2017 was a year of increased conflict in the United States. Many diverse communities were forced to confront a range of challenges related to anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia and anti-immigrant feelings. These challenges strike at the heart of what it means to live in a multicultural, democratic society.

Yet, it is not the first time America has...

The year 2017 ended with a flurry of news affecting all aspects of the media industry. A shift in net neutrality policy and Disney’s planned purchase of several Fox assets capped a year that also witnessed the pending...

Energy Secretary Rick Perry has repeatedly expressed concern over the past year about the reliability of our national electric power grid. On Sept. 28, 2017, Perry ordered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revise wholesale electricity market rules to help ensure...

Editor’s note: This is a roundup of material from The Conversation archive.

The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that it will eliminate the Temporary Protected Status that gave provisional U.S. residency to Salvadoran migrants after a 2001 earthquake. Some 200,000 Salvadorans now have until Sept. 9, 2019, to leave the United...

The popular view of California is of a liberal, godless region, a land of possibilities that is open to experimentation in all things. As novelist Wallace Stegner wrote in 1967, the California motto is:

“Why not? It might work.”

This is true even in an otherwise conventional field as religion, with perhaps the most illustrative example...

You may not recognize the name Tarana Burke. She’s the black woman who founded the #MeToo movement a decade ago to support women of color who survive sexual harassment and assault.

Although this movement has mostly directed attention...

At a time of great wealth inequality and dramatically unequal chances between the rich and the poor of getting a college education, there is perhaps no better time for a new wealth transfer initiative.

Great wealth...

What do birds and aerospace engineers have in common? Both have invented incredibly dark, “super-black” surfaces that absorb almost every last bit of light that strikes them.

Of course scientists worked intentionally to devise these materials....

The average teen spends at least six hours a day looking at a screen, with most of it from using a smartphone.

Many parents, naturally, have wondered if so much time spent...

As of Jan. 1, transgender individuals are allowed to openly enlist and continue serving in the U.S. military without fear of being discharged.

President Donald Trump issued a ban on transgender military service in August 2017. It was struck down by U.S....