The Conversation

Baseless anti-trans claims fuel adoption of harmful laws – two criminologists explain

Written by Henry F. Fradella, Professor, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Affiliate Professor, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law., Arizona State University

Kansas legislators Brenda Landwehr, left, and Chris Croft confer during a vote on an anti-transgender bathroom bill, which both support.AP Photo/John Hanna

It has been seven years since North Carolina made headlines for enacting a “bathroom bill” – legislation intended to prevent transgender people from using restrooms that align...

Birth of a story: How new parents find meaning after childbirth hints at how they will adjust

Written by Darby Saxbe, Associate Professor of Psychology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Having a new baby can upend everything about your old life.Cavan Images/Cavan via Getty Images

Gather a group of new parents and the conversation will likely turn to their childbirth stories – ranging from the joyful to the gnarly to the positively traumatic. Birth story podcasts and websites feature a curated range of birth experiences, and...

Charities can get a 6% donations boost when Charity Navigator gives them more stars – but to get there, they might game the system

Written by Jennifer Mayo, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Missouri-Columbia

Getting all four stars has its rewards.ikonacolor/iStock via Getty Images Plus

CC BY-ND

With multitudes of worthy charities to choose from – and the possibility that a poorly run or fake nonprofit might trick you into thinking it’s a good cause – it’s sometimes hard to know which ones to support.

That’s why many donors...

Judging the judges: Scandals have the potential to affect the legitimacy of judges – and possibly the federal judiciary, too

Written by Ali S. Masood, Assistant Professor of Politics, Oberlin College and Conservatory

Activists call for ethics reform in the Supreme Court at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 2, 2023. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is no stranger to controversy.

In 1991, during his confirmation hearings in the Senate, Thomas faced accusations of sexual harassment from a former colleague and law...

How AI could take over elections – and undermine democracy

Written by Archon Fung, Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government, Harvard Kennedy School

An AI-driven political campaign could be all things to all people.Eric Smalley, TCUS; Biodiversity Heritage Library/Flickr; Taymaz Valley/Flickr, CC BY-ND

Could organizations use artificial intelligence language models such as ChatGPT to induce voters to behave in specific ways?

Sen. Josh Hawley asked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman this question in a May...

The allure of the ad-lib: New research identifies why people prefer spontaneity in entertainment

Written by Jacqueline Rifkin, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Cornell University

What makes improvised stage patter more appealing than a canned script?FangXiaNuo/E+ via Getty Images

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

The big idea

Audiences love to see athletes and entertainers behaving spontaneously, according to our recent research, because ad-libbed lines, spectacular catches, improvised set...

Moldova is trying to join the EU, but it will have a hard time breaking away from Russia's orbit

Written by Tatsiana Kulakevich, Associate Professor of Instruction in the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, Affiliate Professor at the Institute for Russian, European, and Eurasian Studies, University of South Florida

People take part in a pro-European Union rally in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, on May 21, 2023.Elena Covalenco/AFP via Getty Images

Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, straddles Ukraine to its east and European Union countries to its west – placing it in an arguably vulnerable position in the ongoing war between Ukraine...

Work requirements don't work for domestic violence survivors – but Michigan data shows they rarely get waivers they should receive for cash assistance

Written by Kristina Nikolova, Research Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of Windsor, and Adjunct Professor of Social Work, Wayne State University

Denying waivers to survivors of domestic violence can hinder their independence from their abusers. Alvaro Medina Jurado/Moment via Getty Images

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

The big idea

Very few people who have survived domestic violence are getting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) waivers from...

How do credit scores work? 2 finance professors explain how lenders choose who gets loans and at what interest rate

Written by D. Brian Blank, Assistant Professor of Finance, Mississippi State University

One way to get a good credit score is to pay bills on time every month.tolgart/iStock via Getty Images Plus

With the cost of borrowing money to buy a home or a car inching ever higher, understanding who gets access to credit, and at what interest rate, is more important for borrowers’ financial health than ever. Lenders base those decisions...

How teachers can stay true to history without breaking new laws that restrict what they can teach about racism

Written by W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Professor of History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

A growing number of states have passed laws that restrict what teachers can teach about racism.FangXiaNuo via Getty Images

When it comes to America’s latest “history war,” one of the biggest consequences is that it has made many K-12 educators scared and confused about what they can and can’t say in their classrooms.

Since...