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AI algorithms intended to root out welfare fraud often end up punishing the poor instead

  • Written by Michele Gilman, Venable Professor of Law, University of Baltimore
Automated algorithms – not humans – are increasingly making decisions about who's eligible for welfare benefits.gorodenkoff/Getty Images

President Donald Trump recently suggested there is “tremendous fraud” in government welfare programs.

Although there’s very little evidence to back up his claim, he’s...

Read more: AI algorithms intended to root out welfare fraud often end up punishing the poor instead

Incomplete and inadequate: Information lacking for seniors looking for assisted living

  • Written by Lindsay J. Peterson, Instructor, School of Aging Studies, University of South Florida
Within the next decade, millions of seniors will be shopping for new housing.Getty Images / Elizabeth W. Kearley

As of today, the youngest of the nearly 70 million baby boomers is 55; the oldest is 74. Within the next decade, millions of them will need long-term care. Many will remain in their homes, with family or “drop-in” caregiver...

Read more: Incomplete and inadequate: Information lacking for seniors looking for assisted living

Well, impeachment didn't work – how else can Congress keep President Trump in check?

  • Written by Kirsten Carlson, Associate Professor of Law and Adjunct Associate Professor of Political Science, Wayne State University
House Democrats have more more tools up their sleeves than impeachment alone.J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

Donald Trump’s removal of impeachment witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman from the White House and intervention in his friend Roger Stone’s sentencing have prompted concern that the president’s acquittal in his recent...

Read more: Well, impeachment didn't work – how else can Congress keep President Trump in check?

Historic Iwo Jima footage shows individual Marines amid the larger battle

  • Written by Greg Wilsbacher, Curator of Newsfilm and Military Collections, University of South Carolina
Two Marines in the Marine Corps' 5th Division cemetery on Iwo Jima pay their respects to a fallen comrade.United States Marine Corps Film Repository, USMC 101863 (16mm film frame)

When most Americans think of the World War II battle for Iwo Jima – if they think of it at all, 75 years later – they think of one image: Marines raising the...

Read more: Historic Iwo Jima footage shows individual Marines amid the larger battle

America’s postwar fling with romance comics

  • Written by Michael C. Weisenburg, Reference & Instruction Librarian at Irvin Department of Rare Books & Special Collections, University of South Carolina
With over 100 issues, 'Young Love' was one of the longest running romance comics series. Gary Lee Watson Comic Book Collection, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina Libraries, Author provided

Last year, comic book enthusiast Gary Watson donated his massive personal collection to the Irvin Department...

Read more: America’s postwar fling with romance comics

Minority patients benefit from having minority doctors, but that's a hard match to make

  • Written by Ryan Huerto, Family Medicine Physician, Health Services Researcher, Clinical Lecturer, University of Michigan
Minority patients often have better rapport with a same-race or same-ethnicity doctor. Getty Images / ER Productions Limited

In today’s America, minority patients still have markedly worse health outcomes than white patients. The differences are greatest for black Americans: Compared to white patients, they are two to three times as likely...

Read more: Minority patients benefit from having minority doctors, but that's a hard match to make

Restoring the reputations of charities after scandals

  • Written by Nives Dolsak, Stan and Alta Barer Professor in Sustainability Sciences, Director, School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of Washington
Allegations of sexual abuse can taint an aid group's image.Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images

Like companies, schools and other institutions, nonprofits care deeply about their reputations. Good reputations can help them attract volunteers, funding and staff. Because the opposite is also true, revelations about bad or even illegal actions can have...

Read more: Restoring the reputations of charities after scandals

Transgender Americans are more likely to be unemployed and poor

  • Written by Christopher Carpenter, E. Bronson Ingram Professor of Economics and Director of the Vanderbilt LGBT Policy Lab, Vanderbilt University
Aimee Stephens worked for a Detroit funeral home for six years before telling her employer she wanted to be issued a female uniform. SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

The United States Supreme Court will issue a ruling this year in a landmark case that will determine whether transgender people – individuals whose sex assigned at birth does not...

Read more: Transgender Americans are more likely to be unemployed and poor

How to convince your loved ones to get the flu shot this year

  • Written by Helen Colby, Assistant Professor of Marketing, IUPUI
Studies show that people are more likely to get the flu shot if they have a plan.xtock/Shutterstock.com

The best way to protect against the flu is the flu vaccine. But even so, about 60% of Americans will skip getting a flu shot this year.

This can be especially frustrating when it is a friend or loved one who is putting themselves and those around...

Read more: How to convince your loved ones to get the flu shot this year

How did I get my own unique set of fingerprints?

  • Written by Sarah Leupen, Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Even identical twins have different fingerprints.El Greco/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.

How do we get the fingerprints we have? – Oscar V., age 8, Somerville, Massachusetts

Fingerprints are those...

Read more: How did I get my own unique set of fingerprints?

More Articles ...

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  2. On the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues, a look back at what was lost
  3. Galentine's Day has become a thing – why hasn't Malentine's Day?
  4. The secondhand smoke you're breathing may have come from another state
  5. When presidential campaigns end, what happens to the leftover money?
  6. Why so many architects are angered by 'Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again'
  7. Schools should heed calls to do lockdown drills without traumatizing kids instead of abolishing them
  8. Hackers could shut down satellites – or turn them into weapons
  9. Candidates say they want to build momentum with voters – but what is that actually worth?
  10. A 4-step maintenance plan to help keep your relationship going strong
  11. How the T-Mobile-Sprint merger will increase inequality
  12. How China does Valentine's Day
  13. Climate change impacts in Bangladesh show how geography, wealth and culture affect vulnerability
  14. Women in Arab countries find themselves torn between opportunity and tradition
  15. The silent threat of the coronavirus: America's dependence on Chinese pharmaceuticals
  16. 'Stolen' elections open wounds that may never heal
  17. Hundreds of county jails detained immigrants for ICE
  18. Why sequencing the human genome failed to produce big breakthroughs in disease
  19. The opioid crisis is a big issue in New Hampshire – 5 questions answered on what voters want the candidates to do
  20. The history of 'coming out,' from secret gay code to popular political protest
  21. A college president's advice to college students of the future: Don't borrow
  22. Lynching preachers: How black pastors resisted Jim Crow and white pastors incited racial violence
  23. How a Native American coming-of-age ritual is making a comeback
  24. A Nazi drug's US resurgence: How meth is making a disturbing reappearance
  25. Potential gene therapy to combat cocaine addiction
  26. How Iran's millennials are grappling with crippling U.S. sanctions
  27. 3 ways coronavirus will affect the US economy – and 1 silver lining
  28. How Iran's millennials are grappling with crippling US sanctions
  29. 3 standout quotes from the New Hampshire Democratic debate, explained
  30. Why people post 'couple photos' as their social media profile pictures
  31. Real pay data show Trump's 'blue collar boom' is more of a bust for US workers, in 3 charts
  32. Research in China is complicated by the Communist Party's influence, says researcher who worked there
  33. As China suffers from coronavirus, some wonder: Is it really that serious? 3 questions answered
  34. National Prayer Breakfast was a moment for leaders to show humility – Trump changed it
  35. Employment gaps cause career trouble, especially for former stay-at-home parents
  36. AI could constantly scan the internet for data privacy violations, a quicker, easier way to enforce compliance
  37. 'Sea-level rise won't affect my house' – even flood maps don't sway Florida coastal residents
  38. The Philippines has rated 'Golden Rice' safe, but farmers might not plant it
  39. The dystopian experience of skiing in New Jersey's new American Dream mall
  40. How Trump's proposed benefits changes will create hardship for rural people with disabilities
  41. Democratic plans for raising taxes on the rich: A guide for the middle class
  42. What Trump’s picks for the Presidential Medal of Freedom – like Rush Limbaugh and Antonin Scalia – say about him
  43. Deported to death: US sent 138 Salvadorans home to be killed
  44. The 6 countries in Trump's new travel ban pose little threat to US national security
  45. The secret to the success of two Oscar-nominated scores
  46. Sanders called JPMorgan's CEO America's 'biggest corporate socialist' – here's why he has a point
  47. Violence and other forms of abuse against teachers: 5 questions answered
  48. Soil carbon is a valuable resource, but all soil carbon is not created equal
  49. What's a church? That can depend on the eye of the beholder or paperwork filed with the IRS
  50. Re-creating live-animal markets in the lab lets researchers see how pathogens like coronavirus jump species