The Conversation

How HIV/AIDS got its name − the words Americans used for the crisis were steeped in science, stigma and religious language

Written by Anthony Petro, Associate Professor of Religion and of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Boston University

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first used the term “AIDS” on Sept. 24, 1982, more than a year after the first cases appeared in medical records. Those early years of the crisis were marked by a great deal of confusion over what caused the disease, who it affected and how it spread.

But the naming itself – acquired...

‘Social profit orientation’ can help companies and nonprofits alike do more good in the world

Written by Leonard L. Berry, Professor of Marketing; Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Texas A&M University

Companies and nonprofits can make the world a better or worse place.PeopleImages/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Economist Milton Friedman’s influential maxim, that a company’s sole obligation is to maximize profits, is outdated. Many companies have voluntarily integrated social concerns into their business operations through corporate...

Poor people are business owners, too – but myths around poverty and entrepreneurship hold them back

Written by Michael H. Morris, Professor of the Practice, Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame

An unregistered backyard laundry service in Kathmandu, Nepal.Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket via Getty Images

Nearly 1 in 5 people in the world lives in poverty. Even in many developed countries such as the U.S., poverty rates exceed 12%. In an age of breathtaking technological progress and dynamic social change, poverty remains stubbornly persistent.

As...

What is the Shroud of Turin and why is there so much controversy around it?

Written by Eric Vanden Eykel, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Ferrum College

An image of the Shroud of Turin, which purports to show the face of Jesus.Pierre Perrin/Sygma via Getty Images

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin, Italy, houses a fascinating artifact: a massive cloth shroud that bears the shadowy image of a man who appears to have been crucified. Millions of Christians around the world believe that...

Chip that steers terahertz beams sets stage for ultrafast internet of the future

Written by Ranjan Singh, Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Notre Dame

The angles and branches in this illustration of a chip are key to using terahertz waves for the next generation of high-speed wireless communications.Wenhao Wang, Guillaume Ducournau, and Ranjan Singh

Imagine a future where internet connections are not only lightning-fast but also remarkably reliable, even in crowded spaces. This vision is rapidly...

Domesticating horses had a huge impact on human society − new science rewrites where and when it first happened

Written by William Taylor, Assistant Professor and Curator of Archaeology, University of Colorado Boulder

Horses supported travel, communication, agriculture and warfare across much of the ancient world.Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images

Across human history, no single animal has had a deeper impact on human societies than the horse. But when and how people domesticated horses has been an ongoing scientific mystery.

Half a million years ago...

7 years after genocide, plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is exacerbated by camp violence

Written by Nasir Uddin, Professor of Anthropology, University of Chittagong

Bangladeshi authorities patrol the Jamtoli refugee camp in Bangladesh.Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya in Bangladesh marked the seven-year anniversary of displacement from their homes in neighboring Myanmar on Aug. 25, 2024. It was a somber occasion for the long-persecuted Myanmarese Muslim minority, who have...

How one 83-year-old fell into a fraudster’s fear bubble – and how gift cards played a key role

Written by Dr. David P. Weber, Professor of the Practice in Fraud and Forensic Accounting, Salisbury University

Wednesday morning, the day before Thanksgiving, Mae awoke, set her hair in curlers and switched on her laptop. A message appeared. It said her Safari web browser had encountered a problem, and a link offered to connect the 83-year-old to the Apple Computer Company. Mae clicked it.

She didn’t know it yet, but Mae, like millions of Americans eac...

In the face of DEI backlash, belonging plays a key role to future success

Written by Andrea Carter, Adjunct Faculty in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Adler University

Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have become increasingly visible in U.S. workplaces, especially over the past five years. However, DEI has recently come under attack, with companies scaling back their DEI plans.

As a professor of organizational psychology, I believe businesses should refine rather than abandon these efforts. Introducing a...

The workhorse ship of ocean drilling may have made its last voyage – here’s why scientists don’t want to see the JOIDES Resolution mothballed

Written by Suzanne OConnell, Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, Wesleyan University

The scientific research ship JOIDES Resolution on an expedition to the southwest Indian Ocean in 2015. Xinhua/Zhang Jiansong via Getty Images

My favorite place in the world isn’t a fixed location. It’s the JOIDES Resolution, an internationally funded research ship that has spent its service life constantly on the move, from deep in the...