The Conversation

Here's a better vision for the US-Mexico border: Make the Rio Grande grand again

Written by Gabriel Diaz Montemayor, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Texas at Austin

In Big Bend National Park's Santa Elena Canyon, the Rio Grande separates the United States (left) from Mexico (right).Ken Lund, CC BY-SA

The United States and Mexico have shared their current international border for nearly 170 years. Today they cooperate at multiple levels on issues that affect the border region, although you would not know it...

Afghanistan is now officially James Mattis’ war

Written by Simon Reich, Professor in The Division of Global Affairs and The Department of Political Science, Rutgers University Newark

How will U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis handle America's "Forever War'?Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP

Donald Trump’s speech on his administration’s strategy in Afghanistan – in which he announced the introduction of an unspecified number of new combat troops, without a mission and without a specified end date, in a strategy...

For many in Puerto Rico, 'energy dominance' is just a new name for US colonialism

Written by Catalina M. de Onís, Assistant Professor of Civic Communication and Media, Willamette University

This 1899 drawing depicts Uncle Sam disciplining his newly acquired pupils/possessions, including Puerto Rico, following the Treaty of Paris. Library of Congress

The Trump administration has made “achieving American energy dominance” a central policy goal. President Trump asserts that “energy dominance” requires expanding...

Can corporate America afford to walk away from President Trump?

Written by Neal Hartman, Senior Lecturer in Managerial Communication, MIT Sloan School of Management

Merck CEO Ken Frazier, seated next to Trump, was first to resign from his manufacturing council. AP Photo/Evan Vucci

After campaigning as the candidate best able to work with business, President Donald Trump has shown he is anything but.

A stream of resignations from high-level business counsels hit a crescendo recently when Trump was forced to...

Will CRISPR fears fade with familiarity?

Written by Patricia Stapleton, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

With all these 'test-tube babies' grown up, how have our reactions to the technology evolved?AP Photo/Alastair Grant

The first “test-tube baby” made headlines around the world in 1978, setting off intense debate on the ethics of researching human embryos and reproductive technologies. Every breakthrough since then has raised the same...

African-Americans fighting fascism and racism, from WWII to Charlottesville

Written by Matthew Delmont, Director and Professor of the School of Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Arizona State University

Tuskegee Airmen and P-47.San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives

In July 1943, one month after a race riot shook Detroit, Vice President Henry Wallace spoke to a crowd of union workers and civic groups:

“We cannot fight to crush Nazi brutality abroad and condone race riots at home. Those who fan the fires of racial clashes for the purpose...

Some nerves: How loud noise may change hearing

Written by Matthew Xu-Friedman, Associate Professor of Biology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Hearing can be affected by loud noises, but the mechanisms have not been fully understood. The auditory nerve plays a big role.9nang/Shutterstock.com

Our modern world is loud. Just sitting in a car, or an airplane, or watching movie previews, we are bombarded with sound. Even when those noises aren’t damaging to the sensitive microphone that...

How should we protest neo-Nazis? Lessons from German history

Written by Laurie Marhoefer, Assistant Professor of History, University of Washington

A supporter of President Donald Trump, center, argues with a counterprotester at a rally in Boston on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017.AP Photo/Michael Dwyer

After the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, many people are asking themselves what they should do if Nazis rally in their city. Should they put their bodies on the line in...

How the smartphone affected an entire generation of kids

Written by Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology, San Diego State University

New research is putting the first generation of kids to grow up with the smartphone into sharp relief.Olga Tropinina

As someone who researches generational differences, I find one of the most frequent questions I’m asked is “What generation am I in?”

If you were born before 1980, that’s a relatively easy question to answer:...

Can low doses of chemicals affect your health? A new report weighs the evidence

Written by Rachel Shaffer, PhD Student, Environmental Toxicology, University of Washington

Assessing the data.LightField Studios/shutterstock.com

Toxicology’s founding father, Paracelsus, is famous for proclaiming that “the dose makes the poison.” This phrase represents a pillar of traditional toxicology: Essentially, chemicals are harmful only at high enough doses.

But increasing evidence suggests that even low levels...