Category: Academic Reportage

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Tom Langen, Professor of Biology, Clarkson University Sandhill cranes can be spotted in many states, but in the 1930s their populations had crashed to a few dozen breeding pairs in the eastern U.S. Rsocol/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY When I started bird-watching as a teenager, a…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sonja Fritzsche, Senior Associate Dean and Professor of German Studies, Michigan State University Twentieth-century futurists celebrated flight, communications and manufacturing. Today, they’re inspired by space, AI and biotechnology. Davide Mauro/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA In “The Singularity is Nearer: When We Merge with AI,” the futurist Ray Kurzweil…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Michael Hales, Associate Professor of Health Promotion and Physical Education, Kennesaw State University Muscle cramps have felled many an athlete on game day. Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images For athletes across all sports, few experiences are as agonizing as being forced to leave competition with a…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA (2) – By Jeremy J. Michalek, Professor of Engineering & Public Policy, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University When Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, it was the largest climate bill in U.S. history, with major incentives for electric vehicle production and adoption. In its…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Sara Nabil, Assistant Professor of Human-Centered Computing, Queen’s University, Ontario Imagine adjusting the temperature of the air conditioning or skipping a song in your car, not by fiddling with a screen or voice command, but simply by swiping your hand across the fabric of your seatbelt.…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Chris Johnson, Professor of Wildlife and Conservation Ecology, University of Northern British Columbia Focused conservation efforts are essential for the protection and recovery of many species at risk, such as the monarch butterfly. (Chris Johnson), CC BY Through the federal Building Canada Act, “projects of national…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – USA – By Claire B. Wofford, Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Charleston The firing of Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook isn’t just about Lisa Cook − it’s about presidential power. DNY59/Getty Images President Donald Trump’s penchant to act first, ask later was on full display recently…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Isabelle Dostaler, Vice-rectrice aux études et à la recherche, Université de l’Ontario français The recent labour dispute between Air Canada and its flight attendants pulled back the curtain on one of the airline industry’s longest-standing injustices: flight attendants are paid only when planes are in motion,…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – France – By Stéphane Sirot, Professeur d’histoire politique et sociale du XXème siècle, CY Cergy Paris Université The “bloquons tout” (“block everything”) movement has called for a nationwide shutdown on September 10 to protest the French government’s policies, and Jean-Luc Mélénchon, the leader of the hard-left France Unbowed party, is…

Source: ForeignAffairs4 Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By John Mukum Mbaku, Professor, Weber State University In April 2011, Ethiopia began construction of Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), on the Blue Nile river. The dam is expected to generate more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity, effectively transforming Ethiopia into…