The Conversation

Where is 'rural America,' and what does it look like?

Written by Kenneth Johnson, Professor of Sociology and Senior Demographer, University of New Hampshire

The view from Wyoming County, Pennsylvania.Cropped from nicholas_t/flickr, CC BY

Rural people and issues generally receive little attention from the urban-centric media and policy elites. Yet, rural America makes unique contributions to the nation’s character and culture as well as provides most of its food, raw materials, drinking water and...

How much does the Johnson Amendment curtail church freedom?

Written by Elizabeth Schmidt, Professor of Practice, Nonprofit Organizations; Social & Environmental Enterprises, University of Massachusetts Amherst

On National Prayer Breakfast day in early February, President Donald Trump repeated a pledge he had made several times on the campaign trail that echoed the 2016 Republican Party Platform:

“I will get rid of, and totally destroy, the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of...

More lessons from Dolly the sheep: Is a clone really born at age zero?

Written by Jose Cibelli, Scientific Director LARCEL-BIONAND, Spain and Professor of Animal Biotechnology, Michigan State University

More Dollies, cloned from the same cell line.Courtesy of Kevin Sinclair, University of Nottingham, CC BY-ND

In 1997 Dolly the sheep was introduced to the world by biologists Keith Campbell, Ian Wilmut and colleagues. Not just any lamb, Dolly was a clone. Rather than being made from a sperm and an egg, she originated from a mammary gland cell of...

20 years after Dolly: Everything you always wanted to know about the cloned sheep and what came next

Written by George Seidel, Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University

Well hello, Dolly.Photo courtesy of The Roslin Institute, The University of Edinburgh., CC BY-NC

It’s been 20 years since scientists in Scotland told the world about Dolly the sheep, the first mammal successfully cloned from an adult body cell. What was special about Dolly is that her “parents” were actually a single cell...

Trump's moves on the Dakota Access Pipeline portend more clashes with states

Written by Jonathan Rosenbloom, Professor of Law, Drake University

Trump and California Governor Jerry Brown have already had their run-ins. cornstalker/flickr, CC BY-NC

During the Obama administration, the Army Corps of Engineers (COE) slowed the regulatory review process of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) to accommodate the cultural and environmental concerns of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. In the first...

Who counts as black?

Written by Ronald Hall, Professor of Social Work, Michigan State University

'Crayons' via www.shutterstock.com

For generations, intimacy between black men and white women was taboo. A mere accusation of impropriety could lead to a lynching, and interracial marriage was illegal in a number of states.

Everything changed with the 1967 Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia, which ruled that blacks and whites have a legal...

White House in turmoil shows why Trump's no CEO

Written by Bert Spector, Associate Professor of International Business and Strategy at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University

Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump made much of his business experience, claiming he’s been “creating jobs and rebuilding neighborhoods my entire adult life.”

The fact that he was from the business world rather than a career politician was something that appealed to many of his supporters.

It’s easy to u...

Russia, Trump and the 2016 election: What's the best way for Congress to investigate?

Written by Jordan Tama, Assistant Professor of International Relations, American University School of International Service

Exactly how will the U.S. conduct a fair and accurate investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and links with President Donald Trump’s campaign? U.S. congressional leaders are discussing options.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said that the Senate intelligence committee is best suited to investigate any...

Could your Fitbit data be used to deny you health insurance?

Written by Andrew Boyd, Assistant Professor, Biomedical and Health Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago

A log of your preexisting conditions?Timo Newton-Sims/timo_w2s/flickr, CC BY-SA

Wearing a fitness tracking device could earn you cash from your health insurance company. At first, this sounds lucrative for the people who participate, and good for the companies, who want healthier insurance customers. But it’s not quite so simple.

Under the...

Five lessons Trump could learn from Lincoln

Written by Donald Nieman, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Lincoln in 1858; Trump in his official White House portrait, 2017.Abraham Byers/unknown

How will Donald Trump observe Presidents Day?

Will he have the inclination or take the time to read about or reflect on the qualities of our greatest leaders?

Given how busy Trump is issuing executive orders, fighting with the judiciary, managing the scandal...