The Conversation

Poverty in 2021 looks different than in 1964 – but the US hasn't changed how it measures who's poor since LBJ began his war

Written by Mark Robert Rank, Professor of Social Welfare, Washington University in St Louis

Poverty in America has changed since the 1960s.Morton Broffman/Getty Images

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson famously declared war on poverty.

“The richest nation on Earth can afford to win it,” he told Congress in his first State of the Union address. “We cannot afford to lose it.”

Yet as the administration was to learn...

How Latin America's protest superheroes fight injustice and climate change – and sometimes crime, too

Written by Vinodh Venkatesh, Professor of Hispanic Studies, Virginia Tech

An Argentine justice crusader who calls himself Menganno has been patrolling the streets of the city of Lanus since 2010. Netflix has now picked up his character.Netflix Latinoamérica (screenshot)

Not all heroes wear capes. In Latin America, some real-life icons wear Mexican wrestling masks or arm themselves with shields and herbicide to...

New wave of anti-protest laws may infringe on religious freedoms for Indigenous people

Written by Rosalyn R. LaPier, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, The University of Montana

More than 30 U.S. states have passed laws intended to stop protests like the one against the Line 3 pipeline.Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images

Over four days in June 2021, thousands of protesters attended the Treaty People Gathering in opposition to Line 3, a crude oil pipeline slated to be built across traditional homelands of the Ojibwe peoples in...

How do you start your own company?

Written by Darryl Scriven, Dean of Arts & Sciences, Clarkson University

Whether big or small, if you see something that people need, you can start a company.Tony Anderson/Stone via Getty Images

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

How do you start your own company? — Noah H., Conway, South...

Mindfulness meditation can make some Americans more selfish and less generous

Written by Michael J. Poulin, Associate Professor of Psychology, University at Buffalo

The meditation market is expected to grow to over $2 billion by 2022.MR-MENG/Getty Images

When Japanese chef Yoshihiro Murata travels, he brings water with him from Japan. He says this is the only way to make truly authentic dashi, the flavorful broth essential to Japanese cuisine. There’s science to back him up: water in Japan is notably...

Zaila Avant-garde – 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee champ – stands where Black children were once kept out

Written by Shalini Shankar, Professor of Anthropology and Asian American Studies, Northwestern University

Zaila Avant-garde is the first Black American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Jim Watson/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

When Zaila Avant-garde, 14, won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee on July 8, 2021, she became the first Black American to win in the competition’s history. Shalini Shankar, a scholar of spelling bees, breaks down...

3 tips for preventing heat stroke

Written by Gabriel Neal, Clinical Associate Professor of Family Medicine, Texas A&M University

Seattle experienced record high temperatures in June 2021. AP Photo/John Froschauer

As a primary care physician who often treats patients with heat-related illnesses, I know all too well how heat waves create spikes in hospitalizations and deaths related to “severe nonexertional hyperthermia,” or what most people call “heat...

What's a suborbital flight? An aerospace engineer explains

Written by John M. Horack, Neil Armstrong Chair and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Ohio State University

Virgin Galactic's Unity VSS spacecraft went on a suborbital test flight in May 2021.VIrgin Galactic, CC BY

“Suborbital” is a term you’ll be hearing a lot as Sir Richard Branson flies aboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity winged spaceship and Jeff Bezos flies aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle to touch the boundary...

3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet

Written by William A. Masters, Professor of Food Economics and Policy, Tufts University

Eating well takes money – and also time, wise choices and cooking skills.Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images

CC BY-ND

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused price spikes for corn, milk, beans and other commodities, but even before the pandemic about 3 billion people could not afford even the cheapest options for a healthy diet.

Recent analysis of glo...

The ocean is full of tiny plastic particles – we found a way to track them with satellites

Written by Christopher Ruf, Professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan

Plastic fragments washed onto Schiavonea beach in Calabria, Italy, in a 2019 storm. Alfonso Di Vincenzo/KONTROLAB /LightRocket via Getty Images

Plastic is the most common type of debris floating in the world’s oceans. Waves and sunlight break much of it down into smaller particles called microplastics – fragments less than 5 millimeters...