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Features October 26, 2016
Zero-Knowledge Proof: Verification Without Information
Alexander Glaser, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and international affairs has a game for you to play. Imagine your friend Alice claims to have the secret recipe for a popular soda drink and wants to sell it to you. Being cautious, she doesn’t want to surrender the recipe before you have paid for it; and you have no intention of handing over the cash before making sure that Alice actually knows the secret. What do you do?Let’s assume we can reformulate this dilemma as a “Coke-vs-Pepsi” test, where Alice proves that she can in fact tell the difference between both drinks when you may not even believe there is a difference…
Features October 25, 2016
Politics & Polls #17: Art & Politics Featuring Robert Schenkkan
Who knew that the discharge petition—signed by members of the House of Representatives to bring a bill from committee to the floor—could be good material for a Tony Award-winning play and HBO feature film?In this episode, Professors Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang interview Robert Schenkkan whose play “All the Way” about Lyndon B. Johnson has been brought from the stage to the screen. “All the Way” is a play and film depicting LBJ’s efforts to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and his re-election victory against Republican candidate Barry Goldwater. Schenkkan is an American screenwriter, actor and playwright. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in…
Features October 20, 2016
WWS Reacts: Inside the Presidential Debates
Wednesday's face-off between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump marked the third and final presidential debate of the 2016 campaign. Those debates, which gave tens of millions of Americans the opportunity to see the top two candidates discuss key campaign topics, were organized and conducted by the independent, nonprofit Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Shirley M. Tilghman, president of the University, emeritus, and professor of molecular biology and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, is a member of the CPD, which also organized this year's vice-presidential debate. She answered…
Features October 20, 2016
Politics & Polls #16: Voter 'Fraud' & 'Rigged' Elections
Donald Trump has made it clear that if he loses on Nov. 8, it is because the election was “rigged.” He has warned that there might be widespread voter fraud that will favor Democrats. But does this threat have any basis in reality? Or is the real threat new voter identification laws that have the potential to disenfranchise significant portions of the population? And why, after a century of working to expand the right to vote, have we seen the restrictions put into place? Julian Zelizer discusses these questions and more in episode 16 of Politics & Polls with special guest Ari Berman, senior contributing writer for The Nation magazine. A fellow at…
Features October 19, 2016
WWS Reacts: The Battle for Mosul
Iraqi forces and their allies are battling to reclaim Mosul, which has been the de facto capital of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) since its capture in mid-2014. ISIS militants are responding to the offensive with heavy gunfire, car bombs and booby-trapped roads, among other tactics. Thousands have fled the city, which once had a population of 2.5 million. Experts say a successful takeover could take up to two months. What should we expect between now and then? And how powerful are the ISIS militants? Jacob N. Shapiro, professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and…
Features October 14, 2016
Why Private Health Insurers Are Losing Money on the Affordable Care Act
The choice of young people to forgo health insurance combined with the high cost of providing care for the sickest Americans are together generating big losses for insurers participating in the Affordable Care Act’s state insurance marketplaces.Aetna, one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies, announced in August that it would no longer participate in exchanges, citing a $200 million loss. Now, Aetna’s premiums are expected to go up by 25 percent in 2017, so the company can attempt to make up for the loss. Other insurers are also withdrawing from the marketplaces and raising rates, some up to 20 percent.It turns out that some private…
Features October 13, 2016
Politics & Polls #15: Down Ticket: House & Senate Races
While it may be hard to look away from the steel cage match between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it’s time to start looking "down ticket,” as congressional races could be one of the biggest stories in the 2016 election.What happens in the House and Senate races will ultimately shape and influence the next presidency. And many questions remain: What will the Trump effect be on congressional races? What impact will this have in the Senate? Is there any possibility that the House, currently with a large Republican majority, could swing to the Democrats? And will the Freedom Caucus expand or contract in size, and what challenges will this pose House…
Features October 10, 2016
American Workers Prefer Set Work Schedules, But Would Take Wage Cuts to Work from Home
Affordable child care and flexible work schedules have all been topics of debates in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.Yet, according to a new study by Princeton University and Harvard University, the average American worker is indifferent to flexible work schedules and instead prefers a set 40-hour workweek.It comes down to pay: Most workers, men and women, aren’t willing to take even a small pay cut to set their own schedules. However, if given the option to work from home, many workers — especially women — would take an 8 percent wage cut to do so.The findings, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), also show that workers…
Features October 06, 2016
Politics & Polls #14: The Fight to Vote
Despite this year’s tense presidential debates, fierce political battles and polarized atmosphere, it still comes down to one simple act: marking your ballot. While it takes mere seconds, voting remains at the heart of our democracy.But voting wasn’t always so easy. The issue of voting rights in America has been long debated and has changed dramatically since the country was founded. From then until now, Americans have fought for the right to vote, while many tried to stop them.In episode 14, professors Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang interview Michael Waldman, author of “The Fight to Vote,” a book chronicling the long struggle to win voting rights for…
Features September 29, 2016
Politics & Polls #13: The Alt-Right
A previously unknown subculture has emerged onto the political scene thanks to the 2016 presidential election. The alternative right, known as the “alt-right,” is a diverse group of people who identify as right-wing and are unified in opposition against mainstream American conservatism.The movement — which has gained attention through their support of Donald Trump’s campaign — has been associated with white nationalism, white supremacism and right-wing populism and other fringe groups. But who exactly comprises the alt-right? Where did the group first originate? Is this a new phenomenon? And have we seen glimpses of such a movement throughout history…
Features September 22, 2016
Politics & Polls #12: All About Debates
The presidential election is at a crossroads as the race is beginning to tighten between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Now, we’re entering a season of debates, with the first one kicking off Monday, Sept. 26, at 9 p.m. from Hofstra University in New York.Some predict this first debate could be the most-viewed in our history. But how might these debates influence voters? What impact will the debates have when the polls suggest that the race has really tightened in many of the battleground states? Will they have the capacity to remake the race? And, more broadly, what role have debates played throughout history? Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang discuss…
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Features September 21, 2016
PPPL and Princeton Demonstrate a Novel Physical Technique that may have Applicability to Future Nuclear Disarmament Agreements
A system that can compare physical objects while potentially protecting sensitive information about the objects themselves has been demonstrated experimentally at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). This work, by researchers at Princeton University and PPPL, marks an initial confirmation of the application of a powerful cryptographic technique in the physical world. "This is the first experimental demonstration of a physical zero-knowledge proof," said Sébastien Philippe, a graduate student in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton and lead author of the paper. "We have translated a major method…
Features September 20, 2016
Hernández Rivera Takes Action for Immigrants in NYC
In 2005, Maribel Hernández Rivera MPA/JD ’10 was a first-year master’s student at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and spent much of her time outside the classroom organizing rallies and encouraging her peers to advocate for immigration reform. Carrying this passion and dedication into her professional career, Hernández Rivera became the first executive director of legal initiatives at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. Beginning her role in April 2015, Hernández Rivera was instrumental to the design of ActionNYC, a program she now oversees as executive director under the leadership…
Features September 15, 2016
Politics & Polls #11: Gender & Politics
Hillary Clinton was sidelined by walking pneumonia this week, lighting up the internet with speculations and rumors about her health. Stories like these shine a spotlight on one of the biggest issues in the campaign: the role of gender in politics.Since Clinton was named nominee of the Democratic Party, commentators have been taking a hard look at the way gender impacts the political process. Yet, when it comes to gender, it is rarely a clear-cut or easy discussion.Working to disentangle the role of gender in politics is award-winning journalist Rebecca Traister, the best-selling author of “All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an…
Features September 08, 2016
Politics & Polls #10: Race & Party Politics
In one of the most powerful transformations in the history of American politics, African Americans shifted loyalties to the Democratic Party while Republicans became the party of racial conservatism.How and why did this happen? Did certain moments in history cause this bipartisan ‘racial realignment?’ How has this realignment led to the political polarization of 2016?In episode 10 of Politics and Polls, professors Julian Zelizer and Sam Wang interview Eric Schickler, a political scientist at University of California, Berkeley, about his new book, “Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932-1965” (Princeton University Press)…