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Are movies a good way to learn history?

  • Written by Scott Alan Metzger, Associate Professor of Education, Pennsylvania State University
imageDaniel Day-Lewis won the 2012 Academy Award for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln. Is Spielberg's historical drama a good way to learn about the 16th U.S. president?Touchstone Pictures

Hollywood loves history. At this year’s Academy Awards, three nominees for Best Picture (“Fences,” “Hacksaw Ridge” and “Hidden...

Read more: Are movies a good way to learn history?

Why banning laptops from airplane cabins doesn't make sense

  • Written by Cassandra Burke Robertson, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Professional Ethics, Case Western Reserve University

Recent reports suggest that terrorists can now create bombs so thin that they cannot be detected by the current X-ray screening that our carry-on bags undergo.

In an effort to protect against such threats, the U.S is considering banning laptops and other large electronic devices in the passenger cabins of airplanes flying between Europe and the...

Read more: Why banning laptops from airplane cabins doesn't make sense

Ivanka Trump's deeply political tome

  • Written by Ani Kokobobo, Assistant Professor of Russian Literature, University of Kansas
imageDo the rules of success apply equally to all women?Nick Lehr/The Conversation via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

By and large, critics have taken Ivanka Trump at her word about her new book, “Women Who Work.”

She claims she wrote it before her father’s election, “from the perspective of an executive and an entrepreneur.”...

Read more: Ivanka Trump's deeply political tome

Why Trump's White House leaks

  • Written by Frederic Lemieux, Professor and Program Director of the Master's Degree in Applied Intelligence, Georgetown University
imageTrump and Lavrov in the Oval Office on May 10, 2017. (Russian Foreign Ministry via AP)Russian Foreign Ministry via AP

According to the Washington Post, President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and members of his delegation during a May 10 meeting in the Oval Office.

In a May 15...

Read more: Why Trump's White House leaks

The firing of James Comey: Psychology helps explain what Trump got wrong

  • Written by Robert Jervis, Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Politics, Columbia University
imagePeople protest Comey's firing in Los Angeles on May 10, 2017. AP Photo/Reed Saxon

Why has President Trump failed to convince anyone other than his ardent supporters that he was justified in firing FBI Director James Comey? Even more, why did he fail to realize that the firing would call up strong objections, not only from Democrats, but from many...

Read more: The firing of James Comey: Psychology helps explain what Trump got wrong

Protecting endangered species: 6 essential reads

  • Written by Jennifer Weeks, Editor, Environment and Energy, The Conversation
imageBeach closed to protect threatened bird species, Chincoteague, Virginia.brownpau/Flickr, CC BY

Editor’s note: The following is a roundup of archival stories.

The Endangered Species Act, passed in 1973, created a framework for protecting and recovering species in peril and the ecosystems on which they depend. Critics in Congress are pressing to...

Read more: Protecting endangered species: 6 essential reads

Why United's culture needs to loosen up to avoid more PR fiascos

  • Written by Michele Gelfand, Professor and Distinguished University Scholar Teacher, University of Maryland

Is there something wrong with the culture at United Airlines?

A series of recent incidents have reinforced this view, from the horrifying moment when security officers violently dragged a passenger off a plane in April to a more recent incident in which an airline employee canceled a man’s flight after he began taping their heated exchange.

Th...

Read more: Why United's culture needs to loosen up to avoid more PR fiascos

Electrically stimulating your brain can boost memory – but here's one reason it doesn't always work

  • Written by Shelly Fan, Postdoctoral Scholar in Neuroscience, University of California, San Francisco
imageIs electrical pulse to the brain your favorite memory enhancer?U.S. Air Force photo by J.M. Eddins Jr., CC BY-NC

The first time I heard that shooting electrical currents across your brain can boost learning, I thought it was a joke.

But evidence is mounting. According to a handful of studies, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), the...

Read more: Electrically stimulating your brain can boost memory – but here's one reason it doesn't always work

Fainting and the summer heat: Warmer days can make you swoon, so be prepared

  • Written by William B. Farquhar, Professor of Kinesiology & Applied Physiology, University of Delaware
imageWhere is a fainting couch when you need one? Michael C. Gray/From www.shutterstock.com

Over one million Americans faint every year, and countless more do worldwide. Fear, pain, the sight of blood or prolonged standing – think the long lines of summer travel – can trigger fainting.

These triggers set off a reflex in our nervous system...

Read more: Fainting and the summer heat: Warmer days can make you swoon, so be prepared

The FBI: With great power comes great scandal

  • Written by Douglas M. Charles, Associate Professor of History, Pennsylvania State University

Drama at the FBI is nothing new. Given its 109-year history, the FBI has seen many scandals and numerous directors come and go.

Its directors, in fact, have always been the face and driving force of the FBI. Most have retired or moved on to other work, four were forced to offer resignations, but only two, including most recently James Comey, have...

Read more: The FBI: With great power comes great scandal

More Articles ...

  1. On the Reformation's 500th anniversary, remembering Martin Luther's contribution to literacy
  2. Why installing software updates makes us WannaCry
  3. Trump's trade policy is unlikely to deliver big wins for US workers
  4. 4 things to know about North and South Korea
  5. The mall isn't dead -- it’s just changing
  6. Why the US does not have universal health care, while many other countries do
  7. Inoculation theory: Using misinformation to fight misinformation
  8. Should the US stay in the Paris Agreement? A majority of Democrats and Republicans think so
  9. How El Niño forecasts can help prevent cholera deaths in Africa
  10. Mining the moon for rocket fuel to get us to Mars
  11. Before Trump, Mexicans really liked the US
  12. What France and the UK can teach Trump about reviving America's middle class
  13. Why America needs a 'do-over' on Medicaid reform
  14. Are solar and wind really killing coal, nuclear and grid reliability?
  15. The forgotten origins of the modern gay rights movement in WWI
  16. What the 1970 Kent State shootings tell us about universities then and now
  17. Christian sex advice websites offer a peek into evangelical politics
  18. Global ransomware attack reinforces message of Trump's new cybersecurity order
  19. Why dads can't be the dads they want to be
  20. Trump will likely win reelection in 2020
  21. Social media helps officials spot public health threats – but only for the rich?
  22. Comey's firing may end other investigations into 2016 election
  23. Census director's resignation could affect control of Congress after 2020
  24. What's behind the fidget spinner fad?
  25. Five rational arguments why God (very probably) exists
  26. Arguments why God (very probably) exists
  27. Computers to humans: Shall we play a game?
  28. Why Facebook may fuel new mothers' insecurity
  29. Will Trump give working families a break?
  30. Why big-data analysis of police activity is inherently biased
  31. 'Moonlight' schooled Hollywood on race. Can it take on school discipline, too?
  32. Four challenges for Moon Jae-in, South Korea's new president
  33. To curb climate change, we need to protect and expand US forests
  34. How the refugee crisis is playing out on the German stage
  35. Central American gangs like MS-13 were born out of failed anti-crime policies
  36. Iranian voters' economic gloom may doom President Rouhani's reelection bid
  37. Throwing injuries in young baseball players: Is there something we are not considering?
  38. Brain-imaging modern people making Stone Age tools hints at evolution of human intelligence
  39. In letters from Stalin's labor camps, a window into Soviet political oppression
  40. People don’t trust scientific research when companies are involved
  41. Will optimistic stories get people to care about nature?
  42. How the hijab has grown into a fashion industry
  43. Can we talk about free speech on campus?
  44. Macron beats Le Pen, but can he lead France?
  45. Fake news, echo chambers and filter bubbles: Underresearched and overhyped
  46. How African-Americans disappeared from the Kentucky Derby
  47. How pre-existing conditions became front and center in health care vote
  48. Who are Jehovah's Witnesses?
  49. Court ruling is a first step toward controlling air pollution from livestock farms
  50. Behind closed doors: What the Piltdown Man hoax from 1912 can teach science today