|
Top headlines
Lead story
The work we do at The Conversation is based on a simple principle: Readers can get a deeper level of understanding about an issue, problem or conflict by reading the work of experts. So while a typical piece of journalism includes quotes from experts, we have the experts write the stories themselves.
That approach paid dividends in the story I commissioned about immigration agents in Minnesota and the deaths at their hands of two citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Did federal agents’ actions meet established principles of policing and constitutional law that govern how immigration enforcement efforts should be carried out?
Luke William Hunt, a fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies and philosopher at the University of Alabama, tackled that story with an unusual degree of qualification: He’s not only a scholar of policing, but he’s also a former FBI agent. He knows the requirements for legal, ethical and effective conduct, and writes that “these cases illustrate how some federal agents are engaging with the public in a way that undermines established principles of policing and constitutional law.”
[ Understand what’s going on in Washington and around the world. Get our Politics Weekly newsletter. ]
|
|
Naomi Schalit
Senior Editor, Politics + Democracy
|
|
U.S. Border Patrol agents stand guard at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 8, 2026.
Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images
Luke William Hunt, University of Alabama; Institute for Humane Studies
A policing scholar and former FBI special agent lays out the established principles of policing and constitutional law that govern how federal immigration enforcement efforts should be carried out.
|
Economy + Business
|
-
D. Brian Blank, Mississippi State University; Brandy Hadley, Appalachian State University
Trump’s pick to helm the Fed is well known in the financial world, but his monetary policy views have evolved to align more with the president’s desire for lower rates.
-
Alexandra Killewald, University of Michigan
Two researchers found that Danish government benefits do not fully offset moms’ lost earnings. But they do help offset lost income for working women with kids.
|
|
Environment + Energy
|
-
Gary W. Yohe, Wesleyan University
A federal judge dealt one blow to the effort when he found the administration had violated the law in handpicking a panel to question climate science.
|
|
Health + Medicine
|
-
Jordan Miller, Arizona State University
The US will no longer participate in the WHO’s global influenza monitoring system – a shift experts say will lead to more flu hospitalizations and deaths.
|
|
Politics + Society
|
-
Sothy Eng, University of Hawaii
Family reunification is often framed as a cost, but evidence shows it functions as social infrastructure that supports work, well-being and economic stability.
|
|
Science + Technology
|
-
Steven Sullivan, Miami University
Groundhogs predict spring with the same accuracy as flipping a coin. But they’re vital to their ecosystems, feasting through summer to store enough fat to last through their winter hibernation.
-
Amy Pope, Clemson University
Watching, modeling and even playing winter sports help students internalize physics concepts, including acceleration, momentum and friction.
-
Zeb Rocklin, Georgia Institute of Technology
Here’s why some people believe we’re living in a computer simulation of reality – like a giant video game in which we’re all the characters.
|
|
Education
|
-
C. Clare Strange, Drexel University
While wealth and power can go a long way in fighting a criminal conviction, sometimes these factors fall short.
|
|
Ethics + Religion
|
-
Vanessa Corcoran, Georgetown University
Medieval texts and frescoes show how Francis of Assisi’s legends formed – and why his call to poverty and care for creation still resonates.
|
|
Arts + Culture
|
-
Ben McCann, Adelaide University
The titan of screen comedy, Catherine O'Hara, has died at 71. She was eccentric, absurd but always accessible.
|
|
|
|
|
|
