The Conversation

Donors are down, but dollars are up – how US charitable giving is changing

Written by Una Osili, Professor of Economics and Philanthropic Studies; Associate Dean for Research and International Programs, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University

Although the pie is shrinking, the remaining slices are giving more. Say-Cheese/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Although the US$557 billion Americans gave to charity in 2023 marked a 2.1% decline in inflation-adjusted terms, U.S. donations have increased significantly over the past two decades. Giving has grown by about 42% since 2003, according to...

Canada and Greenland aren’t likely to join the US anytime soon – but ‘GrAmeriCa’ is a revealing thought experiment

Written by Peter A. Coclanis, Professor of History and Director of the Global Research Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

For some time now, pundits have been debating whether to take Donald Trump “seriously” or “literally,” as the clever binary coined by journalist Salena Zito in 2016 has it.

This choice comes to mind when I think about the 47th president’s frequent comments recently about incorporating Greenland and Canada into the...

Getting mail to your door is just one part of what the postmaster general does

Written by Jena Martin, Professor of Law, St. Mary's University

Postal workers sort through mail and packages. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The postmaster general is responsible for getting billions of pieces of mail across the globe, managing hundreds of thousands of employees and caring for some of the country’s most vulnerable Americans.

The agency is currently run by Postmaster General Louis...

Nutrition advice is rife with misinformation − a medical education specialist explains how to tell valid health information from pseudoscience

Written by Aimee Pugh Bernard, Assistant Professor of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

If a health claim about a dietary intervention sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Mizina/iStock via Getty Images Plus

The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated a vast landscape of misinformation about many topics, science and health chief among them.

Since then, information overload continues unabated, and many people are rightfully confused by an...

Happiness in poorer countries does not follow the typical U-shaped curve − people are often happiest in middle age

Written by Michael Gurven, Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara

Scholars have long assumed happiness was like a U-shaped curve − which looks a bit like a smile. Richard Baker/In Pictures via Getty Images

Happiness over one’s lifetime has been popularly described as looking like a U-shaped curve: The joys of youth are followed by the challenges of our 20s and 30s before an upswing later in life that...

Federal threats against local officials who don’t cooperate with immigration orders could be unconstitutional − Justice Antonin Scalia ruled against similar plans

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

A fundamental tension exists between state and federal power in the United States that has not been resolved.Vladstudioraw via iStock/Getty Images Plus

President Donald Trump has begun to radically change how the U.S. government handles immigration, from challenging long-held legal concepts about who gets citizenship to using the military to...

I study democracy worldwide − here’s how Texas is eroding human rights, free expression and civil liberties

Written by Katie Scofield, Assistant Instructional Professor in Political Science, Texas A&M University-San Antonio

Everything is bigger in Texas, except maybe its democracy.Luis Diaz Devesa/Moment via Getty

While concerns about the future of American democracy dominate headlines worldwide, millions of Texans are already seeing a rapid decline in democratic standards.

In December 2024, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a New York doctor for prescribing...

Why does it hurt when you get a scrape? A neuroscientist explains the science of pain

Written by Yenisel Cruz-Almeida, Associate Professor & Associate Director, Pain Research & Intervention Center Of Excellence, University of Florida

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 come you feel pain when you fall and get a scrape?” – Tillman, age 9, Asheville, North Carolina

Nobody likes to feel pain, but it’s something every person will...

How does raw water compare to tap water? A microbiologist explains why the risks outweigh the benefits

Written by Bill Sullivan, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University

Water that comes straight from natural sources, dubbed “raw water,” is gaining popularity. Raw water advocates reject public water supplies, including tap water, because they don’t enjoy the taste or believe it’s unsafe and depleted of vital minerals.

On the surface, raw water might seem alluring – the natural...

Why government can’t make America ‘healthier’ by micromanaging groceries purchased with SNAP benefits

Written by Benjamin Chrisinger, Assistant Professor of Community Health, Tufts University

More than 41 million Americans use SNAP benefits to buy groceries.Brandon Bell/Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s pick for director of the Health and Human Services Department, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has announced a bold plan. He wants to “Make America Healthy Again.”

Kennedy’s strategy has gotten a lot of attention for...