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If a solar plant uses natural gas, is it still green?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageReal hot: the Ivanpah solar power plant and others like it use mirrors to produce heat to make steam and drive an electricity turbine.BrightSource Energy

The giant Ivanpah solar power plant in the California Mojave Desert recently detailed how much natural gas it burned to generate power when the sun wasn’t sufficient – the equivalent...

Read more: If a solar plant uses natural gas, is it still green?

Lessons from Newark: why school reforms will not work without addressing poverty

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageWho's in charge of America's schools?Rutgers Nursing, CC BY-NC

In 2010, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show with Cory Booker, Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and Chris Christie, Republican governor of New Jersey. Zuckerberg announced, to cheers and applause, a US$100 million challenge grant to “turn...

Read more: Lessons from Newark: why school reforms will not work without addressing poverty

Wedding bells or single again: psychology predicts where your relationship is headed

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageI'm not feeling a strong commitment to wed.Couple image via www.shutterstock.com.

Is he or she the one? You know… the one to introduce to my parents, the one to move in with, the one to start a family with, the one to marry? At some point in every dating relationship, you ask yourself some version of these questions.

Of course you’re...

Read more: Wedding bells or single again: psychology predicts where your relationship is headed

In the verses of Jordan's most popular poet, the hopes and fears of the Arab world

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageThe Bedouin poet Muhammad Fanatil al-Hajaya.Author provided

Muhammad Fanatil al-Hajaya’s poetry is full of arguments one would hear on the streets of Amman, Riyadh and Cairo, in coffee shops, barber shops and taxis.

Laden with animals, conspiracy theories and apocalyptic rhetoric, his verses reflect how many Arabs – educated and...

Read more: In the verses of Jordan's most popular poet, the hopes and fears of the Arab world

Some find redemption on death row, but few find mercy

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageGerman Theologian Jürgen Moltmann at the graduation of condemned Georgia inmate Kelly Gissendaner. She was executed in September 2015. Emory University, Author provided

Strapped to the execution gurney in Huntsville, Texas, Michael Hall told those assembled to watch him die that he was not the same man who had shot a 19-year-old woman to death...

Read more: Some find redemption on death row, but few find mercy

In our Wi-Fi world, the internet still depends on undersea cables

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageCables crisscross the oceans carrying your internet info.Telegeography Submarine Cable Map

Recently a New York Times article on Russian submarine activity near undersea communications cables dredged up Cold War politics and generated widespread recognition of the submerged systems we all depend upon.

Not many people realize that undersea cables...

Read more: In our Wi-Fi world, the internet still depends on undersea cables

As US shutters aging nuclear plants, cutting emissions will become more costly

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageLosing steam? Older power plants are expensive to operate or upgrade.Montgomery County Planning Commission, CC BY-NC-SA

The United States is the world’s largest producer of nuclear power, but the country’s fleet of nearly 100 reactors is showing its age.

On November 2, the owner of a nuclear power station in New York said it will shut...

Read more: As US shutters aging nuclear plants, cutting emissions will become more costly

What Grantland's demise says about ESPN's past and future ambitions

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageESPN's corporate leadership decided to shutter Grantland four years after the boutique site launched.Milani Beaudrault/flickr, CC BY

For those of us who regularly read Grantland, ESPN’s announcement that it shuttered the boutique sports and pop culture website didn’t come as a surprise.

The site had steadily been moving away from its...

Read more: What Grantland's demise says about ESPN's past and future ambitions

Why Asian Americans don't vote Republican

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageA voter drops off her election ballot at a drop box in Oregon. Richard Clement/REUTERS

During the recent No Labels-hosted Problem Solver Convention in New Hampshire, things got a little uncomfortable.

When Joseph Choe, an Asian-American college student, stood up to ask a question about South Korea, Donald Trump cut him off and wondered aloud:...

Read more: Why Asian Americans don't vote Republican

More Articles ...

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  3. Look what is being sold to kids when they are in school
  4. What do the new breast cancer screening guidelines recommend about when to start yearly mammograms?
  5. It turns out clothes really do make the man
  6. Cities are booming but progress is uneven and, to some, too costly
  7. Hearing ghost voices relies on pseudoscience and fallibility of human perception
  8. Is one of the largest real estate deals in American history a requiem for middle-class New York?
  9. Why mayors are looking for ideas outside the city limits
  10. Can innovators build a future that's both disruptive and just?
  11. They might sound gross, but intestinal worms can actually be good for you
  12. What gets students motivated to work harder? Not money
  13. Paul Ryan just accepted the worst job in politics
  14. Breaking the link between a conservative worldview and climate skepticism
  15. What should we make of Paul Ryan’s fondness for Ayn Rand?
  16. Evolutionary psychology explains why haunted houses creep us out
  17. Solar power can cut consumers' bills and still be good for utilities
  18. Do liberal arts students learn how to collaborate?
  19. Scholars on the GOP debate: middle-class struggles take center stage as Rubio walks tightrope
  20. How CNBC created a GOP debate for the Twitter age
  21. Why can’t the UN protect civilians in places like Syria?
  22. What are the limits to free speech in schools?
  23. How texting helped fuel the anti-austerity protests roiling Europe
  24. In the fight against anemia, iron fortification is a clutch player
  25. Why aren't more women running for office?
  26. Could Hurricane Patricia be a harbinger of storms in a warming climate?
  27. Does 'translating' Shakespeare into modern English diminish its greatness?
  28. Why Google's plan to blanket wilderness with Wi-Fi is a bad idea
  29. Sugar isn't just empty, fattening calories -- it's making us sick
  30. California universities launch experiment to go carbon-neutral 'at scale'
  31. Tracking American eels on the open sea to crack the mystery of their migration
  32. When gang violence goes viral
  33. The modern, molecular hunt for the world's biodiversity
  34. The humble (ad-free!) origins of the first World Series broadcasts
  35. Explainer: what's the debt ceiling and why it's an obsolete way to control spending
  36. Obama calls for limits on school testing. Here's why
  37. Jeb Bush needs a home run in Wednesday's GOP debate
  38. Did El Niño give Hurricane Patricia more kick?
  39. Sometimes less is better – so why don't doctors 'deintensify' medical treatment?
  40. How American schools are making inequality worse
  41. The problems with Big History and turning science into myth
  42. Are we sleep-deprived or just darkness-deprived?
  43. China's economic slowdown threatens African progress
  44. How Playboy skirted the anti-porn crusade of the 1950s
  45. Does 'Twitter Moments' herald the comeback of human beings?
  46. Is your doctor choosing the right IV?
  47. MIT rejects fossil fuel divestment but is still a leader on climate change
  48. Refugee passports could end border delays in the Balkans
  49. Why it's wrong for pediatricians to eliminate daily screen time recommendations
  50. Why we should pay attention to Poland's elections