Author: TheConversation

By Mack Clayton Shelley, II University Professor of Political Science, Statistics, and School of Education, and Chair of the Department of Political Science, Iowa State University Politicians use and abuse statistics and fabricate when it suits their purposes. Contemporary examples of either deliberate or inadvertent misuse of data are easy to find on all sides of the political divide. The notion of politically related lying with numbers has been around a long time, back at least to Mark Twain in a 1906 book in which he attributed the phrase “lies, damn lies and statistics” to British Prime Minister Benjamin...

By Arash Javanbakht, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University Mass shootings seem to have become a sad new normal in the American life. They happen too often, and in very unexpected places. Concerts, movie theaters, places of worship, workplaces, schools, bars and restaurants are no longer secure from gun violence. Often, and especially when a person who is not a minority or Muslim perpetrates a mass shooting, mental health is raised as a real concern – or, critics say, a diversion from the real issue of easy access to firearms. Less is discussed, however, about the stress of...

By John Rennie Short, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County As cities like Milwaukee strive to improve the quality of life for residents, many are working to promote walking and biking. Such policies make sense since they can, in the long run, lead to less traffic, cleaner air and healthier people. But the results are not all positive, especially in the short to medium term. In Washington D.C., for example, traffic fatalities as a whole declined in 2018 compared to the year before, but the number of pedestrian and bicyclist deaths increased by 20 percent....

By Yolonda Wilson, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Howard University It is well documented that African-Americans experience excess mortality, or deaths beyond the expected mortality rate. However, even if disparities in the mortality rate for African-Americans were rectified tomorrow, the fact remains that we will all eventually die. And how we die matters. Gaps while living, gaps while dying According to a 2013 Pew Research survey, 72 percent of American adults have given at least some thought to their end of life wishes, with 37 percent of American adults having given their end of life wishes a “great deal of...

By Joshua P. Darr, Assistant Professor of Political Communication, Louisiana State University It seems impossible to ignore national politics today. The stream of stories about the president and Congress is endless. Whether online, in print or on television, it has never been easier to follow the action. National news outlets are adapting well to this environment: The New York Times and Wall Street Journal made big gains in digital subscribers in 2016 and 2017, CNN had their most-watched year ever in 2018 and The New York Times added 120 new newsroom staffers this year. Local newspapers are not doing...

By Anne Lusk, Research Scientist, Harvard University Designing for bikes has become a hallmark of forward-looking modern cities worldwide. Bike-friendly city ratings abound, and advocates promote cycling as a way to reduce problems ranging from air pollution to traffic deaths. But urban cycling investments tend to focus on the needs of wealthy riders and neglect lower-income residents and people of color. This happens even though the majority of Americans who bike to work live in households that earn less than US$10,000 yearly, and studies in lower-income neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Boston have found that the majority of bicyclists were...