The Conversation

Why a presidential term limit got written into the Constitution – the story of the 22nd Amendment

Written by Mark Satta, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Law, Wayne State University

No president other than Franklin D. Roosevelt has held office for more than two terms. Walter Leporati/Getty Images

Only one person, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, has ever served more than two terms as president of the United States. This is for two reasons.

First, prior to Roosevelt’s election to a third term in 1940 there was a longstanding...

America the secular? What a changing religious landscape means for US politics

Written by David Campbell, Packey J. Dee Professor of American Democracy, University of Notre Dame

Conventional wisdom about nonreligious Americans' voting misses some important distinctions.Sarah Rice/Getty Images

After climbing for decades, the percentage of Americans with no religion has leveled off. For the past few years, the share of adults who identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” has stood at about 29%,...

Land reparations are possible − and over 225 US communities are already working to make amends for slavery and colonization

Written by Sara Safransky, Associate Professor, Department of Human and Organizational Development, Vanderbilt University

Ever since the United States government’s unfulfilled promise of giving every newly freed Black American “40 acres and a mule” after the Civil War, descendants of the enslaved have repeatedly proposed the idea of redistributing land to redress the nation’s legacies of slavery.

Land-based reparations are also a form of redres...

Planned blackouts are becoming more common − and not having cash on hand could cost you

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Associate Professor Questrom School of Business, Boston University

Are you prepared for when the power goes out? To prevent massive wildfires in drought-prone, high-wind areas, electrical companies have begun preemptively shutting off electricity. These planned shutdowns are called public safety power shutoffs, abbreviated to PSPS, and they’re increasingly common. So far this year, we’ve seen them in T...

GOP lawmakers eye SNAP cuts, which would scale back benefits that help low-income people buy food at a time of high food prices

Written by Tracy Roof, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Richmond

A shopper who gets SNAP benefits shops for groceries at a supermarket in Bellflower, Calif., on Feb. 13, 2023.AP Photo/Allison Dinner

Congress may soon consider whether to cut spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the main way the government helps low-income Americans put food on the table. The Conversation U.S. asked Tracy Roof...

US earthquake safety relies on federal employees’ expertise

Written by Jonathan P. Stewart, Professor of Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles

The 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake near San Francisco in 1989 caused about $6.8 billion in damage and 63 deaths.J.K. Nakata/U.S. Geological Survey

Earthquakes and the damage they cause are apolitical. Collectively, we either prepare for future earthquakes or the population eventually pays the price. The earthquakes that struck Myanmar on...

Stone tool discovery in China shows people in East Asia were innovating during the Middle Paleolithic, like in Europe and Middle East

Written by Ben Marwick, Professor of Archaeology, University of Washington

The artifacts found at Longtan, southwest China, were as old as 60,000 years.Qijun Ruan

New technologies today often involve electronic devices that are smaller and smarter than before. During the Middle Paleolithic, when Neanderthals were modern humans’ neighbors, new technologies meant something quite different: new kinds of stone tools...

Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans to El Salvador sparks legal questions likely to reach the Supreme Court

Written by Jennifer Selin, Associate Professor of Law, Arizona State University

Prisoners stand in a cell as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

A federal appeals court on March 26, 2025, upheld a temporary block on President Donald Trump’s deportation of hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants,...

Doctor shortages have hobbled health care for decades − and the trend could be worsening

Written by Rochelle Walensky, Bayer Fellow in Health and Biotech, American Academy in Berlin, Senior Fellow in the Women and Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School

Specialists across numerous fields of medicine are in short supply. sudok1/iStock via Getty Images

Americans are increasingly waiting weeks or even months to get an appointment to see a health care specialist.

This delay comes at a time when the population of aging adults is rising dramatically. By 2050, the number of adults over 85 is expected to...

Bird flu could be on the cusp of transmitting between humans − but there are ways to slow down viral evolution

Written by Ron Barrett, Professor of Anthropology, Macalester College

Workers who are in frequent contact with potentially sick animals are at high risk of bird flu infection.Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Disease forecasts are like weather forecasts: We cannot predict the finer details of a particular outbreak or a particular storm, but we can often identify when these threats are emerging and prepare...