The Conversation

Supreme Court ignores precedent instead of overruling it in allowing president to fire officials whom Congress tried to make independent

Written by Claire B. Wofford, Associate Professor of Political Science, College of Charleston

Can President Donald Trump -- or any president -- fire the heads of independent agencies created by Congress?Douglas Rissing/iStock via Getty Images Plus

What may be one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s most important and far-reaching rulings in decades dropped in late May 2025 in an order that probably didn’t get a second – or even...

House tax-and-spending bill and other Trump administration changes could make millions of people lose their health insurance coverage

Written by Simon F. Haeder, Associate Professor of Public Health, Texas A&M University

People who don't have health insurance coverage often delay or simply don't get the medical care they need.Jacob Wackerhausen/iStock via Getty Images Plus

President Donald Trump has promised not to cut Medicaid many times over the past decade, including in the tax-and-spending legislative package he has made a top priority in his second...

RFK Jr’s shakeup of vaccine advisory committee raises worries about scientific integrity of health recommendations

Written by Santosh Kumar Gautam, Associate Professor of Development and Global Health Economics, University of Notre Dame

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices played a key role in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images

On June 11, 2025, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a slate of eight new members to serve on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the Centers for Disease Control...

Two-state solution in the Middle East has been a core US policy for 25 years – is the Trump administration eyeing a change?

Written by Dan Arbell, Scholar-in-residence at the Center for Israeli Studies, American University

Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, holds a note given to him from President Donald Trump to be placed in the cracks of the Western Wall in the old city of Jerusalem on April 18, 2025.Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images

For a generation, the promotion of a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been a...

US Army’s image of power and flag-waving rings false to Gen Z weary of gun violence − and long-term recruitment numbers show it

Written by Jacob Ware, Adjunct Professor of Domestic Terrorism, Georgetown University

A recruit participates in the Army's future soldier prep course at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C., on Sept. 25, 2024. AP Photo/Chris Carlson

The U.S. Army will celebrate its 250th birthday on Saturday, June 14, 2025, with a parade in Washington, D.C., in which about 6,600 soldiers and heavy pieces of military equipment will roll through the...

Older adults with dementia misjudge their financial skills – which may make them more vulnerable to fraud, new research finds

Written by Ian McDonough, Associate Professor of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Older adults generally have a good sense of their own financial abilities – unless they have dementia. shapecharge/E+ via Getty Images

Older adults diagnosed with dementia lose their ability to assess how well they manage their finances, according to a recent study I co-authored in The Gerontologist. In comparison, people of the same age who...

AI literacy: What it is, what it isn’t, who needs it and why it’s hard to define

Written by Daniel S. Schiff, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Purdue University

AI literacy is a lot more than simply knowing how to prompt an AI chatbot.DNY59/E+ via Getty Images

It is “the policy of the United States to promote AI literacy and proficiency among Americans,” reads an executive order President Donald Trump issued on April 23, 2025. The executive order, titled Advancing Artificial Intelligence...

Federal R D funding boosts productivity for the whole economy − making big cuts to such government spending unwise

Written by Andrew Fieldhouse, Visiting Assistant Professor of Finance, Texas A&M University

Research can make everyone better off. Emilija Manevska/Moment via Getty Images

Large cuts to government-funded research and development can endanger American innovation – and the vital productivity gains it supports.

The Trump administration has already canceled at least US$1.8 billion in research grants previously awarded by the National...

AI tools collect and store data about you from all your devices – here’s how to be aware of what you’re revealing

Written by Christopher Ramezan, Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity, West Virginia University

AI tools gather information about you from many types of devices, including smartphones.Prostock-Studio/Getty Images

Like it or not, artificial intelligence has become part of daily life. Many devices – including electric razors and toothbrushes – have become “AI-powered,” using machine learning algorithms to track how a...

Energy Star, on the Trump administration’s target list, has a long history of helping consumers’ wallets and the planet

Written by Magali A. Delmas, Professor of Management, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles

The blue Energy Star label is widely recognized across the U.S.Alex Tai/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Since the early 1990s, the small blue Energy Star label has appeared on millions of household appliances, electronics and even buildings across the United States. But as the Trump administration considers terminating some or all of the...