The Conversation

Protecting human heritage on the moon: Don't let 'one small step' become one giant mistake

Written by Michelle Hanlon, Professor of Air and Space Law, University of Mississippi

Neil Armstrong took this photograph of Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity on the moon.NASA

Why did the hominin cross the plain? We may never know. But anthropologists are pretty sure that a smattering of bare footprints preserved in volcanic ash in Laetoli, Tanzania bear witness to an evolutionary milestone. These small steps,...

How white became the color of suffrage

Written by Einav Rabinovitch-Fox, Visiting Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University

Female members of Congress wore white in a nod to suffragists during the State of the Union.AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

During President Donald Trump’s Feb. 5 State of the Union address, scores of Democratic congresswomen wore white to pay tribute to suffragists and their fight for women’s rights.

In the past, other politicians have done...

An editor and his newspaper helped build white supremacy in Georgia

Written by Kathy Roberts Forde, Associate Professor, Journalism Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Henry W. Grady coined the phrase the ‘New South.’C.W. Mates/Library of Congress

The press is an essential guardrail of democracy. As The Washington Post tells its readers, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

But the press has not always been a champion of democracy.

In the late 19th century, Henry W. Grady, one of the...

How far should organizations be able to go to defend against cyberattacks?

Written by Scott Shackelford, Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics; Director, Ostrom Workshop Program on Cybersecurity and Internet Governance; Cybersecurity Program Chair, IU-Bloomington, Indiana University

Who's really on the other side?Yakobchuk Viacheslav/Shutterstock.com

The deluge of cyberattacks sweeping across the world has governments and companies thinking about new ways to protect their digital systems, and the corporate and state secrets stored within. For a long time, cybersecurity experts have erected firewalls to keep out unwanted...

Adolescents have a fundamental need to contribute

Written by Andrew J. Fuligni, Professor of Psychiatry & Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles

Harnessing adolescents’ readiness to help can be good for them and their communities.YAKOBCHUK VIACHESLAV/Shutterstock.com

No longer children but not yet adults, adolescents need opportunities to learn and prepare for their entrance into the broader society. But, as schooling increasingly extends the adolescent period and teenagers get...

How slavery's lingering stain on the US Constitution spoils Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax proposal – for now

Written by Beverly Moran, Professor of Law and Sociology, Vanderbilt University

Slavery was a sticking point at the Constitutional Convention of 1787.Howard Chandler Christy/The Indian Reporter, CC BY

Key Democrats are proposing ways to make the rich pay more taxes.

I believe one of the most promising is Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax. There’s only one snag: It is arguably unconstitutional.

Under her proposal,...

Why the $22 trillion national debt doesn't matter – here's what you should worry about instead

Written by William D. Lastrapes, Professor of Economics, University of Georgia

Does a few more trillion make a difference?AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

The U.S. federal government’s debt load hit another milestone this month: It’s now a record US$22 trillion in nominal terms.

That’s $67,000 for every man, woman and child living in the U.S., and it’s up $2 trillion since President Donald Trump took...

Just what are 'zero tolerance' policies – and are they still common in America's schools?

Written by F. Chris Curran, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Zero tolerance polices in school discipline are on the decline, new data show.wavebreakmedia/www.shutterstock.com

When parents and educators discuss school discipline, one of the things that comes up most are “zero tolerance” policies. This term is often misused and misunderstood, according to new research I published recently.

Zero...

How energy efficiency delivers green dividends in red and blue states

Written by David Cash, Dean, John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston

Installing smart meters saves energy and creates jobs.AP Photo/Gerry Broome

The Green New Deal, a bundle of proposed policies that would combat climate change, create green jobs and address economic inequities, is eliciting the usual partisan debate over what to do about global warming.

But one humble and noncontroversial way to reduce carbon...

Why blackface?

Written by Michael Millner, Associate Professor of English and American Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell

1899 lithograph of white minstrel performer Carroll Johnson depicted in blackface, right.Library of Congress

Blackface is part of American culture’s DNA.

But America has forgotten that.

For almost two weeks, conflict has raged over the use of blackface by two current Virginia politicians when they were younger. The revelations have threatened...