The Conversation

Psychology behind the unfunny consequences of jokes that denigrate

Written by Thomas E. Ford, Professor of Social Psychology, Western Carolina University

A joke isn't just a joke.elycefeliz, CC BY-NC-ND

Q: Why did the woman cross the road?
A: Who cares! What the hell is she doing out of the kitchen?
Q: Why hasn’t NASA sent a woman to the moon?
A: It doesn’t need cleaning yet!

These two jokes represent disparagement humor – any attempt to amuse through the denigration of a social group...

Why are police inside public schools?

Written by Aaron Kupchik, Professor of Sociology & Criminal Justice, University of Delaware

Are police being asked to do too much?North Charleston, CC BY-SA

Children across the U.S. have now returned to school. Many of these children are going to schools with sworn police officers patrolling the hallways. These officers, usually called school resource officers, are placed in schools across the country to help maintain school safety.

Accordi...

How 'Star Trek' almost failed to launch

Written by Stephen Benedict Dyson, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut

Fifty years ago – on Sept. 8, 1966 – TV viewers were transfixed by the appearance on screen of a green-hued, pointy-eared alien called Spock. But beneath the makeup, actor Leonard Nimoy fretted that this would be the end of his promising career.

“How can I play a character without emotion?” he asked his boss, Gene...

Why academics are losing relevance in society – and how to stop it

Written by Andrew J. Hoffman, Holcim (US) Professor at the Ross School of Business and Education Director at the Graham Sustainability Institute, University of Michigan

There's growing pressure for academics to get outside their comfort zones and to share their research with the broader public. campus via www.shutterstock.com

A January 2015 Pew Research Center study found an alarming chasm between the views of scientists and the views of the public. Here is just a sampling:

87 percent of scientists accept that...

Do kids who grow kale eat kale?

Written by Garrett M. Broad, Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University

woodleywonderworks, CC BY

It’s back-to-school time in the United States, and for countless children across the nation, it’s also time to get back into the school garden.

For centuries, educators and philosophers have argued that garden-based learning improves children’s intelligence and boosts their personal health. In recent...

Pollen genetics can help with forensic investigations

Written by Karen L. Bell, Postdoctoral Fellow in Environmental Sciences, Emory University

Genetic techniques can help make pollen useful for cracking criminal cases.Karen L. Bell, CC BY-ND

Imagine you’re a detective working on a murder case. You have a body, but you believe it was moved from another location. Now what? There’s one unexpected tool you might use to follow up on this suspicion: forensic palynology. That’s...

How a native plant ended up on reality TV, and why it's at risk

Written by Kathryn M. Flinn, Assistant Professor of Biology, Baldwin Wallace University

A valuable harvestPriya Jaishankar/Flickr, CC BY-ND

American ginseng about to flower, spring 2016.Photo by C.C. Flinn

In one of television’s more bizarre recent offerings, the History Channel show “Appalachian Outlaws” follows a band of West Virginians as they hunt rugged forests for American ginseng, a medicinal root worth...

US response to Zika: Fragmented and uneven

Written by Scott L. Greer, Associate Professor, Global Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan

On Sept. 1, officials in Florida reported that mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus had been found in Miami Beach. The Florida Department of Health reports 49 non-travel related cases of Zika. There are almost 2,700 cases of travel-associated cases in the continental U.S. Things are worse in the U.S. territories, where more than 14,000 locally...

In another newly discovered song, Woody Guthrie continues his assault on 'Old Man Trump'

Written by Will Kaufman, Professor of American Literature and Culture, University of Central Lancashire

Woody Guthrie's tenancy in Fred Trump's Beach Haven apartment complex coincided with a diagnosis of Huntington's disease.Library of Congress

Earlier this year, I wrote about a cache of bitter writings by Woody Guthrie that I had discovered while conducting research for a book on the balladeer.

The invectives were directed against a man Guthrie had...

Decision from G20 leaders could prove the tipping point for free trade

Written by Alan Deardorff, Professor of International Economics Professor of Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan

It’s essential that the G20 leaders push for adoption of the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) at the summit meeting in Hangzhou, China, in the face of growing anti-globalization forces. This agreement could be the tipping point to highlight the importance of global free trade and prevent a revival of true...