The Conversation

French outrage over US submarine deal will not sink a longstanding alliance

Written by Hervé-Thomas Campangne, Professor of French Studies, University of Maryland

French President Emmanuel Macron talks to U.S. President Joe Biden at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels on June 14, 2021.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

France’s recent recall of its ambassador to the United States was an exceptional move in the long history of France-U.S. relations, which began...

Death penalty can express society's outrage – but biases often taint the verdict

Written by Amelia Wirts, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Washington

In 2013, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, with his brother Tamerlan, put bombs along the Boston Marathon route, killing and injuring many. Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

In its hearing on Oct. 13, 2021, the Supreme Court appeared to favor reinstating the death sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was found guilty of planting homemade bombs, with...

Tsarnaev Supreme Court appeal: Do unbiased jurors exist in an age of social media?

Written by Thaddeus Hoffmeister, Law Professor, University of Dayton

Is it possible to have a jury whose members are unbiased?Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument on Oct. 13, 2021, in the case of Dzokhar Tsarnaev, the lone surviving Boston Marathon bomber. While much of the news coverage has focused on whether the court will uphold the death penalty for Tsarnaev, the case also...

Scandal involving World Bank's 'Doing Business' index exposes problems in using sportslike rankings to guide development goals

Written by Fernanda G Nicola, Professor of Law, American University

The World Bank's ease of doing business index incentives countries to do whatever they can to improve their ranking. Jongho Shin/iStock via Getty Images

The World Bank, a behemoth of an organization that provides tens of billions of dollars in aid to mostly developing countries, is in the middle of one of its biggest scandals since being founded in...

What happens to your life stories if you delete your Facebook account?

Written by Michael Humphrey, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Communication, Colorado State University

How much of your life is archived on Facebook?Arthur Poulin/Unsplash

If the latest deluge of Facebook controversies has you ready to kick the app to the digital curb, you are not alone. There are plenty of good guides out there on how to do it right. Even Facebook makes it pretty easy to understand the nuances of saying “see ya later”...

How many lives have coronavirus vaccines saved? We used state data on deaths and vaccination rates to find out

Written by Sumedha Gupta, Associate Professor of Economics, IUPUI

Clinical trials demonstrate how effective vaccines are individually, but the real world shows how effective they are at a population level.AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, Pool

CC BY-ND

More than 200 million U.S. residents have gotten at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine with the expectation that the vaccines slow virus transmission and save lives.

Researc...

Steve Bannon faces criminal charges over Jan. 6 panel snub, setting up a showdown over executive privilege

Written by Kirsten Carlson, Associate Professor of Law and Adjunct Associate Professor of Political Science, Wayne State University

Defiant or following Trump's direction?John Lamparski/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is tasked with providing as full an account as possible of the attempted insurrection. But there is a problem: Not everyone is cooperating.

As of Oct. 14, 2021, Steve Bannon, a one-time aide to...

People use mental shortcuts to make difficult decisions – even highly trained doctors delivering babies

Written by Manasvini Singh, Assistant Professor of Health Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst

The situation in the delivery room can change suddenly, and doctors need to react fast.naphtalina/E+ via Getty Images

Being a physician is a difficult job. They must make complex, high-stakes decisions under severe pressure, with limited information about the patient, the disease and the treatment, while juggling personal and hospital priorities...

Ivermectin is a Nobel Prize-winning wonder drug – but not for COVID-19

Written by Jeffrey R. Aeschlimann, Associate Professor of Pharmacy, University of Connecticut

While ivermectin was originally used to treat river blindness, it has also been repurposed to treat other human parasitic infections.ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty Images

Ivermectin is an over 30-year-old wonder drug that treats life- and sight-threatening parasitic infections. Its lasting influence on global health has been so profound that two of...

Workers feel most valued when their managers trust them

Written by Jesus Arias, Doctoral Student in Business Administration (D.B.A.), Florida International University

A matter of trust. Delmaine Donson/E+ via Getty Images

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

Professional workers are more likely to value their own work and feel it contributes to their team’s success when their managers show they trust them, according to a study I recently completed as a part of my...