The Conversation

We analyzed over 3.5 million written teacher comments about students and found racial bias

Written by Angus Kittelman, Assistant Professor of Special Education, University of Missouri-Columbia

Teachers had more negative comments about Black boys than they did about other groups.aldomurillo/E+ via Getty Images

The Research Brief is a short take on interesting academic work.

Written teacher comments about students can show implicit racial or ethnic and gender biases in school discipline, according to our recent study.

To identify these...

The world's boreal forests may be shrinking as climate change pushes them northward

Written by Ronny Rotbarth, Ph.D. Candidate of Arctic and Sub-Arctic Ecology, Wageningen University

A brown bear in a Siberian boreal forest.Logan Berner, CC BY-ND

Earth’s boreal forests circle our planet’s far northern reaches, just south of the Arctic’s treeless tundra. If the planet wears an Arctic ice cap, then the boreal forests are a loose-knit headband wrapped around its ears, covering large portions of Alaska, Canada,...

Understanding that chronic back pain originates from within the brain could lead to quicker recovery, a new study finds

Written by Yoni Ashar, Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Approximately 16 million U.S. adults have chronic back pain.Olena Ruban/Moment via Getty Images

Most people with chronic back pain naturally think their pain is caused by injuries or other problems in the body such as arthritis or bulging disks. But our research team has found that thinking about the root cause of pain as a process that’s...

What is intersectionality? A scholar of organizational behavior explains

Written by Christina Hymer, Assistant Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship, University of Tennessee

Civil rights advocate and legal scholar Kimberle Crenshaw speaks in New York City on Feb. 7, 2015. Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images

In modern conversations on race and politics, a popular buzzword has emerged to describe the impact of belonging to multiple social categories.

Known as intersectionality, the social theory has a complex history and refers...

NASA's robotic prospectors are helping scientists understand what asteroids are made of – setting the stage for miners to follow someday

Written by Valerie Payré, Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Iowa

Mining an asteroid probably won't look exactly like mining does on Earth, but some principles will stay the same. posteriori/iStock via Getty Images

The cars, cellphones, computers and televisions that people in the U.S. use every day require metals like copper, cobalt and platinum to build. Demand from the electronics industry for these metals is...

Modern medicine has its scientific roots in the Middle Ages − how the logic of vulture brain remedies and bloodletting lives on today

Written by Meg Leja, Associate Professor of History, Binghamton University, State University of New York

This 15th-century medical manuscript shows different colors of urine alongside the ailments they signify.Cambridge University Library, CC BY-NC

Nothing calls to mind nonsensical treatments and bizarre religious healing rituals as easily as the notion of Dark Age medicine. “The Saturday Night Live” sketch Medieval Barber Theodoric of York...

Biden administration executive order tackles AI risks, but lack of privacy laws limits reach

Written by Anjana Susarla, Professor of Information Systems, Michigan State University

The Biden administration rolled out an executive order on AI that contains a mix of rules, guidelines and priorities.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The comprehensive, even sweeping, set of guidelines for artificial intelligence that the White House unveiled in an executive order on Oct. 30, 2023, show that the U.S. government is attempting to...

Kristallnacht, 85 years ago, marks the point Hitler moved from an emotional antisemitism to a systematic antisemitism of laws and government violence

Written by Michael Scott Bryant, Professor of History and Legal Studies, Bryant University

The Boerneplatz synagogue in flames on Nov. 10, 1938, during the 'Night of Broken Glass' in Frankfurt, Germany. History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Late in 1938, Nazis across Germany attacked Jews and their homes, businesses and places of worship and arrested about 30,000 Jewish men. The attacks became known as Kristallnacht – the...

Texas tried to fix its teacher shortage by lowering requirements − the result was more new teachers, but at lower salaries

Written by Sarah Guthery, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, University of Oklahoma

New research found that a 2001 Texas policy has reduced teachers' wages. Jon Feingersh Photography Inc/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Facing persistent teacher shortages, Texas in 2001 reduced its student teaching requirements for alternative licensure programs. Our study found that these reduced teacher licensure requirements also led to reduced...

Secure attachment to both parents − not just mothers − boosts children’s healthy development

Written by Or Dagan, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology, Long Island University Post

Strong, supportive relationships with moms, dads and nonparental caregivers are all vital.skynesher/E+ via Getty Images

Imagine a sudden rustle in the tall grass. A ripple of alarm passes through the group of early humans who live together amid ancient, rugged terrain. In the center of the encampment, a 3-year-old child – let’s call her...