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The Conversation

Terror attacks in Paris and California expose modern society’s lack of resilience

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageOur response to terrorism.Reuters

The terrorist attacks that occurred in Paris on November 13 shattered the complacency of the French lifestyle. A few weeks later, a savage attack erupted in San Bernardino, California, further exposing the vulnerability of Western societies.

Dealing with terrorism and, in particular, with the frightening emergence...

Read more: Terror attacks in Paris and California expose modern society’s lack of resilience

Rarity of Jupiter-like planets means planetary systems exactly like ours may be scarce

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageArtist's depiction of the newly discovered Jupiter-like planet orbiting the star HD 32963. Stefano Meschiari

Is our little corner of the galaxy a special place? As of this date, we’ve discovered more than 1,500 exoplanets: planets orbiting stars other than our sun. Thousands more will be added to the list in the coming years as we confirm...

Read more: Rarity of Jupiter-like planets means planetary systems exactly like ours may be scarce

Why scholars emphasize the need for affirmative action

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageJustice Antonin Scalia's recent comments have provoked a lot of reaction.Brendan McDermid?Reuters

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, during oral arguments in the affirmative action case, Fisher v University of Texas, on Wednesday, December 9, suggested,

There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the...

Read more: Why scholars emphasize the need for affirmative action

How the justice system fails us after police shootings

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageDemonstrators protest Laquan McDonald's shooting in Chicago. Andrew Nelles/REUTERS

Two weeks ago, the police officer who shot Laquan McDonald in Chicago was charged with first-degree murder. Since then, the police superintendent was fired, and the Department of Justice announced that it will begin a large-scale investigation into the Chicago Police...

Read more: How the justice system fails us after police shootings

Gun laws are being reformed, just not on Capitol Hill

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageA memorial for 20-year-old UCSB student Christopher Michael-Martinez one of nine crime scenes in the Isla Vista neighborhood of Santa Barbara, California in 2014.Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

With each mass shooting in America, we hear the same lament: people die, and politicians do nothing.

Like most political narratives, this one captures an element of...

Read more: Gun laws are being reformed, just not on Capitol Hill

How a simple observation from the 1800s about patterns in big data sets can fight fraud

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageWhy are some pages of a book of numbers tables more dog-eared than others?Book image via www.shutterstock.com.

Benford’s law was first mentioned by the American scientist Simon Newcomb in the 1880s, when he noticed that in books of tables of logarithms, the pages of numbers whose leading digit was 1 were more worn than the pages of numbers...

Read more: How a simple observation from the 1800s about patterns in big data sets can fight fraud

Why China and the US have found common purpose on climate change

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageThe first ever 'red alert' day in Beijing: reducing air pollution is one of the primary reasons for government action on climate change. Reuters

Over the past year, the United States and China forged a climate change partnership that would have been almost unthinkable not long ago. Not only have both countries committed to emissions reduction and...

Read more: Why China and the US have found common purpose on climate change

How do we ensure the next generation of workers isn't worse off than the last?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageThe future of work is an issue on many people's minds.Reuters

Discussions about the future of work are clearly in the air.

This week, Secretary of Labor Tom Perez is convening a three-day symposium on the issue. Simultaneously, the Brookings Institution hosted a discussion about the implications of the “gig” economy for work and...

Read more: How do we ensure the next generation of workers isn't worse off than the last?

When is an aspirin a day to prevent heart attacks too risky?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageWhat's the harm?Aspirin via www.shutterstock.com.

We’ve known for a long time that aspirin can help prevent damage from a heart attack or a stroke if taken during one of those events. In fact, you might have seen ads about how aspirin can be lifesaving during a heart attack.

Research backs that up. For people who have already experienced a...

Read more: When is an aspirin a day to prevent heart attacks too risky?

More Articles ...

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  3. How much diversity can the US Constitution stand?
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  5. Fed interest rate hike may have less of an impact than you think
  6. The life-changing love of one of the 20th century’s greatest physicists
  7. Why Supreme Court case on race in admissions matters more than ever
  8. The ethics of climate change: what we owe people – and the rest of the planet
  9. Scientists tend to superspecialize – but there are ways they can change
  10. Targeting black viewers: what The Wiz Live! tells us about race and TV advertising
  11. Trump is running last in one key race
  12. Obama shows the flaws in America’s efforts to combat ISIS
  13. Do gun purchases go up after mass shootings?
  14. Why treat gene editing differently in two types of human cells?
  15. Wall Street watchdog SEC can't end violence in Congo
  16. National security experts react to President Obama's speech on ISIS
  17. Climate activists take to social media for Paris summit, but who are they reaching?
  18. If you give a man a gun: the evolutionary psychology of mass shootings
  19. How pervasive anti-millennial sentiment has hurt the cause of student protesters
  20. Total recall sounds great, but some things should be forgotten
  21. When fear is a weapon: how terror attacks influence mental health
  22. Here's how screen time is changing the way kids tell stories
  23. Can solar geoengineering be part of responsible climate policy?
  24. Forget about designer babies – gene editing won't work on complex traits like intelligence
  25. To talk or not to talk? The dilemma of suicide contagion
  26. Six things Americans should know about mass shootings
  27. The latest bad news on carbon capture from coal power plants: higher costs
  28. When families move, high school students may suffer
  29. Older adults: an untapped, renewable resource on climate action
  30. Focus on college affordability obscures real problem: we're overeducated
  31. What clues does your dog's spit hold for human mental health?
  32. Students' demand for diverse faculty is a demand for a better education
  33. How HIV became a treatable, chronic disease
  34. Here's why academics should write for the public
  35. The artist's dilemma: what constitutes selling out?
  36. Why corporate sustainability won't solve climate change
  37. Want to do something good for your health? Try being generous
  38. Why Europe will let member states opt out of GM crops
  39. Germany needs to rethink what it means to be German to resolve refugees and ISIS
  40. China's plan to put two-faced citizens on credit blacklist isn't all that foreign
  41. Purging daily demons: what's behind the popularity of exorcisms?
  42. How children with disabilities came to be accepted in public schools
  43. Russia, Turkey and the US: between the terrible and the catastrophic
  44. Locavore or vegetarian? What's the best way to reduce climate impact of food?
  45. Passeth the cranb'rry sauce! The medieval origins of Thanksgiving
  46. Machine learning and big data know it wasn't you who just swiped your credit card
  47. Why do women need special laws to protect them from violence?
  48. From the clinic to the street: how the explosion in prescription painkillers has created more heroin users
  49. Why Thanksgiving tells a story of America's pluralism
  50. Why do American cops kill so many compared to European cops?