The Conversation

Could Roe v. Wade be overturned?

Written by B. Jessie Hill, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Judge Ben C. Green Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University

Pro-life and anti-abortion activists converge in front of the Supreme Court on Jan. 27, 2017. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

If you care about the future of abortion rights, now is a good time to worry.

A sweeping Supreme Court victory for pro-choice advocates last summer was quickly overrun by worries brought on by the election of Donald Trump and the...

Stop obsessing over talent—everyone can sing

Written by Steven M. Demorest, Professor of Music Education, Northwestern University

Students from a combined choir of the Edmonton public schools.Edmonton Public Schools / flickr, CC BY

A Hungarian film titled “Sing” recently won the Oscar for best short film. “Sing” tells the story of young Zsófi, who joins a renowned children’s choir at her elementary school where “everyone is...

Six charts that illustrate the divide between rural and urban America

Written by Brian Thiede, Assistant Professor of Rural Sociology and Demography, Pennsylvania State University

The divide is in the data.American Community Survey (ACS) 2011-2015 5 year estimates, Table S1810, CC BY

Editor’s note: We’ve all heard of the great divide between life in rural and urban America. But what are the factors that contribute to these differences? We asked sociologists, economists, geographers and historians to describe the...

EU court allows companies to ban headscarves. What will be the impact on Muslim women?

Written by Z. Fareen Parvez, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts Amherst

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that interprets EU law issued a landmark judgment on March 14 that upheld the right of private companies in EU member countries to enact policies barring employees from wearing “religious, political and philosophical signs” in the interest of “neutrality.”

Such visible signs...

Reagan called America a 'city on a hill' because taxpayers funded the humanities

Written by Abram Van Engen, Associate Professor of English, Washington University in St Louis

President Ronald Reagan on stage with his wife Nancy, 1984.AP Photo/Reed Saxon

When Ronald Reagan called the United States a “city on a hill,” in 1974, it encapsulated an expansive, optimistic vision of America.

The phrase comes from a Puritan sermon by John Winthrop called “A Model of Christian Charity.” But no one knew...

What's behind phantom cellphone buzzes?

Written by Daniel J. Kruger, Research Assistant Professor, University of Michigan

This is your brain on plugs.'Brain' via www.shutterstock.com

Have you ever experienced a phantom phone call or text? You’re convinced that you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket, or that you heard your ring tone. But when you check your phone, no one actually tried to get in touch with you.

You then might plausibly wonder: “Is my...

A serious and often overlooked issue for patients with brain diseases: Swallowing

Written by Don Bolser, Professor, University of Florida

People with brain diseases, particularly older people, have trouble swallowing. Via Shutterstock.www.Shutttertock.com

Recall that last time you had something “go down the wrong pipe”? You spent the next several minutes coughing, choking and feeling like something bad was in your throat.

It may seem strange to say this, but count...

Sky-high drug prices for rare diseases show why Orphan Drug Act needs reform

Written by Dana Goldman, Director, Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, University of Southern California

The FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.AP/Andrew Harnick

When Marathon Pharmaceuticals announced in February it would market a drug for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy for US$89,000 a year, the negative reaction was so intense that the company immediately suspended the rollout. (On Thursday, March 16, Marathon announced it was...

Bypassing encryption: 'Lawful hacking' is the next frontier of law enforcement technology

Written by Ben Buchanan, Postdoctoral Fellow, Cyber Security Project, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University

How can investigators get into digital files?Sherlock Holmes and computer via shutterstock.com

The discussion about how law enforcement or government intelligence agencies might rapidly decode information someone else wants to keep secret is – or should be – shifting. One commonly proposed approach, introducing what is called a...

The old, dirty, creaky US electric grid would cost $5 trillion to replace. Where should infrastructure spending go?

Written by Joshua D. Rhodes, Postdoctoral Researcher of Energy, University of Texas at Austin

Old school: Much of the power plant and transmission network we rely on has been around for decades. andrewfhart/flickr, CC BY-SA

The electric grid is an amazing integrated system of machines spanning an entire continent. The National Academy of Engineering has called it one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century.

But it is...