Frederick Douglass found happiness in Ireland

Why expanding access to algebra is a matter of civil rights

Liza Bondurant, Mississippi State University

Districts across the country have struggled to improve access and diversity in advanced math classes for years. A new approach offers hope.

Court blocks grants to Black women entrepreneurs in case that could restrict DEI efforts by companies and charities

Angela R. Logan, University of Notre Dame

A scholar of nonprofits explains why she’s concerned that the decision in the Fearless Fund case could discourage all efforts focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.

EPA has lowered the screening level for lead in soil – here’s what that could mean for households across the US

Gabriel Filippelli, Indiana University

The new level won’t trigger automatic cleanups, but it sets a lower threshold for taking precautions to reduce lead exposure.

Lynn Conway was a trans woman in tech − and underappreciated for decades after she helped launch the computing revolution

Mar Hicks, University of Virginia

The trailblazing engineer was co-inventor of a technique for designing computer chips that laid the groundwork for the computing revolution.

Raw milk health risks significantly outweigh any potential benefits − food scientists and nutritionists explain why

Juan Silva, Mississippi State University; Joel Komakech, Mississippi State University; Mandy Conrad, Mississippi State University

Raw milk has always carried the risk of serious illness, and this risk has only risen with bird flu spreading across dairy farms in the US.

Saying a final goodbye to Willie Mays, baseball’s ‘Say hey’ kid

Lincoln Mitchell, Columbia University

From the racism and poverty of the Jim Crow South, Willie Mays rose to the height of fame and respect as perhaps the country’s greatest baseball player – one who inspired a president.

Paying reparations for slavery is possible – based on a study of federal compensation to farmers, fishermen, coal miners, radiation victims and 70 other groups

Linda J. Bilmes, Harvard Kennedy School; Cornell William Brooks, Harvard Kennedy School

Since the 1930s, the federal government has made payments to victims of financial hardships and social injustices. But for those suffering from the harms of slavery, the US remains silent.

US laws created during slavery are still on the books. A legal scholar wants to at least acknowledge that history in legal citations

Justin Simard, Michigan State University

Since 2020, a team of legal researchers has collected more than 12,000 cases involving enslaved people and more than 40,000 cases that cite those cases.

How Biden’s executive order to protect immigrant spouses of citizens from deportation will benefit their families and communities

Jane Lilly López, Brigham Young University; Kristina Fullerton Rico, University of Michigan

Biden’s executive action will shield approximately 500,000 undocumented spouses of US citizens, as well as 50,000 children, from deportation and give them the legal right to stay in the US.

Solstices brought Mayan communities together, using monuments shaped by science and religion – and kingly ambitions, too

Gerardo Aldana, University of California, Santa Barbara

Structures aligned with solar events served various purposes: science, farming, religion and even politics.

Juneteenth celebrates just one of the United States’ 20 emancipation days

6 books that explain the history and meaning of Juneteenth

How to heal African-Americans’ traumatic history

Elder fraud has reached epidemic proportions – a geriatrician explains what older Americans need to know

The Hubble telescope has shifted into one-gyro mode after months of technical issues − an aerospace engineering expert explains

Oral nicotine pouches deliver lower levels of toxic substances than smoking – but that doesn’t mean they’re safe