Ties between African countries and China are complex. Understanding this matters

Oct 16, 2018 15:04 pm UTC| Insights & Views

Yu-Shan Wu, Foreign policy researcher and doctoral candidate, University of the Witwatersrand The complex relationship between Africa and China has become even more complicated this year. Initially, 2018 was set to...

Restocking wolves on Isle Royale raises questions about which species get rescued

Oct 16, 2018 15:04 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Isle Royale is one of the most remote U.S. national parks. It stretches across one large island, its namesake, and more than 400 smaller ones in northwest Lake Superior. The parks main draws are wilderness and wildlife,...

Americans spend $70 billion on pets, and that money could do more good

Oct 16, 2018 15:03 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Sylar, the border collie, has his own mansion along with a trampoline and indoor pool. The dogs adorable features, along with his notable intelligence, earned his owners devotion along with many social media...

Taxing carbon may sound like a good idea but does it work?

Oct 16, 2018 15:03 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Exxon Mobil is backing a proposal to tax oil, gas and coal companies for the carbon they emit and redistribute the money raised that way to all Americans. Its also giving a group urging Washington to enact a tax on carbon...

Eating royal poop improves parenting in naked mole-rats

Oct 16, 2018 15:03 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Have you ever seen a picture of a mother dog caring for an unusual baby, like a kitten? This sort of animal adoption story is an example of a phenomenon known as alloparenting: care provided to offspring that are not...

More college students expected to vote in 2018 midterms

Oct 16, 2018 15:02 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics

In order to gain insight into the role that college students might play in the outcome of the 2018 midterm elections on Tuesday, Nov. 6, The Conversation reached out to Nancy Thomas, director of the Institute for Democracy...

Dispatches from the morgue: Toxicology tests don't tell the whole story of the opioid epidemic

Oct 16, 2018 15:02 pm UTC| Insights & Views Health

Drug overdoses killed more Tennesseans than ever last year, fentanyl deaths up 70 percent, a recent headline from my hometown newspaper, The Tennessean, proclaimed. Variations of this headline have become routine across...