The Conversation

Protecting the vulnerable, or automating harm? AI’s double-edged role in spotting abuse

Written by Aislinn Conrad, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of Iowa

AI can help maximize resources in strapped systems trying to protect vulnerable people – but it can also risk replicating harm or privacy violations.Courtney Hale/E+ via Getty Images

Artificial intelligence is rapidly being adopted to help prevent abuse and protect vulnerable people – including children in foster care, adults in nursing...

Sly Stone turned isolation into inspiration, forging a path for a generation of music-makers

Written by Jose Valentino Ruiz, Associate Professsor of Music Business and Entrepreneurship, University of Florida

The charismatic front man of Sly and the Family Stone died on June 9, 2025, at the age of 82. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

In the fall of 1971, Sly and the Family Stone’s “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” landed like a quiet revolution. After two years of silence following the band’s mainstream success, fans...

Southern Baptists’ call for the US Supreme Court to overturn its same-sex marriage decision is part of a long history of opposing women’s and LGBTQ+ people’s rights

Written by Susan M. Shaw, Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Oregon State University

A worship session at the 2025 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting on June 10, 2025, in Dallas. AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez

The Southern Baptist Convention has lost 3.6 million members over the past two decades and faces an ongoing sexual abuse crisis. At its June 2025 annual meeting, however, neither of those issues took up as much time as...

Colorado’s fentanyl criminalization bill won’t solve the opioid epidemic, say the people most affected

Written by Katherine LeMasters, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado Boulder

The people most impacted by Colorado's fentanyl criminalization bill have divergent views on the role of the legal system in curbing the opioid epidemic.Erik McGregor/GettyImages

Colorado passed the Fentanyl Accountability and Prevention Bill in May 2022. The legislation made the possession of small amounts of fentanyl a felony, rather than a...

Data on sexual orientation and gender is critical to public health – without it, health crises continue unnoticed

Written by John R. Blosnich, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of Southern California

As part of the Trump administration’s efforts aimed at stopping diversity, equity and inclusion, the government has been restricting how it monitors public health. Along with cuts to federally funded research, the administration has targeted public health efforts to gather information about sexual orientation and gender identity.

In the...

Supreme Court ignores precedent instead of overruling it in allowing president to fire officials whom Congress tried to make independent

Written by Claire B. Wofford, Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Charleston

Can President Donald Trump -- or any president -- fire the heads of independent agencies created by Congress?Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images Plus

What may be one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s most important and far-reaching rulings in decades dropped in late May 2025 in an order that probably didn’t get a second – or even...

House tax-and-spending bill and other Trump administration changes could make millions of people lose their health insurance coverage

Written by Simon F. Haeder, Associate Professor of Public Health, Texas A&M University

People who don't have health insurance coverage often delay or simply don't get the medical care they need.Jacob Wackerhausen/iStock via Getty Images Plus

President Donald Trump has promised not to cut Medicaid many times over the past decade, including in the tax-and-spending legislative package he has made a top priority in his second...

RFK Jr’s shakeup of vaccine advisory committee raises worries about scientific integrity of health recommendations

Written by Santosh Kumar Gautam, Associate Professor of Development and Global Health Economics, University of Notre Dame

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices played a key role in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images

On June 11, 2025, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a slate of eight new members to serve on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the Centers for Disease Control...

Two-state solution in the Middle East has been a core US policy for 25 years – is the Trump administration eyeing a change?

Written by Dan Arbell, Scholar-in-residence at the Center for Israeli Studies, American University

Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, holds a note given to him from President Donald Trump to be placed in the cracks of the Western Wall in the old city of Jerusalem on April 18, 2025.Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images

For a generation, the promotion of a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been a...

US Army’s image of power and flag-waving rings false to Gen Z weary of gun violence − and long-term recruitment numbers show it

Written by Jacob Ware, Adjunct Professor of Domestic Terrorism, Georgetown University

A recruit participates in the Army's future soldier prep course at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C., on Sept. 25, 2024. AP Photo/Chris Carlson

The U.S. Army will celebrate its 250th birthday on Saturday, June 14, 2025, with a parade in Washington, D.C., in which about 6,600 soldiers and heavy pieces of military equipment will roll through the...