The Conversation

Postal banking could provide free accounts to 21 million Americans who don't have access to a credit union or community bank

Written by Terri Friedline, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan

The Postal Service has over 30,000 retail locations in the U.S, including off the Appalachian Trail in Caratunk, Me.AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

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

The big idea

About a quarter of census tracts with a post office don’t have a community bank or credit union branch, suggesting postal...

What's a 100-year flood? A hydrologist explains

Written by Robert Mace, Executive Director of the Meadows Center for Water and Environment, Texas State University

A '100-year flood' doesn't mean you'll be flood-free for the next 99 years.Win McNamee/Getty Images

A 100-year flood, like a 100-year storm, is one so severe it has only a 1% chance of hitting in any given year.

Unfortunately, many people believe that if they experienced a 100-year flood this year, they will not see another one like it for 99 years.

I...

What's the charitable deduction? An economist explains

Written by Patrick Rooney, Executive Associate Dean for Academic Programs, Glenn Family Chair, and Professor of Economics and Philanthropic Studies, IUPUI

Donors who itemize their tax returns can get a discount.porcorex/ E+ via Getty Images

The charitable deduction is a dollar-for-dollar reduction in taxable income that lowers what someone owes the Internal Revenue Service. Only donations to tax-exempt charities count.

This giving incentive is available only for the 10% of American taxpayers who...

How Israel's missing constitution deepens divisions between Jews and with Arabs

Written by Brendan Szendro, PhD Candidate, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Without a formal constitution, Israelis disagree on such basic issues as whether Israel is a Jewish state.Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

Renewed fighting has erupted again between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, endangering a ceasefire instituted after an 11-day war in May.

The conflict in Gaza is an early test of Israel’s new...

Nurturing dads raise emotionally intelligent kids – helping make society more respectful and equitable

Written by Kevin Shafer, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Canadian Studies, Brigham Young University

Boys often mirror the habits, interests and values of their own fathers. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

When my oldest son, now nearly 13, was born in July of 2008, I thought I could easily balance my career and my desire to be far more engaged at home than my father and his generation were. I was wrong.

Almost immediately, I...

The first mobile phone call was 75 years ago – what it takes for technologies to go from breakthrough to big time

Written by Daniel Bliss, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Arizona State University

An engineer demonstrates a car phone five months before the historic first call on a competing company's commercial mobile telephone service in 1946.Bettmann via Getty Images

I have a cellphone built into my watch. People now take this type of technology for granted, but not so long ago it was firmly in the realm of science fiction. The transition...

Racial bias makes white Americans more likely to support wars in nonwhite foreign countries -- new study

Written by Vladimir Enrique Medenica, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Delaware

White Americans who hold racist attitudes are likely to prefer military action over diplomacy in foreign countries like Iran and, in particular, China.Frank Rossoto Stocktrek via Getty

The effects of American racial bias and anti-Asian sentiment do not end at the nation’s borders. The racial attitudes of white people also influence their...

A court ruling on Shell's climate impact and votes against Exxon and Chevron add pressure, but it's the market that will drive oil giants to change

Written by Paul Griffin, Distinguished Professor of Management, University of California, Davis

Fossil fuel stocks haven't kept up with the market in recent years.Anton Petrus via Getty Images

From news reports, it might sound like the fossil fuel industry is on the defensive after a landmark court ruling and two shareholder votes challenging the industry’s resistance to curbing its greenhouse gas emissions.

But how much power do...

Why nobody will ever agree on whether COVID lockdowns were worth it

Written by James D. Long, Associate Professor of Political Science, Co-founder of the Political Economy Forum, Host of "Neither Free Nor Fair?" podcast, University of Washington

Stuffed bears in windows were a common sight during the early 2020 lockdowns.Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images

As an increasingly vaccinated world emerges from lockdowns, lots of people are talking about whether the fight against the pandemic was too strong or too weak. Some people argue restrictions did not go far enough; others maintain the...

Biden's Supreme Court commission probably won't sway public opinion

Written by David Ryan Miller, Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Vanderbilt University

Amid strong political pressure to pack the Supreme Court, President Biden formed a commission to study ways to reform the court.Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

In late 2020, President Donald Trump nominated conservative jurist Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. She was quickly confirmed to fill the seat previously held by the late Ruth...