The Conversation

As academic hospitals lower mortality rates, should insurers reconsider excluding them?

Written by Marschall Runge, Dean, School of Medicine, University of Michigan

Health care personnel in all hospitals work hard to provide first-rate care, but academic hospitals carry an added responsibility. Some have questioned whether that dilutes clinical care. gpointstudios/Shutterstock.com

A comprehensive new study has found that major teaching hospitals in the United States outperformed non-teaching hospitals in the...

Hinduism and its complicated history with cows (and people who eat them)

Written by Wendy Doniger, Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions, University of Chicago

Are cows sacred to all Hindus?PRODaniel Incandela, CC BY-NC

Just this past June, at a national meeting of various Hindu organizations in India, a popular preacher, Sadhvi Saraswati, suggested that those who consumed beef should be publicly hanged. Later, at the same conclave, an animal rights activist, Chetan Sharma, said,

“Cow is also the...

Why do human beings speak so many languages?

Written by Michael Gavin, Associate Professor of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University

People currently speak 7,000 languages around the globe.Michael Gavin, CC BY-ND

The thatched roof held back the sun’s rays, but it could not keep the tropical heat at bay. As everyone at the research workshop headed outside for a break, small groups splintered off to gather in the shade of coconut trees and enjoy a breeze. I wandered from...

Is America's digital leadership on the wane?

Written by Bhaskar Chakravorti, Senior Associate Dean, International Business & Finance, Tufts University

Is America's digital economy facing a stormy future?Filipe Frazao/Shutterstock.com

American leadership in technology innovation and economic competitiveness is at risk if U.S. policymakers don’t take crucial steps to protect the country’s digital future. The country that gave the world the internet and the very concept of the disruptive...

What an artificial intelligence researcher fears about AI

Written by Arend Hintze, Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology & Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State University

Will the robots come to control us?Peshkova

As an artificial intelligence researcher, I often come across the idea that many people are afraid of what AI might bring. It’s perhaps unsurprising, given both history and the entertainment industry, that we might be afraid of a cybernetic takeover that forces us to live locked away,...

EU's antitrust 'war' on Google and Facebook uses abandoned American playbook

Written by Ramsi Woodcock, Professor of Legal Studies, Georgia State University

European Union Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager has followed an antitrust enforcement strategy pioneered in the U.S.AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

The casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that European antitrust regulators have declared war on American tech giants.

On June 27, the European Union imposed a €2.4 billion (US$2.75...

Combatting stereotypes about Appalachian dialects

Written by Kirk Hazen, Professor of Linguistics, West Virginia University

The small city of Hazard, Kentucky, rests in the heart of Appalachia.AP Photo/David Stephenson

During the 2016 presidential election, broad support for Donald Trump came from most communities in Appalachia, where he received 63 percent of the vote. A great deal of national attention was directed to the people of this region, which spans from...

Is a healthy environment a human right? Testing the idea in Appalachia

Written by Nicholas F. Stump, Library Faculty Member, West Virginia University

Demonstrators at a rally in Frankfort, Kentucky, Feb. 13, 2013, protest against mountaintop removal coal mining. AP Photo/James Crisp

Do we have a fundamental right to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food? The idea of environmental human rights is receiving growing attention worldwide, driven by our global ecological crisis....

Why health savings accounts are a bust for the poor but a boost for the privileged

Written by Simon Haeder, Assistant Professor of Political Science, West Virginia University

North Carolina NAACP President Rev. William Barber, accompanied by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas, left, as activists, many with the clergy, are taken into custody by U.S. Capitol Police on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 13, 2017, after protesting against the Republican health care bill.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

When Senate Majority Leader...

Why some are applauding Donald Trump Jr's 'win at all costs' attitude

Written by Daniel M. Shea, Professor of Government, Colby College

When offered intelligence from a foreign government, Donald Trump Jr. said 'I love it.'AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

To many, the revelation that Donald Trump Jr. was anxious to get dirt on Hillary Clinton from the Russians will not come as a surprise. It is but the latest example of the take-no-prisoners, anything-goes politics of our day. Sure,...