The Conversation

An advantage of the government's new payments for families: Not humiliating poor people

Written by Wendy Bach, Professor of Law, University of Tennessee

Nearly all U.S. families with children will benefit.Tara Moore/Stone via Getty Images

The US$1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package President Joe Biden signed in March 2021 will expand the child tax credit for one year. Instead of providing families with up to $2,000 per child under 17, the government will distribute a total of $3,600 for each...

What's next for Cuba and the United States after Raul Castro's retirement

Written by Joseph J. Gonzalez, Associate Professor, Global Studies, Appalachian State University

With Raul Castro's resignation as first secretary of the Communist Party, the Castro era is officially over in Cuba.Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images

Cuba’s Castro dynasty has officially ended.

On April 16, 2021, Raul Castro – younger brother of longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro – relinquished his position as first secretary...

From haute cuisine to hot dogs: How dining out has evolved over 200 years – and is innovating further in the pandemic

Written by Hannah Cutting-Jones, Lecturer, Department of History, University of Oregon

The dining-out experience has changed as people wear masks and are separated by plexiglass in outdoor dining.Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Dining out has for generations been a fun way to celebrate special occasions, meet friends or just enjoy a quiet evening with someone special. But for many, that ended almost overnight last...

Democratic bill attempts to undo voter restrictions of past 15 years

Written by Nicholas Espíritu, Lecturer in Law, University of California, Los Angeles

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and fellow Democrats address reporters on H.R. 1 at the Capitol in Washington on March 3, 2021. J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photos

The recent national elections — conducted in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic — highlighted difficulties Americans face to register to vote and cast a ballot. But...

Interstate water wars are heating up along with the climate

Written by Robert Glennon, Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law & Public Policy, University of Arizona

Aerial view of Lake Powell on the Colorado River along the Arizona-Utah border.AP Photo/John Antczak

Interstate water disputes are as American as apple pie. States often think a neighboring state is using more than its fair share from a river, lake or aquifer that crosses borders.

Currently the U.S. Supreme Court has on its docket a case between Tex...

Brazil’s economic crisis, prolonged by COVID-19, poses an enormous challenge to the Amazon

Written by Peter Richards, Adjunct Professor, George Washington University

A deforested piece of land in the Amazon rainforest near Porto Velho, in the state of Rondonia, in northern Brazil, on Aug. 23, 2019.Carl De SouzaA/FP via Getty Images

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro confirmed his country’s participation in a virtual climate summit convened by the U.S. for April 22 and 23, vowing in a recent letter to U.S....

Competition heats up in the melting Arctic, and the US isn't prepared to counter Russia

Written by Rockford Weitz, Professor of Practice & Director, Fletcher Maritime Studies Program, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Russia has been beefing up its Arctic icebreaker fleet to take advantage of the climate changes.Lev Fedoseyev\TASS via Getty Images

For decades, the frozen Arctic was little more than a footnote in global economic competition, but that’s changing as its ice melts with the warming climate.

Russia is now attempting to claim more of the Arctic...

Has any US president ever served more than eight years?

Written by David Yalof, Professor of Political Science, University of Connecticut

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, standing at center and facing left just above the eagle, takes the presidential oath of office for the third time in 1941.FDR Presidential Library and Museum via Flickr, CC BY

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@theconversa...

No, vaccine side effects don't tell you how well your immune system will protect you from COVID-19

Written by Robert Finberg, Professor of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School

It's not a bad sign if you feel fine after your COVID-19 shot.Luis Alvarez/DigitalVision via Getty Images

If someone gets a headache or feels a bit under the weather after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, it’s become common to hear them say something like “Oh, it just means my immune system is really working hard.” On the flip side,...

Forget the debate over public health versus jobs – the same people suffer the most either way

Written by Alicia R. Riley, Postdoctoral Scholar in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco

Throughout the pandemic, millions of Americans wondered: “Is the cure worse than the disease?”

The question implies a trade-off between “the cure,” in the form of economic shutdowns, and “the disease,” COVID-19. This debate dominated headlines in the first months of the pandemic. More than a year later, it...