The Conversation

NASA's TESS spacecraft is finding hundreds of exoplanets – and is poised to find thousands more

Written by Daniel Apai, Associate Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona

This artist's impression shows a view of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the solar system. NASA/ESO/M. Kornmesser

Within just 50 light-years from Earth, there are about 1,560 stars, likely orbited by several thousand planets. About a thousand of these extrasolar planets – known as...

Does the Civil Rights Act protect LGBT workers? The Supreme Court is about to decide

Written by Julie Manning Magid, Professor of Business Law, Indiana University

The complicated history of the Civil Rights Act in the U.S. is about to get even more so.

In 1964, the act – specifically, Title VII of the act – made it illegal for employers to discriminate based on race, religion and sex, among other things.

In October 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court heard three cases that raise the question whether the...

Why Joe Biden was denied communion at a church

Written by Bruce T. Morrill, Edward A. Malloy Chair of Catholic Studies, Professor of Theological Studies, Vanderbilt University

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks at a town hall in Florence, South Carolina. He was denied communion by a priest in South Carolina.Sarah Blake Morgan

Former Vice President Joseph Biden, who is a Roman Catholic, recently stopped on the campaign trail to attend Sunday Mass at a church in Florence, South Carolina. But the pastor,...

California is living America's dystopian future

Written by Stephanie LeMenager, Professor of English Literature, University of Oregon

The Maria Fire billows above Santa Paula, California on Oct. 31.AP/Noah Berger

The Golden State is on fire, which means that an idea of American utopia is on fire, too.

Utopias are the good places of our imagination, while dystopias are the places where everything goes terribly wrong, where evil triumphs and nature destroys her own. Frequently...

Homicide is declining around the world – but why?

Written by Mateus Renno Santos, Assistant Professor of Criminology, University of South Florida

Homicide has gradually declined over three decades.simon jhuan/Shutterstock.com

Americans are currently living in one of the lowest crime periods ever – and so are many people in the rest of the world.

Following decades of increasing crime during the 1960s, ‘70s and '80s, U.S. homicide rates declined by almost 40% throughout the 1990s,...

3 reasons Midwest farmers hurt by the U.S.-China trade war still support Trump

Written by Wendong Zhang, Assistant Professor of Economics, Iowa State University

It's harvest time.AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

America’s farmers have borne the brunt of China’s retaliation in the trade war that President Donald Trump launched in 2018.

One reason: China is the biggest buyer of many U.S. agricultural products, such as soybeans, grain sorghum, cotton and cattle hides, which made these products an obvious...

As the coal industry shrinks, miners deserve a just transition – here's what it should include

Written by Ann Eisenberg, Assistant Professor of Law, University of South Carolina

Coal miners return on a buggy after working a shift underground at the Perkins Branch Coal Mine in Cumberland, Oct. 15, 2014.AP Photo/David Goldman

Murray Energy, one of the biggest private U.S. coal companies, has become the fifth coal company to file for bankruptcy in 2019. Union leaders and many elected officials worry that in addition to the...

World Vision tinkers with its 70-year-old child sponsorship model

Written by David King, Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies, IUPUI

With offices in nearly 100 countries, a US$2.75 billion annual budget, and about 40,000 employees, World Vision is among the largest Christian humanitarian agencies on Earth.

One fundraising method helped make World Vision one of the biggest nonprofits: persuading millions of people to donate around $40 a month to “sponsor” specific...

Curious Kids: Why do feet stink by the end of the day?

Written by Bill Sullivan, Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Indiana University

Keep those stinkers away!leungchopan/Shutterstock.com

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.

Why do feet stink by the end of the day? – Helen E., age 6, Somerville, Massachusetts

When I was a kid, our family would end the day...

Mississippi governor's race taking place under Jim Crow-era rules after judge refuses to block them

Written by Gideon Cohn-Postar, Graduate Student in History, Northwestern University

A lawsuit alleges that the way Mississippi will elect its governor on Tuesday is racist.AP/Rogelio V. Solis

A federal judge ruled on Nov. 1 that he would not stop Mississippi voters from electing a governor on Tuesday under an old, Jim Crow-era election law that a civil rights lawsuit argues perpetuates “white supremacy” and violates...