The Conversation

Paying reparations for slavery is possible – based on a study of federal compensation to farmers, fishermen, coal miners, radiation victims and 70 other groups

Written by Linda J. Bilmes, Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Public Finance, Harvard Kennedy School

A group of formerly enslaved people gather on a South Carolina plantation during the Union occupation in 1862. Corbis/ Getty Images

As Americans celebrate Juneteenth, legislation for a commission to study reparations for harms resulting from the enslavement of nearly 4 million people has languished in Congress for more than 30 years.

Though America...

Philly has highest STI rates in the country – improving sex ed in schools and access to at-home testing could lower rates

Written by Carlos Mahaffey, Assistant Professor of Public Health, Purdue University

Rates of syphilis and gonorrhea have risen significantly among Philadelphians age 15-24 over the past five years. Dusan Stankovic/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

Philadelphia ranks No. 1 among U.S. cities for new sexually transmitted infections – STIs – according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and...

Southern Baptists may have rejected a constitutional amendment opposing female pastors, but that does not mean they are changing their views on women’s leadership in church

Written by Susan M. Shaw, Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Oregon State University

Messengers raise their ballots in support of a motion during the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting on June 11, 2024, in Indianapolis.AP Photo/Doug McSchooler

The recent annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention saw a number of motions related to women. The Conversation asked Susan Shaw, a gender and sexuality studies scholar who...

Elder fraud has reached epidemic proportions – a geriatrician explains what older Americans need to know

Written by Laurie Archbald-Pannone, Associate Professor of Medicine and Geriatrics, University of Virginia

Be careful out there.ArtMarie/Getty Images

Americans age 60 and older lost more than US$3 billion to scammers in 2023, according to the FBI.

To put that whopping figure in context, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour recently made news as the first concert tour ever to earn $1 billion.

As a geriatrician – a doctor who cares for people over 65...

Is Earth really getting too hot for people to survive? A scientist explains extreme heat and the role of climate change

Written by Scott Denning, Professor of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University

Heat waves can get dangerously hot, especially when it's also humid.gjohnstonphoto/iStock/Getty Images Plus

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.

My parents said the planet is getting too hot for people to live here. They called it...

What Frederick Douglass learned from an Irish antislavery activist: ‘Agitate, agitate, agitate’

Written by Christine Kinealy, Director of Ireland's Great Hunger Institute, Quinnipiac University

Born into slavery, Frederick Douglass became one of the leading abolitionists in America. Bettmann/Getty Images

Though Frederick Douglass remains the most well-known abolitionist to visit Ireland in the decades prior to the American Civil War, he was not the only one.

As many as 30 Black abolitionists and activists also traveled to Ireland between...

Central banks face threats to their independence − and that isn’t good news for sound economic stewardship (or battling inflation)

Written by Cristina Bodea, Professor of Political Science, Michigan State University

Donald Trump appointed Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve. If returned to the White House, he may seek to replace him.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Nearly every country in the world has a central bank – a public institution that manages a country’s currency and its monetary policy. And these banks have an extraordinary amount of...

Calls to US poison centers spiked after ‘magic mushrooms’ were decriminalized

Written by Christopher P. Holstege, Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Virginia

Calls to poison control centers spiked across the U.S. for adolescents and young adults exposed to the hallucinogen psilocybin, according to our analysis of data from 55 U.S. poison centers between 2013 and 2022. The calls increased after 2019 when psilocybin was decriminalized and legalized in several cities and states.

Psilocybin is a compound...

From glowing corals to vomiting shrimp, animals have used bioluminescence to communicate for millions of years – here’s what scientists still don’t know about it

Written by Danielle DeLeo, Postdoctoral Associate in Biological Sciences, Florida International University

The bamboo coral _Isidella_ displaying bioluminescence in the Caribbean in 2009.Sönke Johnsen, CC BY-ND

Humans have long been fascinated by organisms that can produce light. Aristotle, who was a scientist as well as a philosopher, wrote the first detailed descriptions of what he called “cold light” more than 2,000 years ago. More...

Supreme Court unanimously concludes that anti-abortion groups have no standing to challenge access to mifepristone – but the drug likely faces more court challenges

Written by Naomi Cahn, Professor of Law, University of Virginia

Activists on both sides of the abortion battle are gearing up for it to be a major issue in the 2024 election. Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

On June 13, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously decided to uphold access to mifepristone, one of two pills used in medication abortion. Mifepristone has long been used safely...