The Conversation

Supreme Court ruling on Dreamers sends a clear message to the White House: You have to tell the truth

Written by Morgan Marietta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Protesters celebrate the Supreme Court ruling.AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

When it came down to it, the fate of 700,000 immigrants brought to U.S. as children hung on a simple question: Does the White House have to tell the whole truth in justifying its move to deport them?

On June 18, the Supreme Court said “yes.”

In a 5-to-4 decision that...

Domestic abusers use tech that connects as a weapon during coronavirus lockdowns

Written by Alison J. Marganski, Associate Professor & Director of Criminology, Le Moyne College

Technology plays a major role in violence against women and girls.AntonioGuillem/iStock via Getty Images

The coronavirus pandemic has driven much of daily life – work, school, socializing – online. Unfortunately, perpetrators of violence against women and girls are also increasingly turning to technology in response to the pandemic.

Globa...

What do struggling small businesses need most? Time – and bankruptcy can provide it

Written by Brook Gotberg, Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri-Columbia

For some small businesses, temporary will become permanent.AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown forced nearly a third of all small businesses in the United States to close. Some have shut down for good – one estimate puts the percentage at almost 2%, or over 100,000 so far.

Those that remain and are gradually...

Living near active oil and gas wells in California tied to low birth weight and smaller babies

Written by Rachel Morello-Frosch, Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management & School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley

A pump jack in the town of Signal Hill, California, which sits within the Long Beach Oil Field near the Port of Long Beach. Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

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

The big idea

In a California study, we found that pregnant women living near active high-production oil and gas wells...

Land loss has plagued black America since emancipation – is it time to look again at 'black commons' and collective ownership?

Written by Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University

Former slaves harvesting for their own profit.Corbis via Getty Images

Underlying the recent unrest sweeping U.S. cities over police brutality is a fundamental inequity in wealth, land and power that has circumscribed black lives since the end of slavery in the U.S.

The “40 acres and a mule” promised to formerly enslaved Africans never...

5 reasons police officers should have college degrees

Written by Leana Bouffard, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, Iowa State University

Does college hold the answer to police violence?Pacific Press/Getty Images

Following several deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police, President Donald J. Trump issued an executive order on June 16 that calls for increased training and credentialing to reduce the use of excessive force by police.

The order did not mention the need for...

The Supreme Court decision to grant protections to LGBT workers is an important expansion of the Civil Rights Act

Written by Julie Manning Magid, Professor of Business Law, IUPUI

A man waves a rainbow flag as he rides by the Supreme Court on June 15, 2020.JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

No federal law barring discrimination against LGBT workers in hiring, promoting and firing existed in this country until this week.

Although some may have believed LGBT individuals were protected from discrimination following the Supreme...

Conservation could create jobs post-pandemic

Written by Heidi Peltier, Research Professor in Political Science; Faculty Research Fellow at the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University

People have been rediscovering nature during the pandemic, but it's not just good for public heath. Conservation also creates jobs.Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order making it easier for pipeline projects and other oil and gas development to progress, claiming environmental regulations cause...

What is the 'zero gravity' that people experience in the vomit comet or space flight?

Written by Steven Collicott, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University

People in a special airplane flight get to float like there is no gravity – just like astronautsSteven Collicott

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.

In the zero-gravity airplanes or vomit comet, why does stuff behave like...

Here's why some people are willing to challenge bullying, corruption and bad behavior, even at personal risk

Written by Catherine A. Sanderson, Poler Family Professor and Chair of Psychology, Amherst College

Certain characteristics mean moral rebels are willing to not go with the flow.Francesco Carta fotografo/Moment via Getty Images

Utah Senator Mitt Romney voted in February to convict President Donald Trump on the charge of abuse of power, becoming the first senator ever to vote against his own party’s president in an impeachment trial.

Two...