The Conversation

I’ve captained ships into tight ports like Baltimore, and this is how captains like me work with harbor pilots to avoid deadly collisions

Written by Allan Post, Deputy Superintendent, Texas A&M Maritime Academy, Texas A&M University

The ship Dali amid the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024. AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Details are still emerging about the disaster that happened in the early morning of March 26, 2024, when the Dali, a large cargo ship on its way out of the port of Baltimore, hit a major bridge and caused it to collapse.

The Conversation’s...

Abortion drug access could be limited by Supreme Court − if the court decides anti-abortion doctors can, in fact, challenge the FDA

Written by Naomi Cahn, Professor of Law, University of Virginia

Pro-abortion rights activists rally in front of the Supreme Court on March 26, 2024, the day justices heard oral arguments about the use of mifepristone.Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images

Who has the legal right to challenge decisions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration? And should the moral umbrage of a group of anti-abortion rights doctors...

3 ways to use the solar eclipse to brighten your child’s knowledge of science

Written by David J. Purpura, Professor of Human Development and Family Science; Director of the Center for Early Learning, Purdue University

In no case should a child look directly at the solar eclipse, but there are special eclipse glasses.Anadolu via Getty Images

When the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth on April 8, 2024, it will represent a rare astronomical event that won’t take place for another 20 years – a total solar eclipse. For parents and educators, at...

Not having job flexibility or security can leave workers feeling depressed, anxious and hopeless

Written by Monica Wang, Associate Professor of Public Health, Boston University

Warehouse employees frequently lack control over their own schedules.Andres Oliveira/E+ via Getty Images

When employees don’t have control over their work schedules, it’s not just morale that suffers – mental health takes a hit too. That’s what my colleagues and I discovered in a study recently published in the medical...

An annual pilgrimage during Holy Week brings thousands of believers to Santuario de Chimayó in New Mexico, where they pray for healing and protection

Written by Brett Hendrickson, Professor of Religious Studies, Lafayette College

Thousands of Catholics travel by foot to Santuario de Chimayo, in northern New Mexico, during an annual Good Friday pilgrimage.AP Photo/Morgan Lee

For decades, the people of northern New Mexico have marked the Christian observance of Good Friday with a walking pilgrimage to the Santuario de Chimayó in the village of Chimayó, New...

Politicians may rail against the ‘deep state,’ but research shows federal workers are effective and committed, not subversive

Written by Jaime Kucinskas, Associate Professor of Sociology, Hamilton College

A worker at the National Hurricane Center tracks weather over the Gulf of Mexico.Joe Raedle/Getty Images

It’s common for political candidates to disparage “the government” even as they run for an office in which they would be part of, yes, running the government.

Often, what they’re referring to is what we, as scholars of...

Trump-era tax cuts contributed to a decline in higher ed giving, with fewer Americans donating to colleges and universities

Written by Jin Lee, Associate Professor of Educational Foundations and Leadership, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

How many college grads will frequently donate to their alma mater?Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images

Policy changes brought on by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which former President Donald Trump signed into law at the end of 2017, appear to have led many small-dollar donors to give less money to colleges and...

Helping children eat healthier foods may begin with getting parents to do the same, research suggests

Written by Kelley Gullo Wight, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Indiana University

Everyone agrees kids should eat healthy foods. But parents are often left out of that message.skynesher/E+ via Getty Images

Most parents, educators and policymakers agree that children should eat healthy foods. However, our peer-reviewed paper suggests the strategy adults often use to achieve that can sometimes backfire. Fortunately, there’s...

How AI and a popular card game can help engineers predict catastrophic failure – by finding the absence of a pattern

Written by John Edward McCarthy, Professor of Mathematics, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

Can you find a matching set?Cmglee/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Humans are very good at spotting patterns, or repeating features people can recognize. For instance, ancient Polynesians navigated across the Pacific by recognizing many patterns, from the stars’ constellations to more subtle ones such as the directions and sizes of ocean swells.

Ve...

Abstinencia de la hierba: Más de la mitad de las personas que consumen cannabis medicinal para el dolor experimentan síntomas de abstinencia

Written by Lara Coughlin, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Michigan

El consumo de cannabis, aunque más seguro que muchas otras drogas, no está totalmente exento de riesgos. AP Photo/David Zalubowski, file

En marcado contraste con los temores exagerados que se manifestaban en décadas pasadas, hoy en día, la mayoría de la gente piensa que el cannabis es relativamente inofensivo....