The Conversation

Ketanji Brown Jackson's Supreme Court hearing is a flashback to how race and crime featured during Thurgood Marshall's 1967 hearings

Written by Margaret M. Russell, Associate Professor of Law, Santa Clara University

Ketanji Brown Jackson, speaking during her confirmation hearing on March 22, 2022, would be the first Black woman to serve on the court.Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images

U.S. Sen. James Eastland posed a question to U.S. Supreme Court nominee Thurgood Marshall during his August 1967 confirmation hearings.

“Are you prejudiced against white people in...

Vaccine hesitancy is complicating physicians' obligation to respect patient autonomy during the COVID-19 pandemic

Written by Ryan Liu, Family Medicine Resident Physician, Penn State

Over the past couple of decades there has been a shift away from upholding patient autonomy to prioritizing public health. Terry Vine/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Sitting barely 6 feet away from me, my patient yelled angrily, his face mask slipping to his upper lip: “No, I will not get vaccinated. And nothing you do or say will change that...

New data-sharing requirements from the National Institutes of Health are a big step toward more open science – and potentially higher-quality research

Written by Stephen Jacobs, Professor of Interactive Games and Media, Rochester Institute of Technology

In order to get funding from the National Institutes of Health, researchers now need a plan for sharing and managing their data.Exdez/Digital Vision Vectors via Getty Images

Starting on Jan. 25, 2023, many of the 2,500 institutions and 300,000 researchers that the U.S. National Institutes of Health supports will need to provide a formal, detailed...

March Madness stars can now cash in on endorsements – but some limits set by states and universities may still be unconstitutional

Written by Sam C. Ehrlich, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies, Boise State University

Gonzaga forward Drew Timme's mustache – and his basketball skills – helped him earn an endorsement from Dollar Shave Club.AP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer

March Madness is proving lucrative for some of its Cinderella stories and standout stars, thanks to a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that led the NCAA to end its longstanding ban on student...

How much is the media buzz from a March Madness Cinderella run worth to a school like Saint Peter's?

Written by Nancy Haskell, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Dayton

Saint Peter's guard Doug Edert celebrates during the team's upset win over Kentucky.Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Few people outside Jersey City had heard of the No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s Peacocks before they upset No. 2 seed Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Two days later, Saint Peter’s beat No. 7...

How fairy tales shape fighting spirit: Ukraine's children hear bedtime stories of underdog heroes, while Russian children hear tales of magical success

Written by Mia Bloom, Professor and Fellow at Evidence Based Cyber Security Program, Georgia State University

A Ukrainian soldier wanders down a railway past the bodies of dead Russian soldiers on the outskirts of Irpin, Ukraine, March 1, 2022. Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

At the outset of Russia’s invasion, almost no one in the West expected that Ukraine would be able to offer Russia any kind of serious opposition to its unprovoked...

Tornadoes, climate change and why Dixie is the new Tornado Alley

Written by Ernest Agee, Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Science, Purdue University

The heart of U.S. tornado activity, once Tornado Alley, has shifted eastward.Brent Koops/NOAA Weather in Focus Photo Contest 2015, CC BY-ND

Tornadoes tore up homes in New Orleans and its suburbs and were reported in communities from Texas to Mississippi and Alabama as severe storms swept across the South in late March 2022. We asked tornado...

Why the future of the world's largest religion is female – and African

Written by Gina Zurlo, Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

Nigerian women greet each other at St. Charles Catholic Church in Ngurore, Nigeria, on Feb. 17, 2019. AP Photo/Sunday Alamba

At the start of 2019, Bill and Melinda Gates released a list of facts that had surprised them the previous year. Number four on their list: “Data can be sexist.”

“There are huge gaps in the global data about...

An emphasis on brilliance creates a toxic, dog-eat-dog workplace atmosphere that discourages women

Written by Andrea Vial, Assistant Professor of Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi

Zero-sum competitive environments that set up winners and losers may be less appealing to women.Photo and Co/The Image Bank via Getty Images

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

The big idea

Workplaces that emphasize brilliance are perceived to have a masculine work culture that undermines gender diversity, according to...

Ketanji Brown Jackson’s path to Supreme Court nomination was paved by trailblazing Black women judges

Written by Sharon D. Wright Austin, Professor of Political Science, University of Florida

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks at her Senate confirmation hearing.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Just five women and two African Americans, both men, are among the 115 people who have served on the United States’ highest court over more than two centuries. Both of those numbers may change in 2022, with President Joe Biden’s nomination of...