The Conversation

Living near active oil and gas wells in California tied to low birth weight and smaller babies

Written by Rachel Morello-Frosch, Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management & School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley

A pump jack in the town of Signal Hill, California, which sits within the Long Beach Oil Field near the Port of Long Beach. Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

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

The big idea

In a California study, we found that pregnant women living near active high-production oil and gas wells...

Land loss has plagued black America since emancipation – is it time to look again at 'black commons' and collective ownership?

Written by Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University

Former slaves harvesting for their own profit.Corbis via Getty Images

Underlying the recent unrest sweeping U.S. cities over police brutality is a fundamental inequity in wealth, land and power that has circumscribed black lives since the end of slavery in the U.S.

The “40 acres and a mule” promised to formerly enslaved Africans never...

5 reasons police officers should have college degrees

Written by Leana Bouffard, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, Iowa State University

Does college hold the answer to police violence?Pacific Press/Getty Images

Following several deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order on June 16 that calls for increased training and credentialing to reduce the use of excessive force by police.

The order did not mention the need for...

The Supreme Court decision to grant protections to LGBT workers is an important expansion of the Civil Rights Act

Written by Julie Manning Magid, Professor of Business Law, IUPUI

A man waves a rainbow flag as he rides by the Supreme Court on June 15, 2020.JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

No federal law barring discrimination against LGBT workers in hiring, promoting and firing existed in this country until this week.

Although some may have believed LGBT individuals were protected from discrimination following the Supreme...

Conservation could create jobs post-pandemic

Written by Heidi Peltier, Research Professor in Political Science; Faculty Research Fellow at the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University

People have been rediscovering nature during the pandemic, but it's not just good for public heath. Conservation also creates jobs.Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order making it easier for pipeline projects and other oil and gas development to progress, claiming environmental regulations cause...

What is the 'zero gravity' that people experience in the vomit comet or space flight?

Written by Steven Collicott, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University

People in a special airplane flight get to float like there is no gravity – just like astronautsSteven Collicott

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.

In the zero-gravity airplanes or vomit comet, why does stuff behave like...

Here's why some people are willing to challenge bullying, corruption and bad behavior, even at personal risk

Written by Catherine A. Sanderson, Poler Family Professor and Chair of Psychology, Amherst College

Certain characteristics mean moral rebels are willing to not go with the flow.Francesco Carta fotografo/Moment via Getty Images

Utah Senator Mitt Romney voted in February to convict President Donald Trump on the charge of abuse of power, becoming the first senator ever to vote against his own party’s president in an impeachment trial.

Two...

Tracing homophobia in South Korea's coronavirus surveillance program

Written by Timothy Gitzen, Postdoctoral Fellow, Society of Fellows in the Humanities, University of Hong Kong

Korean health workers offer coronavirus testing in the Itaewon nightlife district of Seoul.Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images

Many people around the world have looked to South Korea’s so-called “democratic” response to the coronavirus pandemic as a template for other nations to follow. That response is often contrasted with...

Rural America is more vulnerable to COVID-19 than cities are, and it's starting to show

Written by David J. Peters, Associate Professor of Rural Sociology, Iowa State University

Workers wait to enter a Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Logansport, Indiana. The plant had been closed after nearly 900 employees tested positive for the coronavirus.AP Photo/Michael Conroy

Rural areas seemed immune as the coronavirus spread through cities earlier this year. Few rural cases were reported, and attention focused on the surge of i...

Dead white men get their say in court as Virginia tries to remove Robert E. Lee statues

Written by Allison Anna Tait, Professor of Law, University of Richmond

Richmond's towering Robert E. Lee statue is transformed by protests following the killing of George Floyd. Is removal next?John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The latest chapter in the United States’ ongoing debate about Confederate monuments involves some unexpected opinions: those of long-dead land donors.

Responding to sustai...