The Conversation

Trump gets no special protections because he's president and must release financial records, Supreme Court rules

Written by Stanley M. Brand, Distinguished Fellow in Law and Government, Pennsylvania State University

Investigators are trying to follow the president's money, and the Supreme Court just gave them the green light.Alex Wong/Getty Images

In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court has ruled that President Donald Trump has no immunity, by virtue of being president, from a state grand jury subpoena for his business and tax records in a criminal investigation...

Este sencillo modelo muestra la importancia de las mascarillas y el distanciamiento social

Written by Jeyaraj Vadiveloo, Director of the Janet and Mark L. Goldenson Center for Actuarial Research, University of Connecticut

Personal del hospital y de enfermería usando mascarillas y cumpliendo las pautas de distanciamiento social en un evento en el Reino Unido. Ben Birchall /Getty Images

El Research Brief es una breve reseña de un trabajo académico interesante.

Con la llegada de un brote de enfermedades infecciosas, los epidemiólogos y...

Federal executions to resume, posing a new test for lethal injection

Written by Austin Sarat, Associate Provost and Associate Dean of the Faculty and Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College

The lethal injection chamber at a California prison.Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear four inmates’ challenge to the specifics of the lethal injection process, federal executions are expected to resume next week. In July 2019, Attorney General William Barr declared an end to a f...

Judge orders Brazil to protect Indigenous people from ravages of COVID-19

Written by Nadia Rubaii, Co-Director, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, and Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Satere-mawe Indigenous men in face masks paddle the Ariau River in hard-hit Manaus state during the coronavirus pandemic, May 5, 2020. Ricardo Oliveira /AFP via Getty Images

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Brazil must take emergency measures to protect its Indigenous communities from the novel coronavirus, the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled on July 8.

Justice...

Money buys even more happiness than it used to

Written by Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology, San Diego State University

Don't listen to the old adage.PonyWang/Getty Images

Many factors determine happiness, but one has stirred considerable controversy over the years: money.

While the old adage says that money can’t buy happiness, several studies have determined that the more your income increases, the happier you are, up until US$75,000 a year. After hitting...

Vigilantism, again in the news, is an American tradition

Written by Jonathan Obert, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Amherst College

Armed white citizens and police have historically worked together in the U.S., though it's not clear whether that's what's happening here.George Frey/Getty Images

It’s a contentious time in the U.S., with a pandemic, racial equality, police violence and a presidential election all occupying people’s attention. Given all that stress, it...

With prizes, food, housing and cash, Putin rigged Russia's most recent vote

Written by Regina Smyth, Professor, Indiana University

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a polling station to cast his ballot in a nationwide vote on constitutional reforms in Moscow on July 1, 2020. Alexey Druzhinin/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

When Russians voted in early July on 200 constitutional amendments, officials rigged the election to create the illusion that President Vladimir Putin...

Cell-like decoys could mop up viruses in humans – including the one that causes COVID-19

Written by Liangfang Zhang, Professor of Nanoengineering, University of California San Diego

Duck decoys lure real ducks within range of hunters. Nanoparticles that look like cells serve as both decoys and hunters to ensnare virus particles.Chuck Holland/Flickr, CC BY-ND

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

The big idea

Researchers around the world are working frantically to develop COVID-19 vaccines meant to...

When states pass social liberalization laws, they create regional advantages for innovation

Written by Laurina Zhang, Assistant Professor of Strategy & Innovation, Boston University

Marriage equality supporters in 2006 probably had no idea the law they advocated would spur innovation.Darren McCollester/Getty Images News via Getty Images

What conditions lead to world-changing innovation? It’s an important question for business and government leaders.

Contrary to the traditional notion of the solitary scientist, new...

Aerosols are a bigger coronavirus threat than WHO guidelines suggest – here's what you need to know

Written by Byron Erath, Associate professor of fluid mechanics, Clarkson University

Aerosols are made up of tiny respiratory droplets suspended in the air.Jeffrey Coolidge via Getty Images

When someone coughs, talks or even breathes, they send tiny respiratory droplets into the surrounding air. The smallest of these droplets can float for hours, and there is strong evidence that they can carry live coronavirus if the person is...