The Conversation

The Mormon Church still doesn't accept same-sex couples – even if it no longer bars their children

Written by Taylor Petrey, Associate Professor of Religion, Kalamazoo College

President Russell M. Nelson, center, during the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints conference on April 6, 2019.AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

Top leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have reversed a policy that prevented minor children of same-sex married couples from joining the church and participating in its sacred...

Civic crowdfunding reduces the risk of 'bikelash'

Written by Kate Gasparro, Graduate Research Fellow of Sustainable Design and Construction, Stanford University

Downtown Seattle's busy, protected bike lanesSeattle Department of Transportation, CC BY-SA

Bike-sharing and dockless bike ventures are spreading as more people get around on two wheels. Cyclists, planners, environmentalists and others are excited to see these initiatives thrive.

At the same time, there are reasons for concern. Nearly 800 American...

Leonardo da Vinci saw in animals the ‘image of the world’

Written by Arielle Saiber, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Bowdoin College

From cats to dragonflies, Leonardo sketched scores of animals.Leonardo da Vinci/Royal Collection Trust

About six months ago I stopped eating meat. I was teaching a graduate course at UCLA that investigated how Italian Renaissance writers conveyed their concepts about the human through writing about the nonhuman – plants, animals, objects,...

Venezuela's crisis is a tragedy - but comedy gold for satire, cartoons and memes

Written by Juan-Carlos Molleda, Edwin L. Artzt Dean and Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon

Thirty-nine journalists have been detained in Venezuela this year, far more than in any other Latin American country, according to the Caracas-based Institute for Press and Society.

Their arrests are part of the government’s crackdown on journalists who report on the country’s escalating instability as President Nicolás Maduro...

Why the Great Plains has such epic weather

Written by Russ Schumacher, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science and Colorado State Climatologist, Colorado State University

Blizzard conditions cover the Central and Northern Plains on March 13, 2019.NASA Earth Observatory

From 78 degrees on Tuesday to snow on Wednesday? Swings like this aren’t unusual in the central United States, where weather can quickly shift from one extreme to another. That’s especially true in the springtime, when conditions turn into...

America and the world still need the WTO to keep trade and the global economy humming

Written by Stephen J. Silvia, Professor of International Relations, American University School of International Service

The WTO's home in Geneva.Martin Good/Shutterstock.com

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the World Trade Organization.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has been blocking the appointment or reappointment of WTO judges – imperiling the essential work of its court in issuing trade rulings. The president has e...

People who win big prizes shouldn’t get taxed when they give their windfalls away

Written by Ellen P. Aprill, Professor of Law; John E. Anderson Chair in Tax Law, Loyola Law School Los Angeles

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in OsloAP Photo/John McConnico

When former President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he didn’t keep the approximately US$1.4 million, converted from Swedish currency, that came with it. Instead the Nobel Prize Foundation transferred the money directly to Fisher House, a nonprofit that houses...

Tax returns waste everyone's time – but there's an easy solution the tax preparation industry and some lawmakers don't like

Written by Garth Heutel, Associate Professor of Economics, Georgia State University

Congress designed a complicated tax system.AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

Each year hundreds of millions of Americans file their personal income tax returns using a form 1040.

The average American spends eight hours and US$110 doing so. Much of that money goes to professional tax preparers and software companies. Much of that time is spent entering...

Does a year in space make you older or younger?

Written by Susan Bailey, Professor of Radiation Cancer Biology and Oncology, Colorado State University

Are space twin Scott and Earth twin Mark no longer identical?Robert Markowitz/NASA

Daily life aboard the International Space Station moves fast. Really fast. Traveling at approximately 17,000 miles per hour, 300 miles above the Earth, astronauts watch 16 sunrises and sunsets every “day” while floating around in a box with a handful of...

How US tax laws discriminate against women, gays and people of color

Written by Anthony C. Infanti, Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh

Marital status is a defining characteristic of U.S. tax law.AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

What and how a country chooses to tax says a lot about its values.

A core value built into the DNA of America, for example, is equality. And in practice, Americans imagine their country to be more equal than it is and strive to treat every member of society that...