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Could a smartphone app help stop the next polio outbreak in Pakistan?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imagePolio vaccinators carry boxes of polio vaccine drops as they head to the areas they have been appointed to administer the vaccine, in Karachi October 21 2014. Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

Between 1988 and 2013, the number of cases of polio worldwide plummeted from 350,000 to 406. The number of countries in which the disease was endemic also went down,...

Read more: Could a smartphone app help stop the next polio outbreak in Pakistan?

Norwegians using 'Texas' to mean 'crazy' actually isn't so crazy

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageA Spanish street performer dressed as a cowboy. Europeans have long been fascinated with the American West.Juanedc.com/flickr, CC BY

If you haven’t heard by now, the American press recently picked up on an interesting linguistic phenomenon in Norway, where the word “Texas” is slang for “crazy.”

Indeed, it turns out that...

Read more: Norwegians using 'Texas' to mean 'crazy' actually isn't so crazy

Social Security, Ponzi schemes and why the government isn't 'stealing' your money

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageIs this all there is left in the Social Security trust fund?Piggy bank via www.shutterstock.com

Last night’s Republican debate was focused squarely on the economy, on topics ranging from tax reform to income inequality.

That’s an improvement from the previous debate, held two weeks ago, which was also supposed to be about the economy....

Read more: Social Security, Ponzi schemes and why the government isn't 'stealing' your money

Under the sea: Russia, China and American control of the waterways

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageThe USS Roosevelt sails the South China Sea. US Navy/Reuters

In the summer of 2007, in a bizarre incident shown live on Russian television, scientists accompanied by a couple of senior politicians descended 4,300 meters to the floor of the Arctic Ocean in two Mir mini submarines. Divers then planted a Russian flag on the seabed, and Russia...

Read more: Under the sea: Russia, China and American control of the waterways

Human biases hold key to solving both Europe's refugee crisis and climate change

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imagePeople don't want refugees for the same reason they reject climate change.Reuters

One of the predominant news stories over the past few months has been the migrant crisis in Europe.

Driven by civil wars, refugees from the Middle East and beyond are flowing into the European Union. Over the next 18 months, the UN is expecting more than 1.4 million...

Read more: Human biases hold key to solving both Europe's refugee crisis and climate change

Body hair helps animals stay clean – and could inspire self-cleaning technologies

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageHair as helpers in the quest for cleanliness.stratman², CC BY-NC-ND

Watch a fly land on the kitchen table, and the first thing it does is clean itself, very, very carefully. Although we can’t see it, the animal’s surface is covered with dust, pollen and even insidious mites that could burrow into its body if not removed.

Staying...

Read more: Body hair helps animals stay clean – and could inspire self-cleaning technologies

Does psychotherapy research with trauma survivors underestimate the patient-therapist relationship?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageThe therapeutic relationship can be as important as the type of therapy. In this photo, occupational therapist Carly Rogers (second from left) talks to military veterans at the surf therapy program she founded, in Manhattan Beach, California.Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

When I first arrived at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center to practice psychology in...

Read more: Does psychotherapy research with trauma survivors underestimate the patient-therapist relationship?

Scholars: Fox Biz did its job, debate highlighted political differences

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageKasich, Bush, Rubio, Trump, Carson, Cruz, Fiorina and Paul before the debate held by Fox Business Network, November 10, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young

Eight candidates came together in Milwaukee for the fourth GOP prime time debate on Tuesday. The event followed weeks of squabbling over questions and format, and how moderators should behave. We asked two...

Read more: Scholars: Fox Biz did its job, debate highlighted political differences

Does Missouri president ouster offer lessons to universities grappling with a racist past?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageUniversities struggling with racist past?Let Ideas Compete, CC BY-NC-ND

In the wake of the resignation of University of Missouri System President Tom Wolfe, much is being written about the power of collective action among student groups to affect positive change on their campuses.

The Black Lives Matter movement has demonstrated the same. Young...

Read more: Does Missouri president ouster offer lessons to universities grappling with a racist past?

In targeting Exxon on climate, New York puts all corporations on notice

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageEven if Exxon eludes charges in New York, the attorney general's investigation sends a message on corporate accountability.mortaupat/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

In a move that is potentially transformative, the New York attorney general is investigating Exxon for financial fraud.

The company made public statements questioning the science of climate change...

Read more: In targeting Exxon on climate, New York puts all corporations on notice

More Articles ...

  1. Fox relies on polls too much in planning GOP debate
  2. Why the world still needs nonprofits
  3. How ratings-driven presidential debates are weakening American democracy
  4. Academic print books are dying. What's the future?
  5. US and Chinese tempers rise in the South China Sea
  6. Businesses can actually sue you for posting negative reviews – and now Congress is fighting back
  7. If the US had price on carbon, would Keystone XL have made sense?
  8. As the US heads to climate talks, it seeks a plan to 'trust but verify'
  9. How the science of human behavior is beginning to reshape the US government
  10. Teaching assistants like me? Here's what could change
  11. How computers broke science – and what we can do to fix it
  12. Fitness versus fatness: which matters more?
  13. The activists' playbook behind Obama's Keystone rejection
  14. The Keystone XL pipeline debate is over, but our infrastructure needs are not
  15. Hollywood shines a spotlight on real journalism
  16. Jobs report shows why it's time Speaker Ryan and President Obama sat down for a beer
  17. Black Panthers and Black Lives Matter -- parallels and progress
  18. Labor's rank and file still believe in collective bargaining's power to bolster middle class
  19. Think you're reading the news for free? New research shows you're likely paying with your privacy
  20. It's not rocket science: we need a better way to get to space
  21. Will the Arctic shift from a carbon sink to a carbon source?
  22. 'Powerpoint was not his thing': a poem on teaching and technology
  23. On the 120th anniversary of the X-ray, a look at how it changed our view of the world
  24. Ben Carson: token candidate
  25. How we got to now: why the US and Europe went different ways on GMOs
  26. How do our brains reconstruct the visual world?
  27. Here are some more reasons why liberal arts matter
  28. Labs make new, dangerous synthetic cannabinoid drugs faster than we can ban them
  29. How campaign finance disenfranchises America's silent majority of socialists
  30. Do refugees have a 'right' to hospitality?
  31. Sam Smith's ambitious attempt to reshape the Bond song lands with a whimper
  32. Ted Cruz's birther problem
  33. Delayed or killed, Keystone pipeline will live on as political touchstone
  34. What is the legacy of Yitzhak Rabin?
  35. Ohio strikes blow against gerrymandering
  36. If a solar plant uses natural gas, is it still green?
  37. Lessons from Newark: why school reforms will not work without addressing poverty
  38. Wedding bells or single again: psychology predicts where your relationship is headed
  39. In the verses of Jordan's most popular poet, the hopes and fears of the Arab world
  40. Eleven body fluids we couldn’t live without
  41. Some find redemption on death row, but few find mercy
  42. In our Wi-Fi world, the internet still depends on undersea cables
  43. As US shutters aging nuclear plants, cutting emissions will become more costly
  44. What Grantland's demise says about ESPN's past and future ambitions
  45. Why Asian Americans don't vote Republican
  46. 'Rise' of China's yuan is much ado about little
  47. The biggest sticking point in Paris climate talks: money
  48. Look what is being sold to kids when they are in school
  49. What do the new breast cancer screening guidelines recommend about when to start yearly mammograms?
  50. It turns out clothes really do make the man