The Conversation

Madeleine Albright saw US as an ‘indispensable nation’ and NATO expansion eastward as essential

Written by Peter Harris, Associate Professor of Political Science, Colorado State University

Helping forge a post-Cold War identity for the United States.Alberto Pizzoli/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images

Madeleine Albright may have not coined the phrase “indispensable nation,” but she will always be associated with the concept.

By the time she became Secretary of State in 1997, the United States had become a beached superpower....

Would gas tax breaks make a big difference when prices are skyrocketing? We asked 4 experts

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Senior Lecturer in Markets, Public Policy and Law, Questrom School of Business, Boston University

Gas station in Seattle on March 11, 2022.AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

With gasoline prices trending over US$4 per gallon nationwide, politicians are feeling the heat. In response, Maryland and Georgia have temporarily waived their state gasoline taxes to reduce the burden on consumers. Other states are considering similar actions, and some members of...

Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court hearing is a flashback to how race and crime featured during Thurgood Marshall's 1967 hearings

Written by Margaret M. Russell, Associate Professor of Law, Santa Clara University

Ketanji Brown Jackson, speaking during her confirmation hearing on March 22, 2022, would be the first Black woman to serve on the court.Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images

U.S. Sen. James Eastland posed a question to U.S. Supreme Court nominee Thurgood Marshall during his August 1967 confirmation hearings.

“Are you prejudiced against white people in...

Vaccine hesitancy is complicating physicians' obligation to respect patient autonomy during the COVID-19 pandemic

Written by Ryan Liu, Family Medicine Resident Physician, Penn State

Over the past couple of decades there has been a shift away from upholding patient autonomy to prioritizing public health. Terry Vine/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Sitting barely 6 feet away from me, my patient yelled angrily, his face mask slipping to his upper lip: “No, I will not get vaccinated. And nothing you do or say will change that...

New data-sharing requirements from the National Institutes of Health are a big step toward more open science – and potentially higher-quality research

Written by Stephen Jacobs, Professor of Interactive Games and Media, Rochester Institute of Technology

In order to get funding from the National Institutes of Health, researchers now need a plan for sharing and managing their data.Exdez/Digital Vision Vectors via Getty Images

Starting on Jan. 25, 2023, many of the 2,500 institutions and 300,000 researchers that the U.S. National Institutes of Health supports will need to provide a formal, detailed...

March Madness stars can now cash in on endorsements – but some limits set by states and universities may still be unconstitutional

Written by Sam C. Ehrlich, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies, Boise State University

Gonzaga forward Drew Timme's mustache – and his basketball skills – helped him earn an endorsement from Dollar Shave Club.AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer

March Madness is proving lucrative for some of its Cinderella stories and standout stars, thanks to a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that led the NCAA to end its longstanding ban on student...

How much is the media buzz from a March Madness Cinderella run worth to a school like Saint Peter's?

Written by Nancy Haskell, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Dayton

Saint Peter's guard Doug Edert celebrates during the team's upset win over Kentucky.Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Few people outside Jersey City had heard of the No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s Peacocks before they upset No. 2 seed Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Two days later, Saint Peter’s beat No. 7...

How fairy tales shape fighting spirit: Ukraine's children hear bedtime stories of underdog heroes, while Russian children hear tales of magical success

Written by Mia Bloom, Professor and Fellow at Evidence Based Cyber Security Program, Georgia State University

A Ukrainian soldier wanders down a railway past the bodies of dead Russian soldiers on the outskirts of Irpin, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

At the outset of Russia’s invasion, almost no one in the West expected that Ukraine would be able to offer Russia any kind of serious opposition to its unprovoked...

Tornadoes, climate change and why Dixie is the new Tornado Alley

Written by Ernest Agee, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science, Purdue University

The heart of U.S. tornado activity, once Tornado Alley, has shifted eastward.Brent Koops/NOAA Weather in Focus Photo Contest 2015, CC BY-ND

Tornadoes tore up homes in New Orleans and its suburbs and were reported in communities from Texas to Mississippi and Alabama as severe storms swept across the South in late March 2022. We asked tornado...

Why the future of the world's largest religion is female – and African

Written by Gina Zurlo, Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Nigerian women greet each other at St. Charles Catholic Church in Ngurore, Nigeria, on Feb. 17, 2019. AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

At the start of 2019, Bill and Melinda Gates released a list of facts that had surprised them the previous year. Number four on their list: “Data can be sexist.”

“There are huge gaps in the global data about...