The Conversation

Surprise! Round one of the French presidential election went pretty much as expected

Written by Mabel Berezin, Professor of Sociology, Cornell University

First-round winners: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.AP/Christophe Ena (Macron)/Michel Spingler (Le Pen)

The votes are mostly counted in the first round of the French presidential election.

Marine Le Pen of the French far right National Front has received 21.5 percent of the vote. Emmanuel Macron, an independent candidate running on the slogan...

What the Leo Frank case tells us about the dangers of fake news

Written by Ingrid Anderson, Lecturer, Arts & Sciences Writing Program, Boston University

Leo Frank, 1884-1915.Library of Congress Online Catalog, Prints and Photographs Division

On Tuesday, April 11 – the first day of the Jewish holiday of Passover – White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer asserted that Syrian President Bashar al-Asad was guilty of worse acts than Hitler when he used sarin gas on civilians.

Spicer said, &ldq...

Scientist at work: Bio-prospecting for better enzymes

Written by Jeffrey Gardner, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Polysaccharide molecules such as cellulose, seen here, are long chains of sugars that are very hard to break apart. Enzymes – proteins that can degrade polysaccharides – have many industrial uses.CeresVesta/Wikipedia

When people hear about prospecting, they might imagine old forty-niners (miners) with pickaxes hunting for gold, or...

More people than ever before are single – and that's a good thing

Written by Bella DePaulo, Project Scientist, University of California, Santa Barbara

Tithi Luadthong/www.shutterstock.com

The 21st century is the age of living single.

Today, the number of single adults in the U.S. – and many other nations around the world – is unprecedented. And the numbers don’t just say people are staying single longer before settling down. More are staying single for life. A 2014 Pew Report est...

Water, weather, new worlds: Cassini mission revealed Saturn's secrets

Written by Dan Reisenfeld, Professor of Physics & Astronomy, The University of Montana

Saturn and its rings backlit by the sun, which is blocked by the planet in this view. Encircling the planet and inner rings is the much more extended E-ring.NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute, CC BY

Cassini is the most sophisticated space probe ever built. Launched in 1997 as a joint NASA/European Space Agency mission, it took seven years to journey...

Why environmental groups need more volunteers of color

Written by Lindsey McDougle, Assistant Professor, School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA), Rutgers University Newark

Most U.S. environmental organizations are less diverse than this group of Californian environmental justice leaders.Brooke Anderson/CEJA

Earth Day comes right before National Volunteer Week, an annual celebration of North American volunteerism in late April. This fortuitous timing gives environmental nonprofits an opportunity to engage prospective...

Defending science: How the art of rhetoric can help

Written by Leah Ceccarelli, Professor of Communication, University of Washington

Rhetoric can teach scientists how to effectively communicate what's going on in the lab to the rest of us.Joshua Mayer, CC BY-SA

Science seems to be under attack in America, so much so that scientists and their supporters are marching in the streets.

President Donald Trump has publicly called climate change a Chinese hoax abetted by greedy...

Theresa May's snap election gamble, explained

Written by Garret Martin, Professorial Lecturer, American University School of International Service

Theresa May, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, decided on April 18 to dissolve Parliament and hold snap elections on June 8. The motion easily secured the required two-thirds majority in the U.K.‘s House of Commons.

The decision marks a stunning reversal and has surprised many people in her own government and abroad. May had...

There's a new generation of water pollutants in your medicine cabinet

Written by Lee Blaney, Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Shutterstock

Every day we each use a variety of personal care products. We wash our hands with antibacterial soaps and clean our faces with specialty cleansers. We wash and maintain our hair with shampoo, conditioner and other hair care products. We use deodorant and perfume or cologne to smell nice. Depending on the day, we may apply sunscreen or...

What Gorsuch's conservative Supreme Court means for workers

Written by Michele Gilman, Venable Professor of Law, University of Baltimore

As Neil Gorsuch takes his seat on the Supreme Court, the 4-4 ideological stalemate that plagued the institution after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia has been broken, reestablishing its conservative tilt.

In an article I wrote last year on the implications of Donald Trump getting the chance to fill Scalia’s seat, I described how the...