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Machine learning and big data know it wasn't you who just swiped your credit card

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageWhose hand is on the card?Reuters/Issei Kato

You’re sitting at home minding your own business when you get a call from your credit card’s fraud detection unit asking if you’ve just made a purchase at a department store in your city. It wasn’t you who bought expensive electronics using your credit card – in fact,...

Read more: Machine learning and big data know it wasn't you who just swiped your credit card

Why do women need special laws to protect them from violence?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageA woman and a child walk amidst an art installation of 745 pairs of women's red shoes, put on display by Mexican visual artist Elina Chauvet to protest against gender violence and femicide, at La Constitucion Square in Malaga, southern Spain, June 12 2015. Jon Nazca/Reuters

November 25 marks the United Nations International Day for the Elimination...

Read more: Why do women need special laws to protect them from violence?

From the clinic to the street: how the explosion in prescription painkillers has created more heroin users

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageA man injects himself with heroin using a needle obtained from the People's Harm Reduction Alliance, the nation's largest needle-exchange program, in Seattle, Washington.David Ryder/Reuters

In the early years of my clinical practice as a psychologist treating heroin users, I commonly saw adolescents and young adults using heroin as their first...

Read more: From the clinic to the street: how the explosion in prescription painkillers has created more...

Why Thanksgiving tells a story of America's pluralism

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageWhat is the history of the Thanksgiving dinner?Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902, Library of Congress

Thanksgiving has been a focus of autumn grade-school curriculumfor a hundred years.

Because of its paradoxical combination of tradition and invention, its appeals to the past and to the future, its ancestor worship and its acceptance of diversity,...

Read more: Why Thanksgiving tells a story of America's pluralism

Why do American cops kill so many compared to European cops?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageNYC police prepare for Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, 2015. Andrew Kelly/REUTERS

Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first degree murder November 24 in the death of Laquan McDonald. A video released by police shows Van Dyke shooting the teenager 16 times.

Van Dyke is an extreme example of a pattern of unnecessary deadly force...

Read more: Why do American cops kill so many compared to European cops?

The Asian roots of umami -- the 'fifth' taste central to Thanksgiving fare

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageThe savory tastes so closely associated with Thanksgiving recall umami, which was 'discovered' more than 100 years ago by a Japanese chemist. mr_t_in_dc/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Thanksgiving is perhaps the quintessential American holiday. The fourth Thursday in November provides a moment to reflect on the good fortune of the past year and a chance to...

Read more: The Asian roots of umami -- the 'fifth' taste central to Thanksgiving fare

Where are the voices of indigenous peoples in the Thanksgiving story?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageWhat's missing in the telling of this history?Painting image via www.shutterstock.com

Thanksgiving is an important time, when schools teach the story of who we are and where we come from as a nation.

My own students have told me about the Thanksgiving story they learned in school, which focused solely on the survival of the Pilgrims and the friendly...

Read more: Where are the voices of indigenous peoples in the Thanksgiving story?

Expert roundtable: the psychological benefits of our Thanksgiving rituals

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageHungry for more than just the turkey.Turkey image via www.shutterstock.com.

When Americans gather together around a table groaning with favorite dishes on the fourth Thursday of November, what are we doing beyond filling our bellies with turkey and pie? We convened four experts in the psychology of family traditions and shared meals for a...

Read more: Expert roundtable: the psychological benefits of our Thanksgiving rituals

Explainer: why does the price for turkeys fall just before Thanksgiving?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageThis guy's much in demand.Reuters

Thanksgiving is a great US holiday during which people consume huge quantities of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pie.

One of the stranger things about this holiday, however, is that a few days before everyone starts cooking, whole turkeys are suddenly discounted by supermarkets and grocery stores (see...

Read more: Explainer: why does the price for turkeys fall just before Thanksgiving?

More Articles ...

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  3. Is double-dipping a food safety problem or just a nasty habit?
  4. Why does culture sometimes evolve via sudden bursts of innovation?
  5. Climate change's hotter weather could reduce human fertility
  6. Despite recent victories, plights of many LGBT people remain ignored
  7. Brain connections predict how well you can pay attention
  8. Making the moral case on climate change ahead of Paris summit
  9. How fast can we transition to a low-carbon energy system?
  10. How the painting got its name
  11. Zero-based budgeting: everything old is new again
  12. Here's how history is shaping the #studentblackout movement
  13. In fight with ISIS, home front remains vulnerable
  14. As the Earth enters its third mass bleaching event, will corals survive?
  15. The rush to calculus is bad for students and their futures in STEM
  16. Paris climate summit: why more women need seats at the table
  17. Who should monitor homeschooling?
  18. How your genes influence what medicines are right for you
  19. What does China's role in Africa say about its growing global footprint?
  20. A warmer embrace of Muslims could stop homegrown terrorism
  21. Could the Hunger Games turn your teen into a revolutionary?
  22. ISIS attacks fueled by illegal guns and open societies we can't afford to lose
  23. Stronger work-family policies help women entrepreneurs build better businesses
  24. Toilet talk: meeting one of the world's grand challenges with innovation
  25. Gender equality comes one toilet at a time
  26. Why do public bathrooms make us so anxious, and why aren't we doing anything about it?
  27. Talking heads: what toilets and sewers tell us about ancient Roman sanitation
  28. Explainer: why transgender students need safe bathrooms
  29. Why 1904 testing methods should not be used for today's students
  30. Is Fiorina's tax proposal three sheets to the wind?
  31. With #OpISIS, Anonymous hacktivists contribute virtual boots on the ground
  32. NATO should invade ISIS-held territory
  33. Is Islam incompatible with modernity?
  34. Are Texas textbooks making cops more trigger-happy?
  35. Can Tesla's enthusiast customers help it sell the electric car for the everyperson?
  36. Paper or plastic? How disposable bag bans, fees and taxes affect consumer behavior
  37. Many small microaggressions add up to something big
  38. Islamic State versus Da'ish or Daesh? The political battle over naming
  39. Why Paris?
  40. The promise and perils of predictive policing based on big data
  41. Why have the demands of black students changed so little since the 1960s?
  42. Up close at the Democratic Debate in Des Moines
  43. How Islamic law can take on ISIS
  44. Paris attacks push progress at Vienna talks on Syria
  45. Paris: the war with ISIS enters a new stage
  46. Deportations punish children most
  47. Egypt's Sisi signals shift toward Muslim Brotherhood
  48. Scientist at work: searching for tiny neutrinos in the South Pole's thick ice
  49. College students go online to learn about sex
  50. How existentialism can shield us from the free market's dark side