The Conversation

  • How Humans Derailed the Earth’s Climate in Just 160 Years

    How Humans Derailed the Earth’s Climate in Just 160 Years

    Climate change might be the most urgent issue of our day, both politically and in terms of life on Earth. There is mounting awareness that the global climate is a matter for public action. For 11,500 years, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations hovered around 280 ppm (the preindustrial “normal”), with an average surface temperature around 15°C. Since… Read More

  • Do You Plan Your Life Around Your Fitness Schedule? You Could Be Addicted to Exercise

    Do You Plan Your Life Around Your Fitness Schedule? You Could Be Addicted to Exercise

    Physical activity feels good and it’s great for your health. It can reduce your risk of developing chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, strengthen your bones, muscles and joints, and can even help with certain mental health conditions, such as depression. While exercise has clear benefits, it can cause problems if your love of working… Read More

  • Health Check: What Should Our Maximum Heart Rate Be During Exercise?

    Health Check: What Should Our Maximum Heart Rate Be During Exercise?

    You have your runners on, your FitBit is charged, but now what? When you exercise, your heart and breathing rates increase, delivering greater quantities of oxygen from the lungs to the blood, then to exercising muscles. Determining an optimal heart rate for exercise depends on your exercise goal, age, and current fitness level. Heart rate… Read More

  • What Parents Should Do to Help Students Prepare for the First Year of College

    What Parents Should Do to Help Students Prepare for the First Year of College

    As the school year begins to wind down, high school seniors – and those who care about them – typically have their eyes on two prizes: getting into college and graduating from high school. While both milestones are worthy of celebration, there’s much more that students and parents should do after those two milestones are… Read More

  • This Is How You Can Stand Out From the Crowd in a Very Competitive Job Market

    This Is How You Can Stand Out From the Crowd in a Very Competitive Job Market

    The employment market is saturated with graduates who have good degrees and the right qualifications. So the question on many recruiters’ minds is: what else can this candidate offer? Employers have been reporting a “skills gap” in graduates for a few decades now and there is research to support its existence. Many employers feel there… Read More

  • How 3D Printing Is Transforming Our Relationship with Cultural Heritage

    How 3D Printing Is Transforming Our Relationship with Cultural Heritage

    A few years ago, we were promised that 3D printing would transform the world. In 2011, The Economist featured a 3D-printed Stradivarius violin on its front page, claiming that 3D printing “may have as profound an impact on the world as the coming of the factory did”. These enormous hopes for digital fabrication, and especially… Read More

  • How People Manage Their Intake of Tempting Foods

    How People Manage Their Intake of Tempting Foods

    It’s happened to most of us – we walk past a restaurant, cafe or bakery and something catches our attention. A delicious smell wafts out the door and our tastebuds start tingling. With so much cheap and easily accessible food in the Western world, it’s almost unavoidable. Sometimes we don’t even need to have seen… Read More

  • Net Price Calculators Were Supposed to Make It Easier to Understand the Cost Of College – Instead, Many Are Making It More Difficult

    Net Price Calculators Were Supposed to Make It Easier to Understand the Cost Of College – Instead, Many Are Making It More Difficult

    Ever since 2011, colleges that get federal student aid have been required to post net price calculators on their websites. These calculators are supposed to help prospective students understand – before they apply – how much it will cost to attend a particular school. But in a new study, we found that not all colleges… Read More

  • How Higher Ed Can Earn the Public’s Trust After the Admissions Scandal

    How Higher Ed Can Earn the Public’s Trust After the Admissions Scandal

    The college admissions scandal is exposing illegal and unethical conduct by dozens of people who paid or took bribes to get students into the University of Southern California and other elite universities. Concerns about social justice, meritocracy, parental overreach, privileges tied to wealth and philanthropy are rampant. It’s also pointing to another widespread concern that… Read More

  • How to Make Water Issues Matter to World Leaders

    How to Make Water Issues Matter to World Leaders

    In December 1992, the UN General Assembly declared 22 March World Water Day, to be celebrated each year. With increasing populations and economic activities, many countries face water scarcity – which in turn limits their economic development. Sadly, not a single World Water Day over the past 25 years has focused on how water could… Read More

  • Women Can Build Positive Body Image by Controlling What They View on Social Media

    Women Can Build Positive Body Image by Controlling What They View on Social Media

    Social media use is often described as being problematic for mental health and body image. But is all social media use bad? Our new research shows that viewing body positive Instagram content may actually improve women’s body image, at least in the short term. With more awareness, social media users might be able to curate… Read More

  • 4 Simple Food Choices That Help You Lose Weight and Stay Healthy

    4 Simple Food Choices That Help You Lose Weight and Stay Healthy

    It’s difficult to lose weight. And it’s even harder to keep it off. Many people achieve short-term weight-loss only to return to their previous lifestyle choices – and their previous weight – over time. This can lead to yo-yoing between weight loss and weight gain. One of the problems is that weight-loss diets aren’t sustainable.… Read More

  • Health Check: Do We Really Need to Take 10,000 Steps a Day?

    Health Check: Do We Really Need to Take 10,000 Steps a Day?

    Regular walking produces many health benefits, including reducing our risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and depression. Best of all, it’s free, we can do it anywhere and, for most of us, it’s relatively easy to fit into our daily routines. We often hear 10,000 as the golden number of steps to strive for… Read More

  • CRISPR Gene Editing: Why We Need Slow Science

    CRISPR Gene Editing: Why We Need Slow Science

    In a newly published article in Nature, a group of prominent scientists and ethicists have called for a moratorium on clinical research using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing. This moratorium deals with the use of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing of the germline — changing heritable DNA in sperm, eggs or embryos to make genetically modified children. In other… Read More

  • Gene Drive Technology Makes Mouse Offspring Inherit Specific Traits From Parents

    Gene Drive Technology Makes Mouse Offspring Inherit Specific Traits From Parents

    As mouse geneticists, we spend a lot of time waiting for mice to make more mice. Their small size, ease of care and willingness to mate have made mice the “mammal of choice” for scientists for more than a century. Indeed, these wriggly fur balls that strike fear in the hearts of some are owed… Read More

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