The Conversation

Trump, like Obama, tests the limits of presidential war powers

Written by Sarah Burns, Associate Professor of Political Science, Rochester Institute of Technology

In an official White House photo, President Donald Trump stands alone.Shealah Craighead/White House

To many observers, President Donald Trump’s decision to kill a senior Iranian general is yet another example of his unique impetuousness and determination to go it alone in his foreign policy. Congress has begun to take steps to reel in...

The US-Iran conflict and the consequences of international law-breaking

Written by David Mednicoff, Chair, Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, and Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Public Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Mourners carry the coffins of slain Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and eight others during a funeral procession in Karbala, Iraq on Jan. 4, 2020.MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP via Getty Images

Editor’s note: Iran’s missile attack on a U.S. base in Iraq in retaliation for the Trump...

School closures can hit rural communities hard

Written by Mara Casey Tieken, Associate Professor of Education, Bates College

An abandoned Arkansas high schoolMara Casey Tieken, CC BY-SA

The school bus begins picking up children before 6 a.m. in Elaine, Arkansas, a small, mostly African American town on the Mississippi River floodplains about 120 miles east of Little Rock. It crawls past long stretches of oxbow lakes, acres of soybean and cotton fields, and two closed...

What Trump's tweet threatening Iran's cultural sites could mean for Shiite Muslims

Written by Kishwar Rizvi, Professor in the History of Art Islamic Art and Architecture, Yale University

Golden Iwan, Shrine of Fatima Masuma, built in the eighth century, is also a leading Shii seminary in Iran.Kishwar Rizvi, CC BY-SA

President Donald Trump warned the Islamic Republic of Iran in a tweet on Jan. 4 that the U.S. would target Iranian cultural sites, if provoked.

His threat followed the United States’ killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem...

Tweets about cannabis' health benefits are full of mistruths

Written by Jon-Patrick Allem, Assistant Professor of Research, University of Southern California

Thomas Uhle, a grow manager, tends to marijuana plants growing at GB Sciences Louisiana in Baton Rouge in August 2019.Gerald Herbert/AP Photo

There has been a lot of talk in the U.S. about legalizing recreational cannabis, and about cannabis’ potential to help with health issues.

Scientists working in medicine may have a lot to discover about...

How countries in conflict, like Iran and the US, still talk to each other

Written by Klaus W. Larres, Richard M. Krasno Distinguished Professor; Adjunct Professor of the Curriculum in Peace, War and Defense, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Diplomacy has provided a solution for how countries in conflict can communicate.Shutterstock/cybrain

Even countries that have broken ties with each other need to communicate in times of crisis and war.

That includes the U.S. and Iran, which have not had an official way to talk directly to each other since President Jimmy Carter cut off diplomatic...

Children of color already make up the majority of kids in many US states

Written by Rogelio Sáenz, Professor of Demography, The University of Texas at San Antonio

The U.S. white majority is shrinking. Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com

Demographers project that whites will become a minority in the U.S. in around 2045, dropping below 50% of the population.

That’s a quarter-century from now – still a long way away, right?

Not if you focus on children. White children right now are on the eve of becoming a...

Should college funding be tied to how many students graduate?

Written by Denisa Gandara, Assistant Professor, Southern Methodist University, Southern Methodist University

Colleges are increasingly being judged on how many students graduate. But is tying funding to graduation rates the way to go?George Rudy/Shutterstock.com

Editor’s note: Performance-based funding – a policy where a portion of state funding for public colleges and universities is based on how well they perform – is gaining in...

Telecommuters create positive change – so why aren't employers more flexible about people working from home?

Written by Mohja Rhoads, Research Consultant and Lecturer in Policy, Planning and Development, California State University, Dominguez Hills

More workers are demanding the flexibility to work out of the office.AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

More Americans are using flexible workplace practices – including telecommuting, co-working and off-peak start times – to add flexibility to their lives and eliminate or improve their commute.

One motivation? Rush hour traffic is getting...

Monkeys smashing nuts with stones hint at how human tool use evolved

Written by Kristen S. Morrow, PhD Student in Anthropology and Integrative Conservation, University of Georgia

A capuchin monkey in Brazil hoists a stone tool to crack open nuts.Luca Antonio Marino, CC BY-ND

Human beings used to be defined as “the tool-maker” species. But the uniqueness of this description was challenged in the 1960s when Dr. Jane Goodall discovered that chimpanzees will pick and modify grass stems to use to collect termites....