Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – the Islamic Republic’s ultimate authority – reluctantly blessed the nuclear agreement between Iran and the West that was signed in June 2015 and went into effect in January. Since then, he has gone out of his way to emphasize that his endorsement didn’t mean he wanted to normalize...

Mass incarceration damages individuals and communities in ways that scholars are just starting to explore.

New research that we’ve published with our colleague Mary Laske Bell shows that African American men who are former inmates are irrevocably harmed by time they spent behind bars.

This finding is troubling because incarceration has...

Federal rules mandating network neutrality – the concept that all internet traffic should be treated equally – were upheld recently by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The decision was hailed as a win by civil-rights groups, entrepreneurs...

Back in 1991, the eminent political scientist Samuel Huntington pointed out that democratic transitions around the world often come in waves.

He pointed to a “third wave” of democratization that began in the 1970s with...

The estimated annual health care costs related to obesity are over $210 billion, or nearly 21 percent of annual medical spending in the United States. Americans spend $60 billion on weight loss products each year, trying everything from expensive meal replacement products to...

We may think that a simple age cutoff – such as 18 – should make us feel like adults. And why not? After all, crossing an age threshold can bestow certain rights, such as voting, military enlistment, purchase of certain substances as well as adult images or videos.

From our...

One of the great things about being a biologist is getting to work in the field and connect with wildlife. Through my career, I have enjoyed many unforgettable close...

At a conference on June 14, Facebook executive Nicola Mendelsohn predicted that the social networking site would be “all video” within five years.

“We’re seeing a year-on-year decline of text,” she said. “If I was having...

The U. S. Supreme Court on Monday invalidated two Texas provisions that would have closed at least seven of 17 abortion clinics in the state, saying that neither provision had a positive effect on women’s health, and that both existed primarily for the unconstitutional purpose of restricting access to abortion. Some are calling the 5-3...

No one wants to serve spoiled food to their families. Conversely, consumers don’t want to throw food away unnecessarily – but we certainly do. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates Americans toss out the equivalent of US$162 billion in food every year,...