The Conversation

Declining union membership could be making working-class Americans less happy and more susceptible to drug overdoses

Written by Samia Islam, Professor of Economics, Boise State University

Protesters gather at a union-organized rally outside the U.S. Capitol in February 2025. Allison Robbert/AFP via Getty Images

When fewer people belong to unions and unions have less power, the impact goes beyond wages and job security. Those changes can hurt public health and make people more unhappy.

We’re economists who research labor and...

Singles’ Day is a $150B holiday in China. Here’s why I think ‘11/11’ will catch on in the US

Written by Peter McGraw, Professor of Marketing and Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder

On Nov. 11 each year, a curious holiday takes over China. What began among Nanjing University students in the 1990s as a tongue-in-cheek counter to Valentine’s Day has exploded into the world’s largest shopping event: Singles’ Day.

The date, 11/11, was chosen because the four ones resemble “bare sticks,” Chinese slang...

Diane Keaton’s $5M pet trust would be over the top if reports prove true – here’s how to ensure your beloved pet is safe after you are gone

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

Diane Keaton loved her dog, Reggie.

The award-winning actor, director and real estate entrepreneur frequently posted photos and video clips of the golden retriever on her social media accounts. After she died on Oct. 11, 2025, at 79, some news outlets reported that she left US$5 million of her estimated $100 million estate to her dog.

I’m a law...

Oklahoma tried out a test to ‘woke-proof’ the classroom. It was short-lived, but could still leave a mark

Written by Emery Petchauer, Visiting Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University

Oklahoma's short-lived PragerU teacher assessment was one of the final projects under former Superintendent Ryan Walters, who resigned in September 2025. eyegelb/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Oklahoma has become a testing ground for reshaping public school curriculum to reflect conservative viewpoints, Make America Great Again priorities and a push for...

America’s teachers are being priced out of their communities − these cities are building subsidized housing to lure them back

Written by Jeff Kruth, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Miami University

Developers of Wendy's Village, an affordable housing complex planned for teachers in Colorado Springs, Colo., completed their first homes in July 2025.WeFortify

For much of the 20th century, teaching was a stable, middle-class job in the U.S. Now it’s becoming a lot harder to survive on a teacher’s salary: Wages have been stagnant for...

SETI’s ‘Noah’s Ark’ – a space historian explores how the advent of radio astronomy led to the USSR’s search for extraterrestrial life

Written by Gabriela Radulescu, Guggenheim Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Institution

The planetary radar, built in 1960 in Crimea, from which the Morse signal 'MIR, Lenin, USSR' was sent in November 1962.National Radio Astronomy Observatory Archive

As humans began to explore outer space in the latter half of the 20th century, radio waves proved a powerful tool. Scientists could send out radio waves to communicate with satellites,...

2 ways you can conserve the water used to make your food

Written by Huma Tariq Malik, Ph.D. Student in Soil and Crop Sciences, Colorado State University

Irrigation equipment waters an alfalfa field in Kansas.AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

As the world’s climate warms and droughts and water shortages are becoming more common, farmers are struggling to produce enough food. Farmers continue to adapt, but there are ways for you to help, too.

For decades, farmers have sought to conserve water in...

Congress has been dodging responsibility for tariffs for decades – now the Supreme Court will decide how far presidents can go alone

Written by Bedassa Tadesse, Professor of Economics, University of Minnesota Duluth

On Nov. 5, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear one of the most consequential trade cases in decades. The justices will decide whether a president can rely on a Cold War–era emergency law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, to impose sweeping import duties on a vast share of what the United States buys from abroad.

At stake is more...

Signatures meant more in Mesopotamia than they do now − what cylinder seals say about ancient and modern life

Written by Serdar Yalçin, Assistant Professor of Art History, Macalester College

An Akkadian cylinder seal, circa 2350-2150 B.C.E., depicts a contest scene. The image on the right shows the impression the seal would make. Gift of Nanette B. Kelekian, in memory of Charles Dikran and Beatrice Kelekian, 1999/Metropolitan Museum of Art

The earliest form of the signature came from ancient Iraq in the form of cylinder seals.

Mesopotami...

Trump is changing student loan forgiveness rules – barring some public workers from getting relief, but resuming it for others

Written by Jennifer L. Steele, Professor of Education, American University

Student loan debt has continued to rise in the country over the past few decades. William Potter/iStock/Getty Images Plus

The Trump administration has tried to upend many facets of American life, and many facets of higher education are no exception.

The Department of Education announced on Oct. 27, 2025, that it would resume canceling student loan...