chambers Professor in Journalism, University of Oregon

Bridget McPherson

It’s not an easy time to be a journalist in the United States. Since 2000, nearly half of newsroom jobs – more than 20,000 of them – have disappeared.

Rubbing salt into the wounds, CareerCast named “newspaper reporter” the worst of 200 jobs in 2016 for the third successive year. (Pest control worker...

Is marriage obsolete? 4 essential reads

Written by Emily Costello, Senior Editor, Politics + Society, The Conversation

Heart pierced by a rusty nailMarcin Wos/Shutterstock

Editor’s note: On Friday, Oct. 20, “Third Rail with OZY” will ask: Is marriage dead?

This roundup of stories from The Conversation archive explores trends and pressures affecting the institution of marriage around the world.

#1: Fewer ‘I dos’

There’s no doubt:...

Breast cancer risk higher in western parts of time zones; is electric light to blame?

Written by Richard G. "Bugs" Stevens, Professor, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut

There may be a very good reason for not wanting to get up in the morning when it's still dark.Ruigsantos/Shutterstock.com

The 2017 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to three researchers “for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm.”

The circadian rhythm is an innate, approximately...

Micro solutions for a macro problem: How marine algae could help feed the world

Written by William Moomaw, Professor Emeritus of International Environmental Policy, Tufts University

Microalgae (shown here, _Haematococcus_) convert water and carbon dioxide to oxygen and nutritious biomass in the presence of light. Algaennovation, CC BY

Our planet faces a growing food crisis. According to the United Nations, more than 800 million people are regularly undernourished. By 2050, an additional 2 to 3 billion new guests will join the...