The Conversation

Expand the draft to women – or repeal it? A long constitutional debate continues

Written by Nicholas Mosvick, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Mississippi

The military draft has surfaced again as a source of national debate, as it has throughout American history.

On June 15, the Senate passed a proposal to require women to register with the Selective Service. In the same bill, Senator Rand Paul took the opportunity to introduce an amendment to eliminate the draft entirely.

As a Ph.D. candidate...

Of bears and biases: scientific judgment and the fate of Yellowstone's grizzlies

Written by Jeremy T. Bruskotter, Associate Professor of Environment and Natural Resources, The Ohio State University

The grizzly, or brown, bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is posed to lose protections under the Endangered Species Act. Jim Peaco, Yellowstone National Park

In March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced its intent to remove protections afforded by the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) to grizzly bears in the Greater...

Love it or leave it: why the U.K.'s Brexit vote should matter to Americans

Written by Terrence Guay, Clinical Professor of International Business, Pennsylvania State University

On June 23, citizens of the United Kingdom will go to the polls to vote on whether their country will remain a member of the European Union. While the outcome will have the greatest impact on residents of Europe, it will also affect the U.S. as well.

And with the latest polls putting the “leave” campaign ahead of those for remaining in...

Why the first Olympic refugee team may not be the last

Written by María Cristina García, Howard A. Newman Professor of American Studies, Department of History and Latino Studies Program, Cornell University

Ten refugee athletes will march into the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, August 5, 2016. Unlike the other athletes there, they will not represent the countries of their birth, heritage or citizenship. These athletes will comprise the first-ever Olympic refugee team, and they will march under the Olympic flag.

“We want to...

Big data jobs are out there – are you ready?

Written by Jungwoo Ryoo, Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology at Altoona campus, Pennsylvania State University

Perhaps your career path is paved with big data.Steve Johnson, CC BY

Big data is increasingly becoming part of everyday life. Network security companies use it to improve the accuracy of their intrusion detection services. Dating services use it to help clients find soulmates. It can enhance the efficiency and accuracy of fraud detection, in turn...

An epidemic of children dying in hot cars: a tragedy that can be prevented

Written by David Diamond, Professor of Psychology, Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, Director, Neuroscience Collaborative Program and Center for Preclinical and Clinical Research on PTSD, University of South Florida

Child in a car seat via ShutterstockCC BY-SA

I have been studying the brain and memory since 1980, but I was baffled when a news reporter asked me in 2004 how parents can forget that their children are in the car with them. It seemed incomprehensible that parents could leave a child in a car and then go about their daily activities, as their child...

Should ethics professors observe higher standards of behavior?

Written by Judith Stark, Professor of Philosophy, Seton Hall University

Does teaching ethics come with obligations?lentina_x, CC BY-NC-SA

This is an enduring dilemma in the area of ethics and one that has recently come to light with charges of unethical behavior brought against a prominent philosopher, Professor Thomas Pogge of Yale University. Pogge has been accused of manipulating younger women in his field into...

Cracking the mystery of the 'Worldwide Hum'

Written by Glen MacPherson, Lecturer, University of British Columbia

The author began hearing the sound at night, between the hours of 10 and 11 p.m.'Street' via www.shutterstock.com

In the spring of 2012, when I was living near the coastal village of Sechelt, on British Columbia’s picturesque Sunshine Coast, I began hearing a humming sound, which I thought were float planes.

The noise usually started later at...

Brexit backers claim U.K. is drowning in EU regulations – are Americans underwater too?

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Economist and Research Scientist, The Ohio State University

Code of Federal Regulations, all 175,000 pages.Wikimedia, CC BY

On June 23, the United Kingdom will decide whether to leave the European Union or stay. The vote is nicknamed Brexit, short for British Exiting. One reason the debate is important outside of the U.K. is that it is partly a referendum over the amount of government regulation voters want....

American Medical Association warns of health and safety problems from 'white' LED streetlights

Written by Richard G. 'Bugs' Stevens, Professor, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut

New LED-based streetlights are whiter than traditional ones and contain more blue light, which can disrupt people's circadian rhythms.meltedplastic/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

The American Medical Association (AMA) has just adopted an official policy statement about street lighting: cool it and dim it.

The statement, adopted unanimously at the AMA’s an...