The Conversation

Congress is waiting on the CBO for its Build Back Better report – but how did fiscal scorekeepers come to be so powerful in politics?

Written by Philip Rocco, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Marquette University

You know they're waiting, just anticipating ... for CBO figures they don't yet possess.Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

“How much will it cost?” This question, perhaps more than any other, bedevils Congress’ efforts to change public policy. And whatever problems a major piece of legislation might purport to...

Journalism in middle America got communities through the pandemic

Written by William Thomas Mari, Assistant Professor of Media law and Media History, Louisiana State University

Journalists and news organizations had to be resilient to serve their communities during the pandemic.Illustration E+/Getty Images

News of the pandemic’s devastating effect on journalism was conveyed by headlines across the nation telling of newsroom closures, layoffs and furloughs.

Journalism was in trouble in 2020. In fact, it had been in...

The concrete effects of body cameras on police accountability

Written by Suat Cubukcu, Professorial Lecturer, American University

Police officers wear body cameras in Oakland, California, on Dec. 4, 2014.Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images

Without video evidence, it’s unlikely we would have ever heard of George Floyd or witnessed the prosecution of his killer, a Minneapolis police officer.

The recording of Floyd’s killing echoed the documentation in the deaths of Michael...

How getting kids to make grocery lists and set the table can improve their vocabulary and willingness to learn

Written by Diana Leyva, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh

Children can help make grocery lists and confirm the parent has bought everything on the list. Antonio Diaz/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Reading, writing and math are often thought of as subjects that children learn in school. But as a psychologist who researches how families can help support learning at home, I have found that children can also learn...

Gun violence soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study finds – but the reasons why are complex

Written by Paddy Ssentongo, Assistant Research Professor of Neural Engineering, Penn State

Gun violence spiked in more than half of all U.S. states in the first 13 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

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In a new study, we found that the overall U.S. gun violence rate rose by 30% during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the year before. In 28 states, the rates were...

Infrastructure matters for wildlife too – here's how aging culverts are blocking Pacific salmon migration

Written by Ashlee Abrantes, Ph.D. Candidate in Environmental Science & Policy, University of Washington

A culvert in Seattle's Lake City neighborhood, rated 67% passable for salmon. Ashlee Abrantes, CC BY-ND

As the Biden administration prepares to make the biggest investment in U.S. infrastructure in more than a decade, there’s much discussion about how systems like roads, bridges and electric power grids affect people’s daily lives....

Companies are pushing sweetened drinks to children through advertising and misleading labels – and families are buying

Written by Fran Fleming-Milici, Director of Marketing Initiatives, Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health, University of Connecticut

There are dozens of options for children's drinks in most supermarkets. Choosing the healthy options is difficult. ferrantraite/E+ via Getty Images

Walking down the drink aisle at any grocery store will take you past hundreds of drinks, from sodas to sports drinks. Children’s drink sections are filled with a vast array of products as well....

Alex Jones loses Sandy Hook case, but important defamation issues remain unresolved

Written by Enrique Armijo, Professor of Law, Elon University

Alex Jones, who was sued by Sandy Hook parents for saying they were accomplices in their children's deaths.AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

A Connecticut judge has found Alex Jones, a well-known media personality, liable in the defamation claim brought against him by parents of 6- and 7-year-old children killed in the Sandy Hook massacre for falsely...

Got $1.2T to invest in roads and other infrastructure? Here's how to figure out how to spend it wisely

Written by Anna Nagurney, Eugene M. Isenberg Chair in Integrative Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst

A collapsed bridge in Atlanta in 2017 backed up traffic for a month.AP Photo/David Goldman

The American economy is underpinned by networks.

Road networks carry traffic and freight; the internet and telecommunications networks carry our voices and digital information; the electricity grid is a network carrying energy; financial networks transfer...

How hip-hop in the classroom is raising the volume of learning: 4 essential reads

Written by Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Education Editor, The Conversation

Hip-hop education helps students from all backgrounds learn. Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM via Getty Images

Scholars trace the origin of hip-hop to a “back to school jam” that DJ Kool Herc threw in an apartment in the South Bronx in 1973. Today the music genre is one of the most popular in the U.S.

In July 2021, Congress formally...