The Conversation

Jobs are up! Wages are up! So why am I as an economist so gloomy?

Written by Edouard Wemy, Assistant Professor of Economics, Clark University

Why so sad, George?Chuck Savage via Getty Images

In any other time, the jobs news that came down on Dec. 2, 2022, would be reason for cheer.

The U.S. added 263,000 nonfarm jobs in November, leaving the unemployment rate at a low 3.7%. Moreover, wages are up – with average hourly pay jumping 5.1% compared with a year earlier.

So why am I not...

Religious freedom and LGBTQ rights are clashing in schools and on campuses – and courts are deciding

Written by Charles J. Russo, Joseph Panzer Chair in Education in the School of Education and Health Sciences and Research Professor of Law, University of Dayton

People walk by the campus of Yeshiva University in New York City.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Disputes over religious freedom and LGBTQ rights in the United States have led to some of the most high-profile judicial controversies – and 2022 is no exception. For example, the Supreme Court will hear arguments Dec. 5, 2022, about whether a designer...

Nurses' attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination for their children are highly influenced by partisanship, a new study finds

Written by Filip Viskupič, Assistant Professor of Political Science, South Dakota State University

As of Nov. 30, 2022, 62.5% of children and adolescents are unvaccinated against COVID-19.South_agency/E+ via Getty Images

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

The big idea

Children of nurses who identify as Republican are less likely to receive a COVID-19 vaccination compared with children of nurses who identify as...

Brain-computer interfaces could allow soldiers to control weapons with their thoughts and turn off their fear – but the ethics of neurotechnology lags behind the science

Written by Nancy S. Jecker, Professor of Bioethics and Humanities, School of Medicine, University of Washington

Brain-computer interfaces raise many ethical questions about how and whether they should be used for certain applications.Wenjin Chen/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

Imagine that a soldier has a tiny computer device injected into their bloodstream that can be guided with a magnet to specific regions of their brain. With training, the soldier...

Darknet markets generate millions in revenue selling stolen personal data, supply chain study finds

Written by Christian Jordan Howell, Assistant Professor in Cybercrime, University of South Florida

Hackers are just one part of a supply chain in a multimillion-dollar black market for stolen data.Peach_iStock via Getty Images

It is common to hear news reports about large data breaches, but what happens once your personal data is stolen? Our research shows that, like most legal commodities, stolen data products flow through a supply chain...

Protecting 30% of Earth's surface for nature means thinking about connections near and far

Written by Veronica Frans, PhD Student in Fisheries & Wildlife and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology & Behavior, Michigan State University

Red knots stop to feed along the Delaware shore as they migrate from the high Arctic to South America.Gregory Breese, USFWS/Flickr

A biodiversity crisis is reducing the variety of life on Earth. Under pressure from land and water pollution, development, overhunting, poaching, climate change and species invasions, approximately 1 million plant and...

Student 'slave auctions' illustrate the existence of a hidden culture of domination and subjugation in US schools

Written by Barbara Harris Combs, Professor and Chair Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Kennesaw State University

A depiction of an auction where an enslaved person is sold.Getty Images

In an otherwise normal football season, two California high schools abruptly canceled the remainder of their games for the same reason. Players on both teams participated in troublesome acts of racism.

In October 2022, Amador High School in Sutter Creek ended its season after...

3 ways cryptocurrency is changing the way colleges do business with students and donors

Written by Nir Kshetri, Professor of Management, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

Universities are seeking to boost bottom lines and personal connections with cryptocurrencies.Irina Marchenko/iStock via Getty Images

Until about 2020, universities used cryptocurrencies only to pay ransoms to criminals attacking their networks. A fast payment to criminals helped victim universities restore their networks quickly.

With increasing...

Genocides persist, nearly 70 years after the Holocaust – but there are recognized ways to help prevent them

Written by Kerry Whigham, Assistant Professor of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Binghamton University, State University of New York

An Orthodox Jewish man looks at photographs of Jews murdered during the Holocaust at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel.David Silverman/Getty Images

The newly formed United Nations passed its first international treaty on Dec. 9, 1948, just three years after the Holocaust ended. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime...

Jiang Zemin propelled China's economic rise in the world, leaving his successors to deal with the massive inequality that followed

Written by Edward Cunningham, Director of Ash Center China Programs, Harvard Kennedy School

Jiang Zemin oversaw the economic transformation of China.Diana Walker/Getty Images

By the summer of 1989, a series of problems were threatening China’s stability. Soaring inflation was undermining the economy at home while the violent suppression of Tiananmen Square demonstrations had left it largely a pariah state abroad. Yet within a few...