The Conversation

How 'strategic' bias keeps Americans from voting for women and candidates of color

Written by Regina Bateson, Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Public & International Affairs and the Faculty of Law, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

Women like congressional candidate Cori Bush from Missouri face greater obstacles than white men when trying to reach political office.Getty Images for Supermajority

When Americans vote this fall, the candidates on their ballots will not reflect the diversity of the United States.

Despite recent gains, women and people of color still do not run...

Will Russia influence the American vote?

Written by Scott Jasper, Lecturer in National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School

As American voters cast their ballots, they are also being targeted with foreign disinformation.Mark Makela/Getty Images

The idea that someone recently tried to influence Americans to vote for a particular candidate by sending them threatening emails may sound outlandish – as might federal officials’ allegation that the Iranian...

American suburbs radically changed over the decades – and so have their politics

Written by Jan Nijman, Distinguished Professor of Urban Studies and Geosciences, Georgia State University

Editor’s note: Suburban voters in a number of areas are considered critical swing voters. The growing political stakes reflect the dramatic changes that have happened in American suburbia in recent years, says Dr. Jan Nijman, director and distinguished university professor at the Urban Studies Institute, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies...

Gig worker employment fights like those in California pit flexibility against a livable wage – but 'platform cooperatives' could ensure workers get both

Written by Juliet B. Schor, Professor of Sociology, Boston College

California's Proposition 22 would reverse a new law that made Uber and Lyft drivers employees. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Voters in California will decide in November whether Uber drivers and other gig economy workers should be considered employees or contractors – a question that’s been debated and litigated for many years...

Google antitrust case suggests Apple should be in the Department of Justice’s crosshairs too

Written by Hemant K. Bhargava, Professor, Suran Chair in Technology Management; Director, Center for Analytics and Technology in Society, University of California, Davis

Apple devices drive over half of all Google search traffic. AP Photo/Russel A. Daniels

Google’s payments to Apple to promote its search engine in iPhones, iPads and Mac computers are at the center of the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against the tech giant.

The suit alleges this creates a “continuous and...

Halloween isn't about candy and costumes for modern-day pagans – witches mark Halloween with reflections on death as well as magic

Written by Helen A. Berger, Resident Scholar, Brandeis University

A home in New York decorated for 2020 Halloween.Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images

This Halloween, there are likely to be fewer pint-sized witches going door to door in search of candy. Concerns over the coronavirus have meant that in many places, trick-or-treating is off the menu. Even in Salem, Massachusetts, the place associated with the infamous...

Why sleep experts say it's time to ditch daylight saving time

Written by Michael S. Jaffee, Vice Chair, Department of Neurology, University of Florida

"Spring forward, fall back": The clock goes back one hour on Nov. 1.billberryphotography via Getty Images

For most of the U.S., the clock goes back one hour on Sunday morning, Nov. 1, the “fall back” for daylight saving time. Many of us appreciate the extra hour of sleep.

But for millions, that gain won’t counter the inadequate...

On Twitter, bots spread conspiracy theories and QAnon talking points

Written by Emilio Ferrara, Associate Professor of Computer Science; USC Viterbi School of Engineering; Associate Professor of Communication, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Are you being deceived by a robot?Alina Kvaratskhelia/iStock/Getty Images Plus

Americans who seek political insight and information on Twitter should know how much of what they are seeing is the result of automated propaganda campaigns.

Nearly four years after my collaborators and I revealed how automated Twitter accounts were distorting online...

People's bodies now run cooler than 'normal' – even in the Bolivian Amazon

Written by Michael Gurven, Professor of Anthropology, University of California Santa Barbara

Tsimane children look out over the Maniqui River, in the Bolivian Amazon.Michael Gurven, CC BY-ND

Feeling under the weather? Chances are you or your doctor will grab a thermometer, take your temperature and hope for the familiar 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) everyone recognizes as “normal.”

But what is normal and why does...

For a growing number of evangelical Christians, Trump is no longer the lesser of two evils

Written by Stewart Clem, Assistant Professor of Moral Theology, Aquinas Institute of Theology

A moral minority of evangelicals are moving away from Trump.Scott McIntyre/For The Washington Post via Getty Images

It has long been taken for granted that the majority of evangelical Christians in the United States will vote for Donald Trump.

That may well be the case. But there are recent signs that fewer evangelicals will support Trump this time...