The Conversation

‘I just couldn’t stop crying’: How prison affects Black men’s mental health long after they’ve been released

Written by Helena Addison, Postdoctoral fellow, Yale University

Black men who have been incarcerated have elevated rates of PTSD, depression and psychological distress.da-kuk/E+ Collection via Getty Images

Mike returned home to Philadelphia after a 15-year prison sentence and suffered an emotional breakdown.

“I just couldn’t stop crying … I don’t know. It was the anxiety. It was just a...

Leaders in India, Hungary and the US are using appeals to nostalgia and nationalism to attack higher education

Written by Riyad A. Shahjahan, Professor of Higher, Adult and Life Long Education, Michigan State University

Two scholars argue that nostalgia and resentment fuel government attacks on universities.Rick Friedman/AFP

Harvard University is under siege by the Trump administration – and the world is watching. But this case isn’t just an American issue.

It’s part of a global trend: universities cast as enemies and institutions in need of...

Florida plan to deputize National Guard officers as immigration judges at Alligator Alcatraz would likely violate constitutional rights

Written by Raquel Aldana, Professor of Law, University of California, Davis

President Donald Trump visits Alligator Alcatraz in Ochopee, Florida on July 1, 2025.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Seeking to expand Florida’s role in federal immigration enforcement, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in May 2025 submitted the state’s Immigration Enforcement Operations Plan to the Trump administration.

The...

About a third of pregnant women in the US lack sufficient vitamin D to support healthy pregnancies − new research

Written by Melissa Melough, Assistant Professor of Nutrition Science, University of Delaware

Higher vitamin D levels in a mother's blood during pregnancy have been linked to higher IQ scores in early childhood and reduced behavioral problems. gpointstudio/iStock via Getty Images

Children whose mothers had higher vitamin D levels during pregnancy scored better on tests of memory, attention and problem-solving skills at ages 7 to 12 compared...

Can AI think – and should it? What it means to think, from Plato to ChatGPT

Written by Ryan Leack, Assistant Professor of Writing, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Ancient Greek concepts about intelligence can shed light on 21st-century tech they never knew.agsandrew/iStock via Getty Images Plus

In my writing and rhetoric courses, students have plenty of opinions on whether AI is intelligent: how well it can assess, analyze, evaluate and communicate information.

When I ask whether artificial intelligence can...

Idi Amin made himself out to be the ‘liberator’ of an oppressed majority – a demagogic trick that endures today

Written by Derek R. Peterson, Ali Mazrui Professor of History & African Studies, University of Michigan

Idi Amin addresses the United Nations General Assembly in 1975.Bettmann/Getty Images

Fifty years ago, Ugandan President Idi Amin wrote to the governments of the British Commonwealth with a bold suggestion: Allow him to take over as head of the organization, replacing Queen Elizabeth II.

After all, Amin reasoned, a collapsing economy had made the...

Clawback of $1.1B for PBS and NPR puts rural stations at risk – and threatens a vital source of journalism

Written by Allison Perlman, Associate Professor of Film & Media Studies, University of California, Irvine

Nathan Heffel and Grace Hood rehearse their Colorado Public Radio public affairs program in Centennial, Colo., in 2017. Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images

The U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives approved by narrow margins on July 17 and 18, 2025, a law that claws back federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting....

Why male corporate leaders and billionaires may need financial therapy more than anyone

Written by Prince Sarpong, Associate professor, University of the Free State

Corporate leaders and billionaires are often viewed as visionaries and wealth creators. But beneath the surface, many are trapped in an invisible financial “crisis” – one rooted not in market volatility or poor investments but in their psychological relationship with money.

As a finance professor and editor of the forthcoming book...

Poll finds bipartisan agreement on a key issue: Regulating AI

Written by Adam Eichen, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, UMass Amherst

Are concerns about AI a bridge across the polarization divide?ZargonDesign/iStock via Getty Images

In the run-up to the vote in the U.S. Senate on President Donald Trump’s spending and tax bill, Republicans scrambled to revise the bill to win support of wavering GOP senators. A provision included in the original bill was a 10-year moratorium...

When grief involves trauma − a social worker explains how to support survivors of the recent floods and other devastating losses

Written by Liza Barros-Lane, Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of Houston-Downtown

Rain falls over a makeshift memorial for flood victims along the Guadalupe River on July 13, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas.AP Photo/Eric Gay

The July 4, 2025, floods in Kerr County, Texas, swept away children and entire families, leaving horror in their wake. Days later, flash floods struck Ruidoso, New Mexico, killing three people, including two young...