Author: TheConversation

By Gabriel Filippelli, Professor of Earth Sciences and Director of the Center for Urban Health, IUPUI; and Joseph D. Ortiz, Professor and Assistant Chair of Geology, Kent State University “Do Not Drink/Do Not Boil” is not what anyone wants to hear about their city’s tap water. But the combined effects of climate change and degraded water quality could make such warnings more frequent across the Great Lakes region. A preview occurred on July 31, 2014, when a nasty green slime – properly known as a harmful algal bloom, or HAB – developed in the western basin of Lake Erie....

By Mark Satta, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Wayne State University Seventy-five years ago, in August 1946, George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” was published in the United States. It was a huge success, with over a half-million copies sold in its first year. “Animal Farm” was followed three years later by an even bigger success: Orwell’s dystopian novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four.” In the years since, Orwell’s writing has left an indelible mark on American thought and culture. Sales of “Animal Farm” and “Nineteen Eighty-Four” jumped in 2013 after the whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked confidential National Security Agency documents. And “Nineteen Eighty-Four” rose...

By Bennett Parten, Ph.D. Candidate in History, Yale University The battle over how we teach our country’s past is raging in a new round of History Wars. The United States is confronting the legacies of slavery as never before. This national reconsideration has been prompted by police killings of unarmed Black men and the “1619 Project,” published by “The New York Times,” which reexamines the history of slavery in the United States. Outcries from conservatives over legal scholarship known as critical race theory, the premise that racism is systemic in U.S institutions, have also added fuel to the national...

By Amitrajeet A. Batabyal, Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics, Rochester Institute of Technology China’s large and impressive accomplishments over the past four decades have spurred scholars and politicians to debate whether the decline of the West – including the United States – as the world’s dominant political and economic force is inevitable amid the seemingly inexorable rise of the East. The COVID-19 virus hit China first and hard, stalling its rapid economic growth for the first time since the Great Recession. But China’s economy grew by a blistering 18.3% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to 2020,...

By Sung-ae Lee, Lecturer, Asian Studies, Macquarie University Squid Game, an original Netflix drama produced in South Korea, is a streaming phenomenon. Released on 17 September, within two weeks the series has become the most watched Netflix title in 76 countries, including the United States, Australia, and South Korea. Across nine episodes, desperate people enmeshed in debt voluntarily participate in a sequence of six sadistic and lethal survival games. The prize for the winner is 46.5 billion won, or around USD $38.4 million. At the outset, the 456 participants are unaware there is a twist. There can only be...

By Sarah A. Son, Lecturer in Korean Studies, University of Sheffield Squid Game is anything but your typical, saccharine, soft-glow Korean television drama. In this biting commentary on life in South Korea today, viewers are presented with a twisting, technicolor story of violence, betrayal, and desperation. All of this is set around a series of macabre games in which players literally fight to the death. Despite its brutal content, the show has captivated audiences globally, becoming Netflix’s top show in at least 90 countries. The drama takes viewers on a high-suspense ride across nine episodes where a group of...