The Conversation

Abortion: the story of suffering and death behind Ireland's ban and subsequent legalization

Written by Gretchen E. Ely, Professor of Social Work and Ph.D. Program Director, University of Tennessee

The death of Savita Halappanavar in an Irish hospital in 2012 after she was denied an abortion during a miscarriage caused outrage across Ireland.AP Photo/Shawn Pogatchnik

If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion in the U.S., the nation may find itself on a path similar to that trod by the Irish...

The fight against school segregation began in South Carolina, long before it ended with Brown v. Board

Written by Roy Jones, Professor of Leadership, Counselor Education, Human and Organizational Development; Executive director, Call Me MISTER, Clemson University

Millicent Brown, left, was one of the first two Black students to integrate a South Carolina public school, in September 1963.AP Photo

When it comes to the case of Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court decision that outlawed school segregation, the focus is often on Topeka, Kansas, the home of the Brown family and the school board...

Some chocolate has a dark side to it – child labor

Written by Robert C Ulin, Professor of Anthropology, Rochester Institute of Technology

Most of us love chocolates, but child labor has been found involved in some of the production.Jupiterimages/ The Image Bank via Getty Images

Chocolate makes for a perfect gift, a comforting snack and even a health food, thanks to its plentiful antioxidants. Rumor has it that it might even work as an aphrodisiac. It is no surprise, then, that the...

More mass shootings are happening at grocery stores – 13% of shooters are motivated by racial hatred, criminologists find

Written by Jillian Peterson, Professor of Criminal Justice, Hamline University

Racial hatred is a factor in 13% of mass shootings at grocery stores.John Normile/Getty Images

An apparently racially motivated attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, resulted in 10 deaths on May 14, 2022, with the teenage suspect allegedly targeting Black shoppers in a prominently African American neighborhood.

Mass public shootings in which...

Enforcing unprecedented subpoenas for GOP lawmakers turns on complex legal precedent going back centuries

Written by Jennifer Selin, Co-director, Washington Office, Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy, Wayne State University

Will House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy attempt to defy subpoena?Drew Angerer/Getty Images

An attempt to force five Republican lawmakers into providing information to the House panel probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is unlikely to end with the subpoenas issued May 12, 2022.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and the four other Republican...

A shrinking fraction of the world's major crops goes to feed the hungry, with more used for nonfood purposes

Written by Deepak Ray, Senior Scientist, University of Minnesota

Harvesting soybeans in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Brazil exports soybeans and uses them domestically to make animal feed and biodiesel.Paulo Fridman/Corbis via Getty Images

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Rising competition for many of the world’s important crops is sending increasing amounts toward uses other than directly feeding people. These competing uses include...

US schools are not racially integrated, despite decades of effort

Written by Pedro A. Noguera, Dean, USC Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California

Court-ordered desegregation has happened in the U.S. as recently as 2015, when a federal judge issued a desegregation order to the Cleveland, Miss., school district.AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

Nearly seven decades after the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, the court’s declared goal of...

What is 'personhood'? The ethics question that needs a closer look in abortion debates

Written by Nancy S. Jecker, Professor of Bioethics and Humanities, School of Medicine, University of Washington

Debate about abortion is often a debate about rights -- but whose?AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Controversy over abortion reached a fever pitch on May 2, 2022, when the leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion was published by Politico. If the draft’s key points are reflected in the final ruling, this would strike down Roe v. Wade, a...

A court case against migrant activists in Italy offers a reminder – not all refugees are welcome in Europe

Written by Eleanor Paynter, Postdoctoral Associate in Migrations, Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell University

As many European countries welcome Ukrainians fleeing war, recent charges against a migrant advocate in Rome offer a reminder that popular anti-migration sentiments persist across Europe.

Andrea Costa, the president of Rome-based migration nonprofit Baobab Experience, was recently acquitted on charges of facilitating illegal migration – a...

Why a US task force is recommending anxiety screening in kids 8 and older

Written by Elana Bernstein, Assistant Professor of School Psychology, University of Dayton

Anxiety is the most common mental health problem affecting U.S. children.Brian A. Jackson/iStock via Getty Images

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a draft statement in April 2022 recommending screening for anxiety in children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and 18. This recommendation – which is still open for public...