The Conversation

Supreme Court considers whether states may prevent people covered by Medicaid from choosing Planned Parenthood as their health care provider

Written by Naomi Cahn, Professor of Law, University of Virginia

Planned Parenthood clinics, like this one in Los Angeles, are located across the United States.Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Having the freedom to choose your own health care provider is something many Americans take for granted. But the Supreme Court is weighing whether people who rely on Medicaid for their health insurance have that...

Chinese barges and Taiwan Strait drills are about global power projection − not just a potential invasion

Written by Colin Flint, Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Utah State University

A Mulberry Harbour for the 21st century.Image from video posted on Weibo via Chinese state media.

Is China intent on a D-Day style invasion of Taiwan?

Certainly that has been the tone of some of the reporting following the emergence of photos and videos depicting massive new Chinese barges designed for land-to-sea military operations. The fact that...

Feeling FOMO for something that’s not even fun? It’s not the event you’re missing, it’s the bonding

Written by Jacqueline Rifkin, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Cornell University

They had so much fun without me.Milko/E+ via Getty Images

Imagine you’ve planned the trip of a lifetime for your animal-loving family: a cruise to Antarctica with the unique opportunity to view penguins, whales and other rare wildlife. Your adventure-loving kids can kayak through fjords, plunge into icy water and camp under the Antarctic sky.

B...

23andMe is potentially selling more than just genetic data – the personal survey info it collected is just as much a privacy problem

Written by Kayte Spector-Bagdady, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Michigan

For companies like 23andMe, consumers are as much the product as the DNA test kits.Veronika Oliinyk/iStock via Getty Images Plus

As soon as the genetic testing company 23andMe filed for bankruptcy on March 23, 2025, concerns about what would happen to the personal information contained in its massive genetic and health information database were...

Research shows that a majority of Christian religious leaders accept the reality of climate change but have never mentioned it to their congregations

Written by Stylianos Syropoulos, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Arizona State University

A multi-faith assembly of religious leaders and lay people in Manhattan in 2023 protest investments in fossil fuel.Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

Nearly 90% of U.S. Christian religious leaders believe humans are driving climate change. When churchgoers learn how widespread this belief is, they report taking steps to reduce its effects,...

The never-ending sentence: How parole and probation fuel mass incarceration

Written by Lucius Couloute, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Trinity College

The U.S. operates one of the largest and most punitive criminal justice systems in the world. On any given day, 1.9 million people are incarcerated in more than 6,000 federal, state and local facilities. Another 3.7 million remain under what scholars call “correctional control” through probation or parole supervision.

That means one...

In Israel, calls for genocide have migrated from the margins to the mainstream

Written by Tamir Sorek, Liberal Arts Professor of Middle East History, Penn State

A Palestinian woman cries while sitting on the rubble of her home, which was destroyed in an Israeli strike on March 18, 2025.Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images

Thirty years ago in Israel, advocating for genocide could land you in prison.

In April 1994, an Israeli rabbi named Ido Alba published an article that read, in part, “In war, as long as...

With its executive order targeting the Smithsonian, the Trump administration opens up a new front in the history wars

Written by Jennifer Tucker, Professor of History, Wesleyan University

A portrait of President Donald Trump in the 'America’s Presidents' exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery.Win McNamee/Getty Images

I teach history in Connecticut, but I grew up in Oklahoma and Kansas, where my interest in the subject was sparked by visits to local museums.

I fondly remember trips to the Fellow-Ree...

Christian Zionism hasn’t always been a conservative evangelical creed – churches’ views of Israel have evolved over decades

Written by Shalom Goldman, Professor of Religion, Middlebury

Participants in a 'United for Israel' march, led by The Pursuit NW Christian Church, stand on the University of Washington's campus in May 2024.Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images

During confirmation hearings, Mike Huckabee, President Donald Trump’s nominee as ambassador to Israel, told senators that he would “respect and represent the...

Schools and communities can help children bounce back after distressing disasters like the LA wildfires

Written by Rita V. Burke, Associate Professor of Clinical Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California

The 2025 Los Angeles wildfires reduced more than 15,000 structures to ash in a matter of days. Among the devastation were 11 public and private schools and 30 child care facilities. In all, the fires disrupted the education and daily lives of over 700,000 students.

The fires first erupted on Jan. 7, 2025, in the Pacific Palisades, a small enclave...