NewsPronto

 

The Conversation

What Buddhism can teach in this moment of deep divisions: No person is ‘evil,’ only ‘mistaken’

  • Written by Jeremy David Engels, Professor of Communication, Penn State
imageThe three wise monkeys, embodying the proverbial principle from Buddhist philosophy: 'See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.'Natallia Pershaj/iStock/Getty images plus

Democracy depends upon using words wisely. With the right words, citizens can live and work together, even in disagreement – and resolve conflicts peacefully.

Today,...

Read more: What Buddhism can teach in this moment of deep divisions: No person is ‘evil,’ only ‘mistaken’

This course uses crime novels to teach critical thinking

  • Written by Sally C. Harris, Distinguished Lecturer in English, University of Tennessee
imageFictional books on private investigators hold invaluable clues about justice and how the world works. iStock / Getty Images Plusimage

Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.

Title of course:

Whodunit?: Detective Stories

What prompted the idea for the course?

I had just finished...

Read more: This course uses crime novels to teach critical thinking

Trump’s comeback victory, after reshaping his party and national politics, looks a lot like Andrew Jackson’s in 1828

  • Written by Spencer Goidel, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Auburn University
imageDonald Trump speaks to supporters early on the morning of Nov. 6, 2024.AP Photo/Evan Vucci

As the nation prepares for a second Donald Trump presidency, some history-minded people may seek understanding in the idea that it wasn’t until Richard Nixon’s second presidential term that the serious consequences arrived.

But as a scholar of...

Read more: Trump’s comeback victory, after reshaping his party and national politics, looks a lot like Andrew...

What is ‘ballot curing’? Election expert explains the method for fixing errors made when voters cast their ballots

  • Written by Paul Gronke, Professor of Political Science and Director, Elections & Voting Infomation Center, Reed College
imageAn imperfect signature on an absentee ballot can necessitate ballot 'curing,' when election workers verify the voter's identity.Bill Oxford/iStock via Getty

Most Americans used to vote on Election Day, and a small percentage of voters cast their ballots as absentee voters through the mail. That changed starting in the late 1970s, when some states...

Read more: What is ‘ballot curing’? Election expert explains the method for fixing errors made when voters...

2024’s quick win for Trump will go down in the history books alongside 1964 and 1980 Election Day landslides

  • Written by Shannon Bow O'Brien, Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin
imageVoters line up to cast their ballots at a voting location in Bethlehem, Pa., on Nov. 5, 2024. Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images

Election nights are always simultaneous moments of triumph and tragedy. One group of voters’ dreams are dashed, while another set of voters see their hopes realized.

Every election is also unique. The United States...

Read more: 2024’s quick win for Trump will go down in the history books alongside 1964 and 1980 Election Day...

Will the lights go out on Cuba’s communist leaders? With fewer options to prop up economy, their future looks dimmer

  • Written by Joseph J. Gonzalez, Associate Professor, Global Studies, Appalachian State University
imageCubans have endured days of blackouts since a grid failure in Havana on Oct. 18, 2024.Adalberto Roque/AFP via Getty Images

Cuba’s communist leaders are in the midst of crisis – and not for the first time.

On Oct. 18, 2024, the nation’s electrical grid failed, leaving Cubans without lights or refrigeration. Blackouts have persisted...

Read more: Will the lights go out on Cuba’s communist leaders? With fewer options to prop up economy, their...

Kristallnacht’s legacy still haunts Hamburg − even as the city rebuilds a former synagogue burned in the Nazi pogrom

  • Written by Yaniv Feller, Assistant Professor of Religion and Jewish Studies, University of Florida
imageCommemorating the anniversary of the 1938 pogrom in Hamburg, on the former site of the Bornplatz Synagogue, in November 2018. Axel Heimken/DPA/picture alliance via Getty Images

Johanna Neumann was 8 when she witnessed a mob of local citizens and Nazis vandalizing the Bornplatz Synagogue in Hamburg. They were “shouting and throwing stones at...

Read more: Kristallnacht’s legacy still haunts Hamburg − even as the city rebuilds a former synagogue burned...

Carl Sagan’s scientific legacy extends far beyond ‘Cosmos’

  • Written by Jean-Luc Margot, Professor of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
imageCarl Sagan at his Cornell University laboratory in Ithaca, N.Y., in 1974.Santi Visalli, Inc./Archive Photos via Getty Images

On Nov. 9, 2024, the world will mark Carl Sagan’s 90th birthday – but sadly without Sagan, who died in 1996 at the age of 62.

Most people remember him as the co-creator and host of the 1980 “Cosmos”...

Read more: Carl Sagan’s scientific legacy extends far beyond ‘Cosmos’

Cells have more mini ‘organs’ than researchers thought − unbound by membranes, these rogue organelles challenge biology’s fundamentals

  • Written by Allan Albig, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Boise State University
imageSpecialized compartments within cells carry out specific functions.Christoph Burgstedt/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Think back to that basic biology class you took in high school. You probably learned about organelles, those little “organs” inside cells that form compartments with individual functions. For example,...

Read more: Cells have more mini ‘organs’ than researchers thought − unbound by membranes, these rogue...

Only 5.3% of welders in the US are women. After years as a writing professor, I became one − here’s what I learned

  • Written by Jo Mackiewicz, Professor of Rhetoric and Professional Communication, Iowa State University
imageThe author welds a headboard.Jo Mackiewicz

Although I have a good gig as a full professor at Iowa State University, I’ve daydreamed about learning a trade – something that required both my mind and my hands.

So in 2018, I started night courses in welding at Des Moines Area Community College. For three years, I studied different types of...

Read more: Only 5.3% of welders in the US are women. After years as a writing professor, I became one −...

More Articles ...

  1. Beefing up Border Patrol is a bipartisan goal, but the agency has a troubled history of violence and impunity
  2. Is the election making you feel adrift and wobbly? That’s ‘zozobra’ – and Mexican philosophers have some advice
  3. How Native Americans guarded their societies against tyranny
  4. Quincy Jones mastered the art of arrangement, transforming simple tunes into epic soundscapes
  5. The 27 Club isn’t true, but it is real − a sociologist explains why myths endure and how they shape reality
  6. What poll watchers can − and can’t − do on Election Day
  7. Political bickering and policy uncertainty take a toll on business investment, research shows
  8. I’m a Muslim immigrant and a psychiatrist living in Michigan – I haven’t decided how to vote yet
  9. How can Jupiter have no surface? A dive into a planet so big, it could swallow 1,000 Earths
  10. As the stars of hip-hop’s golden age approach their golden years, some confront questions about whether old blood can make new music
  11. Svalbard Global Seed Vault evokes epic imagery and controversy because of the symbolic value of seeds
  12. Osteoporosis, the silent disease, can shorten your life − here’s how to prevent fractures and keep bones healthy
  13. The racist ‘one-drop rule’ lives on in how Trump talks about Black politicians and whiteness in America
  14. Undoing the ‘deep state’ means Trump would undo over a century of progress in building a federal government for the people and not just for rich white men
  15. Election anxiety doesn’t need to win − here are 3 science-backed strategies from a clinical psychologist to rein in the stress
  16. Massachusetts could be the next state to get rid of the ‘subminimum wage’ for tipped workers
  17. Massachusetts votes to keep its ‘subminimum wage’ for tipped workers
  18. Jobs report gives a final lackluster snapshot prior to election − but overall, the economy under Biden has been a tale of 2 eras
  19. US government tries to rein in an out-of-control subscription economy
  20. ‘Safe route’ or ‘sushi route’ − 2 strategies to turn yuck to yum and convince people to eat unusual foods
  21. How to overcome your device dependency and manage a successful digital detox
  22. St. Augustine was no stranger to culture wars – and has something to say about today’s
  23. The colonial legacy lurking beneath economic unrest in the French Caribbean
  24. Monkeys know who will win the election – primal instincts humans share with them shape voters’ choices
  25. No, America’s battery plant boom isn’t going bust – construction is on track for the biggest factories, with over 23,000 jobs planned
  26. No, America’s battery plant boom isn’t going bust – construction is on track for the biggest factories, with thousands of jobs planned
  27. For one survivor, the 1920 Election Day massacre in Florida was ‘the night the devil got loose’
  28. Elon Musk misses Philly court date, stalling ‘illegal lottery’ case against him − an expert on Philadelphia politics weighs in
  29. Trump’s Detroit insults are based on old narratives local media are rewriting every day
  30. Denver slaughterhouse ban could affect food systems in Colorado and beyond
  31. Denver voters reject slaughterhouse ban, allowing Superior Farms to continue selling lamb in Colorado and nationwide
  32. International election monitors can help boost people’s trust in the electoral process − but not all work the same way
  33. Who formally declares the winner of the US presidential election?
  34. Sudan’s civil war has left at least 62,000 dead by our estimate − but the true figure could be far higher
  35. With Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk and Donald Trump, Republicans’ ‘strict father’ has become the creepy uncle
  36. Independent voters think for themselves and stay out of politics – 3 essential reads
  37. Tariffs are back in the spotlight, but skepticism of free trade has deep roots in American history
  38. New Orleans schools still separate and unequal 70 years after Brown v. Board of Education
  39. In Hawaii, parasites and viruses team up in the battle against fruit flies – an entomologist explains the implication for global pest control
  40. Rust Belt voters aren’t all white, but election coverage of the region often ignores the concerns of people of color there
  41. The next president will play a key role in shaping US trade policy – here’s what voters need to know
  42. Americans own guns to protect themselves from psychological as well as physical threats
  43. Fear, hope and the economy: what is motivating Americans as they decide who to vote for – podcast
  44. Slow vote-counting, flip-flopping leads, careful certification and the weirdness of the Electoral College – people who research elections look at what to expect on election night
  45. ‘Each bears his own ghosts’: How the classics speak to these days of fear, anger and presidential candidates stalking the land
  46. A new president will be elected − but it may take some time to determine who wins
  47. The ‘Courage Tour’ is attempting to get Christians to vote for Trump − and focused on defeating ‘demons’
  48. Religion in the workplace is tricky – but employers and employees both lose when it becomes a total taboo
  49. Simple science summaries written by AI help people understand research and trust scientists
  50. Fighting antibiotic resistance at the source – using machine learning to identify bacterial resistance genes and the drugs to block them