The Conversation

Before Kamala Harris, many Black women aimed for the White House

Written by: Sharon Austin, Professor of Political Science, University of Florida

Harris isn't actually the first Black woman to run for vice president of the United States.Photo Illustration by Pavlo Conchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The vice president-elect of the United States is the American daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants.

With Joe Biden’s projected presidential win over Donald Trump, Sen....

Exoplanets are still out there -- a new model tells astronomers where to look for more using 4 simple variables

Written by: Daniel Apai, Associate Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona

A starchart by Alexander Jamieson from 1822 showing the constellation Cetus, the Sea Monster. Cetus is located in the region of the sky known as the Water, along with other watery constellations such as Aquarius, Pisces and Eridanus.Buyenlarge/Getty Images

Only 12 light years from Earth, Tau Ceti is the closest single star similar to the Sun and an...

Conservatives value personal stories more than liberals do when evaluating scientific evidence

Written by: Randy Stein, Assistant Professor of Marketing, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

When science and anecdote share a podium, you must decide how to value each.Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

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

The big idea

Conservatives tend to see expert evidence and personal experience as more equally legitimate than liberals, who put a lot more weight on the scientific...

Farmers are depleting the Ogallala Aquifer because the government pays them to do it

Written by: Matthew R Sanderson, Professor of Sociology and Professor of Geography and Geospatial Sciences, Kansas State University

A center-pivot sprinkler with precision application drop nozzles irrigates cotton in Texas.USDA NRCS/Wikipedia

A slow-moving crisis threatens the U.S. Central Plains, which grow a quarter of the nation’s crops. Underground, the region’s lifeblood – water – is disappearing, placing one of the world’s major...

So-called 'Latino vote' is 32 million Americans with diverse political opinions and national origins

Written by: Lisa García Bedolla, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division, Professor of Education, University of California, Berkeley

Biden, here at an Oct. 9 event in Nevada, won Latinos – but not necessarily because his campaign did a great job reaching out to them.Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Pundits are expressing surprise that so many Latinos voted for Donald Trump.

But pollsters who specialize in the Latino vote knew for months before the...

The complicated origin of the expression 'peanut gallery'

Written by: Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of Memphis

Children in the live audience of 'Howdy Doody' were seated in what was known as the peanut gallery.NBC Television via wikimedia.org

“No comments from the peanut gallery!” For many Americans who were born in the 1940s or 1950s, this phrase conjures up fond memories of the “Howdy Doody” show. It launched in 1947 as one of the...

Why Republicans and others concerned about the economy have reason to celebrate Biden in the White House

Written by: William Chittenden, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Presidential Fellow, Texas State University

President-elect Joe Biden speaks to supporters on Nov. 7 in Wilmington, Del.AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

On day one, a newly inaugurated President Joe Biden will have to address a devastated economy – much like he and former President Barack Obama did a decade ago.

What can the country expect?

Forecasting how the economy will perform under a new...

Georgia's political shift – a tale of urban and suburban change

Written by: Jan Nijman, Distinguished University Professor, Urban Studies Institute and Geosciences Department, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University

Incumbent Republican US Sen. David Perdue wanted to avoid a runoff.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Over the past 36 years, the state of Georgia has voted for Republican presidential candidates in every cycle except 1992, when voters backed Bill Clinton. In the past 20 years, it voted consistently for Republican governors and for Republicans in the...

Biden wins – experts on what it means for race relations, US foreign policy and the Supreme Court

Written by: Brian J Purnell, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin College

President-elect Biden promises a new White House agenda and style.AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

The American public has had its say and for the first time in a generation denied a sitting president a second term.

President Donald Trump’s tenure lasted just four years, but in that time he dragged policy on an array of key issues in a dramatic new...

How votes are counted in Pennsylvania: Changing numbers are a sign of transparency, not fraud, during an ongoing process

Written by: Kristin Kanthak, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh

Election officials counting ballots at the Allegheny County elections warehouse Friday in Pittsburgh. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Last week I was grading an online exam for my students. We’re working with a new learning management system at my university and I didn’t realize my students could actually see their grades moving up and down...