The Conversation

Bioethicist: The climate crisis calls for fewer children

Written by Travis N. Rieder, Research Scholar at the Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University

Should a future parent consider the impact more people will have on the Earth? child via www.shutterstock.com

Earlier this summer, I found myself in the middle of a lively debate because of my work on climate change and the ethics of having children.

NPR correspondent Jennifer Ludden profiled some of my work in procreative ethics with an article...

Another cost of smoking: Sky-high insurance

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

Smokers not only pay a lot of money for cigarettes but also for their health insurance.www.shutterstock.com

Although the Affordable Care Act (ACA) eliminated some of the barriers to obtaining health insurance coverage, not all Americans have access to affordable coverage. Low-income smokers in particular face challenges when shopping for insurance...

Disaster communications: Lessons from 9/11

Written by Thomas Terndrup, Professor of Emergency Medicine, The Ohio State University

“The hotel is being evacuated. Please return to your rooms and prepare to exit.” That was the first communication one of us, Dr. Terndrup, recalls receiving at a medical research meeting in the Brooklyn Marriott hotel that September morning.

Out on the street was pandemonium, Terndrup remembers. Just two miles from what would come to be...

Miss America 1968: When civil rights and feminist activists converged on Atlantic City

Written by Paige Welch, Visiting Assistant Professor of History, Duke University

At this year’s Miss America pageant, the first openly lesbian contestant, Erin O'Flaherty, will compete for the crown in Atlantic City. Flaherty’s participation will represent yet another step toward a more inclusive and diverse pageant. She’ll be following other trailblazers like Bess Myerson (the first Jewish titleholder), Vanes...

Putin, IS and military preparedness: Six essential reads

Written by Emily Costello, Senior Editor, Politics + Society, The Conversation

Editor’s note: The following is a collection of archival stories related to military preparedness, combating IS and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This week, presidential candidates Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump took part in the “commander-in-chief forum” on NBC-TV. The candidates answered questions about...

Here's what happens when you 'like' a brand on Facebook

Written by Alisha Horky, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Elon University

What's not to like?Thumbs Up via www.shutterstock.com

Businesses seem obsessed these days with getting you to “like” them on Facebook.

It’s difficult to browse the internet without being inundated with requests to like a company’s Facebook page or with contests and offers dependent on doing so.

From the company’s...

Defeating terrorism through design: Think souks, not office buildings

Written by Thomas Fisher, Professor of Architecture, Director of the Metropolitan Design Center, and Dayton Hudson Chair in Urban Design, University of Minnesota

Embodiment of defiance... or foolhardy design?Paul Silva, CC BY

To fight terrorist networks, we need to understand them and learn from them. Obviously that doesn’t mean training to become terrorists ourselves. But we can learn from the way many terrorist organizations operate – via highly networked, decentralized connections. This kind...

How building design changed after 9/11

Written by Shih-Ho Chao, Associate Professor of Structural Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Texas Arlington

The new One World Trade Center building, made with high-performance concrete.John D. Morris, CC BY-SA

When buildings collapse killing hundreds – or thousands – of people, it’s a tragedy. It’s also an important engineering problem. The 1995 collapse of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and the World Trade...

How the pain of 9/11 still stays with a generation

Written by Dana Rose Garfin, Research Scientist, Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine

The Sept. 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks were the worst acts of terrorism on American soil to date. Designed to instill panic and fear, the attacks were unprecedented in terms of their scope, magnitude and impact on the American psyche.

The vast majority (over 60 percent) of Americans watched these attacks occur live on television or saw them...

Flashbulb memories of dramatic events aren't as accurate as believed

Written by Jennifer Talarico, Associate Professor, Psychology, Lafayette College

Where were you on Sept. 11 when you first heard that a plane had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center?

Many of us may have vivid memories of that day, recalling where we were and what we were doing when we first learned of the attack, perhaps even remembering seemingly irrelevant details. Chances are, that memory isn’t as accurate as...