The Conversation

Michigan’s thousands of farmworkers are unprotected, poorly paid, uncounted and often exploited

Written by Lisbeth Iglesias-Ríos, Professor of Public Health, University of Michigan

Few consumers are aware of the migrant and seasonal farmworkers who make Michigan's agricultural economy possible.Getty/ Maguey IMages

Michigan is famous for its fruit festivals. Visitors can sample cherries at the National Cherry Festival in Traverse City or blueberries at the National Blueberry Festival in South Haven.

The Apple Festival in...

‘One inch from a potential civil war’ – near miss in Trump shooting is also a close call for American democracy

Written by Arie Perliger, Director of Security Studies and Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, UMass Lowell

U.S. Secret Service agents help former President Donald Trump offstage during a rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

With an assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024, the U.S. experienced another violent episode in its increasingly polarized politics. Former President Trump,...

Biden isn’t the first to struggle to pop the presidential bubble that divides him from the public

Written by Shannon Bow O'Brien, Associate Professor of Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin

President Joe Biden makes his way to Marine One, flanked by aides and staff, in May 2024. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

President Joe Biden’s at-times incoherent debate performance against Donald Trump in June has prompted growing pressure from donors, some Democratic politicians and voters for Biden to withdraw from the...

Supermassive black holes have masses of more than a million suns – but their growth has slowed as the universe has aged

Written by Fan Zou, Graduate Student in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Penn State

Most of the blue points in this sky survey image are accreting supermassive black holes emitting strong X-rays.Fan Zou (Penn State) and the XMM-SERVS Collaboration

Black holes are remarkable astronomical objects with gravity so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape them. The most gigantic ones, known as “supermassive” black...

As nativist politics surge across Europe, soccer’s ‘Euros’ showcase a more benign form of nationalism

Written by Peter Rutland, Professor of Government, Wesleyan University

Not your typical hooligans. Jose Breton/Anadolu via Getty Images

When nationalism combines with soccer in the stadiums and streets of Europe, it tends to not end well.

For decades, images of drunken fans adorned with nationalist symbols and flags fighting one another – or the police – have dogged the UEFA European Championship, a...

Immigrant moms feel unsafe and unheard when seeking pregnancy care – here’s how they’d improve Philly’s health care system

Written by Diana Montoya-Williams, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania

Misinformation -- such as that a person needs a passport to receive medical attention -- can make immigrant moms reluctant to interact with doctors and hospitals.Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/DigitalVision Collection via Getty Images

Immigrants make up nearly 16% of Philadelphia’s population of 1.6 million, according to a 2024 report from Pew...

Meteorites from Mars help scientists understand the red planet’s interior

Written by James Day, Professor of Geosciences, University of California, San Diego

A Martian meteorite in cross-polarized light. This meteorite is dominated by the mineral olivine. Each grain is about half a millimeter across.James Day

Of the more than 74,000 known meteorites – rocks that fall to Earth from asteroids or planets colliding together – only 385 or so stones came from the planet Mars.

It’s not that...

Donald Trump wants to reinstate a spoils system in federal government by hiring political loyalists regardless of competence

Written by Sidney Shapiro, Professor of Law, Wake Forest University

Then-President Donald Trump standing underneath a portrait of Andrew Jackson in November 2017. Oliver Contreras-Pool/Getty Images)

If elected to serve a second term, Donald Trump says he supports a plan that would give him the authority to fire as many as 50,000 civil servants and replace them with members of his political party loyal to him. Under...

Odds are that gambling on the Biden/Trump competition will further reduce the presidential campaign to a horse race

Written by Allison M. Prasch, Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Politics and Culture, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sports betting companies offer wagers on who will clinch a party's presidential nomination, which candidate will win the election and much more.kmaassrock/E+/Getty Images

Speculation about President Joe Biden’s future as the Democratic nominee for U.S. president is seemingly everywhere: cable television, podcasts, social media, and –...

Will a market crash one day be pinned on the Supreme Court? An accounting expert explains why recent rulings have him worried

Written by Paul Griffin, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Management, University of California, Davis

In two major rulings this past month, the U.S. Supreme Court curtailed the authority of federal agencies to draft and enforce policies that affect the nation’s financial health. One important agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, took a particularly big hit.

Speaking as someone who has researched financial shenanigans for almost 50...