Author: TheConversation

By Melissa Wdowik, Assistant Professor of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Colorado State University “Of all the parasites that affect humanity I do not know of, nor can I imagine, any more distressing than that of Obesity.” So started William Banting’s “Letter on Corpulence,” likely the first diet book ever published. Banting, an overweight undertaker, published the book in 1864 to espouse his success after replacing an excessive intake of bread, sugar and potatoes with mostly meat, fish and vegetables. Since then, fad diets have appeared in many forms. To what length will people go to achieve their desired...

By Michael Devlin, Associate Professor of Communication, Texas State University; and Natalie Brown Devlin, Assistant Professor of Advertising, University of Texas at Austin During Donald Trump’s presidency, the American electorate became more divided and partisan, with research suggesting that the ongoing division is less about policy and more about labels like “conservative” and “liberal.” Essentially, voters increasingly see themselves in one of two camps – a “red team” and “blue team,” each with a faction of hard-core members. The dangerous extent of this devotion was on display when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, convinced that...

By Paul Ringel, Associate Professor of U.S. History, High Point University In the early hours of February 10, 1971, police surrounded a property in High Point, North Carolina, where members of the Black Panther Party lived and worked. In the ensuing shootout, a Panther and a police officer were both wounded. The incident did not receive much national attention at the time – armed conflict of this type was relatively common during the late 1960s and early 1970s. But 50 years on, as the U.S. reckons with a year that saw militarized police confront Black Lives Matter protesters and...

By Alasdair S. Roberts, Director, School of Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst For many people, the lesson from the assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 – and more broadly from the experience of the last four years – is that American democracy has become newly and dangerously fragile. In fact, American democracy has always been fragile. And it might be more precise to diagnose the United States as a fragile union rather than a fragile democracy. As President Joe Biden said in his inaugural address, national unity is “that most elusive of things.” Certainly, faith...

By Gerard Magliocca, Professor of Law, Indiana University Until recently, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was an obscure part of the U.S. Constitution. The amendment is better known for its first section, which guaranteed individual rights and equality following the abolition of slavery. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was created to tackle a different problem related to the Civil War: insurrection. It prohibits current or former military officers, along with many current and former federal and state public officials, from serving in a variety of government offices if they “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against...