The Conversation

4 reasons why migrant children arriving alone to the US create a 'border crisis'

Written by Ediberto Román, Professor of Law, Florida International University

Unaccompanied minors wait to see a Border Patrol agent after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into Texas on March 25, 2021.John Moore/Getty Images

Children arriving at the southern border without their parents have presented a political and humanitarian challenge for the past three presidents.

Their numbers began rising considerably after 2009,...

Genomic surveillance: What it is and why we need more of it to track coronavirus variants and help end the COVID-19 pandemic

Written by Alexander Sundermann, Clinical Research Coordinator & DrPH Student in Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh

Sequencing the genetic code of virus samples taken from COVID-19 patients reveals how SARS-CoV-2 is spreading and changing.Nate Langer/UPMC, CC BY-ND

“You can’t fix what you don’t measure” is a maxim in the business world. And it holds true in the world of public health as well.

Early in the pandemic, the United States struggl...

Why parts of Good Friday worship have been controversial

Written by Joanne M. Pierce, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

People visiting a Christ sculpture at the Santa Maria Magdalena Church during the Holy Week in Granada, Spain.Álex Cámara/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Churches around the world will be holding services for their three most important days during this Holy Week: Holy Thursday, sometimes called Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter...

How nonfungible tokens work and where they get their value – a cryptocurrency expert explains NFTs

Written by Dragan Boscovic, Research Professor of Computing, Informatics and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University

NFTs can be used to prove who created and who owns digital items like these images by the artist Beeple shown at an exhibition in Beijing.Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images

Takeaways

· Nonfungible tokens prove ownership of a digital item – image, sound file or text – in the same way that people own crypto coins.

· Unlike...

The US just set ambitious offshore wind power targets – what will it take to meet them?

Written by Erin Baker, Professor of Industrial Engineering applied to Energy Policy, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Building a U.S. offshore wind industry will require more than just fast-tracking permits. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The United States’ offshore wind industry is tiny, with just seven wind turbines operating off Rhode Island and Virginia. The few attempts to build large-scale wind farms like Europe’s have run into long delays, but...

City dwellers gained more access to public spaces during the pandemic – can they keep it?

Written by Katharine Lusk, Co-Director, Initiative on Cities, Boston University

Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C.Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Through a year of pandemic shutdowns and protests, Americans have rediscovered their public spaces. Homebound city dwellers sought havens in parks, plazas and reclaimed streets. Many of these places also became stages for protests against police violence and systemic racism in...

What can you do with unwanted holy cards and Grandma's religious statues? Well, that depends

Written by Kayla Harris, Librarian / Archivist at the Marian Library, Assistant Professor, University of Dayton

Holy cards are highly collectible but also very, very numerous.Ryan O'Grady, The Marian Library, University of Dayton, CC BY-SA

When a rosary was made for King Henry VIII in 1509, it was hand-carved in intricate detail by a master artisan. By contrast, many of the rosaries around today are made from the same plastic that goes into mass-produced...

Ayn Rand-inspired 'myth of the founder' puts tremendous power in hands of Big Tech CEOs like Zuckerberg – posing real risks to democracy

Written by Jerry Davis, Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford and Professor of Management and Sociology, University of Michigan

Ayn Rand compares entrepreneurs to Atlas, the Greek god who holds up the world. AP Photo/Richard Drew

Coinbase’s plan to go public in April highlights a troubling trend among tech companies: Its founding team will maintain voting control, making it mostly immune to the wishes of outside investors.

The best-known U.S. cryptocurrency exchange...

Mexico moves to legalize cannabis use, a modest step toward de-escalating drug war

Written by Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong

Mexico's militarized war on drugs – and, often, drug users – has killed at least 150,000 people over the past 15 years.Jair Cabrera Torres/picture alliance via Getty Images

Mexico’s lower house of Congress in March handily approved a bill to legalize the recreational use of cannabis. The bill is now with the Senate, where it is...

Asian Americans top target for threats and harassment during pandemic

Written by Ying Liu, Research Scientist, Center for Economic and Social Research, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Lisa Nhan puts on a musical performance with crystal bowls in Los Angeles on Feb. 20 as part of an event to call attention to anti-Asian violence and racist attitudes.AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Since the very beginning of the pandemic, hate crimes toward Asians and Asian Americans have gotten increased media attention. Our data, from the Understandi...