The Conversation

Why we'll always be obsessed with – and afraid of – monsters

Written by Leo Braudy, Leo S. Bing Chair in English and American Literature, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Fear continues to saturate our lives: fear of nuclear destruction, fear of climate change, fear of the subversive, and fear of foreigners.

But a recent Rolling Stone article about our “age of fear” notes that most Americans are living “in the safest place at the safest time in human...

How to get the most candy on Halloween (without resorting to extortion)

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State University

Seems those sharp fangs worked.Trick or treat via www.shutterstock.com

Halloween is here, the night every year when children dress up in costumes and go “trick or treating.”

On the surface, that activity appears to be a relatively benign one. What could be more innocent than cute youngsters collecting sweets?

Halloween, however, is...

How women are harmed by calling sexual assault 'locker room talk'

Written by Kathryn Holland, Doctoral Candidate in Psychology and Women's Studies, University of Michigan

Over the past few weeks, millions of Americans have watched a tape from 2005, featuring Donald Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women:

“I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do...

Is the Islamic State finished? Five possible scenarios

Written by James L. Gelvin, Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History, University of California, Los Angeles

Most military analysts believe it’s only a matter of time before Mosul falls.

Mosul is Iraq’s third largest city. The Islamic State captured it in June 2014 during a campaign that left it in control of territory the size of the United Kingdom. But on Oct. 16, 2016, a coalition of the Iraqi army, military forces from Iraq’s...

Millions more voters legalizing marijuana won't clear up regulatory haze

Written by Raymond Hogler, Professor of Management, Colorado State University

Congress continues to resist decriminalizing marijuana even as a popular crusade to legalize its use state by state may soon mean almost a quarter of Americans can smoke up at will, not including the many more who can use the drug medicinally.

This has resulted in a patchwork of state laws alongside federal ones that have put the nascent industry...

The World Series of the Apocalypse?

Written by Chris Lamb, Professor of Journalism, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis

W.P. Kinsella is probably best known for his 1982 novel “Shoeless Joe,” the inspiration for the film “Field of Dreams.” But the following year, Kinsella wrote a lesser-known short story titled “The Last Pennant Before Armageddon.”

In it, Al Tiller, the manager of the Chicago Cubs, is haunted by a prophetic dream...

Could razing Hitler’s first home backfire?

Written by Despina Stratigakos, Professor of Architecture, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

The Austrian government has announced that it will demolish or completely remake the house where Hitler was born 127 years ago in the Austrian town Braunau am Inn. The news has brought a new round of unwanted media attention to the small locale on the Inn River near the German border.

The 17th-century building, part of the town’s historic...

How a new generation is changing evangelical Christianity

Written by Richard Flory, Senior Director of Research and Evaluation, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Since the late 1970s, American evangelicalism has been largely identified with right-wing politics. Conservative religious values entered the political sphere through movements such as Moral Majority and Focus on the Family that opposed gay rights, abortion, feminism and other liberal issues.

Evangelical leaders have influenced national elections...

Why Zika has infected so many people in Puerto Rico

Written by Diana Rojas, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Epidemiolgy, University of Florida

The United States declared Zika a public health emergency in Puerto Rico in August 2016.

Over 28,000 cases of Zika were reported in Puerto Rico as of Oct. 26. In contrast, just over 4,000 cases of Zika were reported in the continental U.S. and Hawaii by the same date. Most of these cases are travel-related, meaning that people are infected while...

Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are harming diplomacy more than the Clinton campaign

Written by Paul Webster Hare, Senior Lecturer at the Frederick S Pardee School in Global Studies, Boston University, Boston University

The U.S. election has given WikiLeaks an opportunity to revive its image as a world leader in “transparency” leaks.

For several years, its leader, Julian Assange, seemed a forlorn and frustrated figure confined to a small office of the Ecuadorian embassy near the Harrods department store in London’s Knightsbridge neighborhood....