The Conversation

EPA’s new way of evaluating pollution rules hands deregulators a sledgehammer and license to ignore public health

Written by Janet McCabe, Visiting Professor, Indiana University McKinney School of Law and O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University

Two coal-fired power plants near Cheshire, Ohio, are known for their air pollution.Halbergman/E+ via Getty Images

When I worked for the Environmental Protection Agency in the 2010s as an Obama administration appointee, I helped write and review dozens of regulations under the Clean Air Act. They included some groundbreaking rules, such as setting...

Even when people’s rights are ignored, understanding the law can keep protesters engaged

Written by Heidi Reynolds-Stenson, Associate Professor of Sociology, Criminology and Anthropology, Colorado State University Pueblo

A group of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters march in downtown Minneapolis on Jan. 27, 2026. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

There’s been a rise of know-your-rights training sessions in response to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics. This has included local public officials and...

Aerial lidar mapping can reveal archaeological sites while overlooking Indigenous peoples and their knowledge

Written by Christopher Hernandez, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Loyola University Chicago

An aerial lidar survey can 'see' beneath the forest canopy.Photodisc via Getty Images

Picture an aircraft streaking across the sky at hundreds of miles per hour, unleashing millions of laser pulses into a dense tropical forest. The objective: map thousands of square miles, including the ground beneath the canopy, in fine detail within a matter of...

A growing nursing shortage is made worse by nurses’ daily challenges of patients and their families rolling their eyes, yelling and striking

Written by Carolyn Dickens, Nurse practitioner and Associate Dean, University of Illinois Chicago

A 2024 report found that 4 out of 5 nurses experienced at least one episode of such behaviors in the previous year.Ivan-balvan/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Imagine being a dentist, and your clients roll their eyes at you, comment that you don’t know what you’re doing – or even spit at you.

Unimaginable, right? But that’s what...

Afghan migrants stranded in Pakistan after the US suspends refugee resettlement

Written by Mehr Mumtaz, PhD Candidate in Sociology, The Ohio State University

Afghan refugees hold placards during a protest in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Feb. 26, 2023.AP Photo/Rahmat Gul

In January 2025, Seema received an email from the International Organization for Migration saying that her flight from Pakistan to the United States, which she and her family were booked on after months of extensive interviewing and...

Colorado has emergency domestic violence shelters in only half its counties, leaving survivors without safe housing options

Written by Kaitlyn M. Sims, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of Denver

People fleeing domestic violence often face housing obstacles. iStock/Getty Images

Only 33 of Colorado’s 64 counties have an emergency shelter program specifically for survivors of domestic violence. In the greater Denver area, which includes Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties, there are only five shelter...

ICE not only looks and acts like a paramilitary force – it is one, and that makes it harder to curb

Written by Erica De Bruin, Associate Professor of Government, Hamilton College

As the operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement have intensified over the past year, politicians and journalists alike have begun referring to ICE as a “paramilitary force.”

Rep. John Mannion, a New York Democrat, called ICE “a personal paramilitary unit of the president.” Journalist Radley Balko, who wrote a book...

Not all mindfulness is the same – here’s why it matters for health and happiness

Written by Ronald S. Green, Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Coastal Carolina University

Mindfulness practices can take many forms, depending on tradition and intention.Dingzeyu Li dingzeyuli via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

Over the past two decades, the concept of mindfulness has become hugely popular around the world. An increasingly ubiquitous part of society, it’s taught everywhere from workplaces and schools to sports programs...

Should medical marijuana be less stringently regulated? A drug policy expert explains what’s at stake

Written by Chris Meyers, Adjunct Professor of Philosophy, George Washington University

Reclassifying marijuana to a Schedule III drug would put it in a category with prescription drugs like ketamine. LPETTET/iStock via Getty Images

Medical marijuana could soon be reclassified into a medical category that includes prescription drugs like Tylenol with codeine, ketamine and anabolic steroids.

That’s because in December 2025,...

It’s easy making green: Muppets continue to make a profit 50 years into their run

Written by Jared Bahir Browsh, Assistant Teaching Professor of Critical Sports Studies, University of Colorado Boulder

A variety show that’s still revered for its absurdist, slapstick humor debuted 50 years ago. It starred an irreverent band of characters made of foam and fleece.

Long after “The Muppet Show”‘s original 120-episode run ended in 1981, the legend and legacy of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo and other creations concocted by...