The Conversation

Why is climate change's 2 degrees Celsius of warming limit so important?

Written by David Titley, Professor of Practice in Meteorology, Professor of International Affairs & Director Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk, Pennsylvania State University

Who set the guardrails on global temperature rise? Hydrosami, CC BY-SA

If you read or listen to almost any article about climate change, it’s likely the story refers in some way to the “2 degrees Celsius limit.” The story often mentions greatly increased risks if the climate exceeds 2°C and even “catastrophic”...

The best shot at overcoming vaccination standoffs? Having doctors listen to – not shun – reluctant parents

Written by Mary Politi, Associate Professor of Surgery, Division of Public Health Sciences, Washington University in St Louis

A recent study of medical students and residents found they were reluctant to engage with parents who have vaccination fears. But listening to parents is important. Olena Yakobchuck/Shutterstock.com

Vaccines save between two and three million lives per year by protecting individuals from diseases such as measles, mumps, diphtheria, pertussis,...

UAW's loss at Nissan auto plant masks genuine progress for organized labor

Written by Harley Shaiken, Director of the Center for Latin American Studies and Professor of Letters and Science, University of California, Berkeley

The 5,000-strong pro-union march in March suggested labor support in Canton is growing.AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

A spirited, decade-long effort by workers to organize a union at the sprawling Nissan assembly plant in Canton, Mississippi, seemed to drive into a ditch on August 5, when officials finally tallied the election ballots.

The margin looked...

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...