Editor's note

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt is moving to repeal the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which was designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It’s the Trump administration’s latest effort to help depressed regions like Appalachia by “putting coal miners back to work.” But Ohio State University’s Mark Partridge and Michael Betz have found that investing in people, infrastructure and the environment is a more effective way to help depressed rural areas. As they note, Trump’s budget slashes programs that deliver those types of support.

In the country’s wealthiest cities meanwhile, many residents see gentrification as a scourge that displaces poor people, kills the character of communities and jacks up real estate prices. But as the University of Massachusetts’ Jonathan Wynn and the University of Connecticut’s Andrew Deener explain, the legacy of gentrification is more nuanced. They show how gentrification would be welcome in a number of American cities – provided it’s handled appropriately.

And 100 years ago this month, scientist Marie Curie was photographed behind the wheel of a truck. Not just any truck, but one outfitted with mobile X-ray equipment of her own invention and headed to the World War I battlefront. Radiation expert Timothy Jorgensen describes how this patriotic Nobel laureate improved battlefield medicine.

Jennifer Weeks

Editor, Environment and Energy

Top story
TVA Kingston Fossil Plant, site of a 1.1 billion gallon spill of coal ash slurry in 2008, photographed on March 28, 2012. Appalachian Voices

Trump's policies will harm coal-dependent communities instead of helping them

Mark Partridge, The Ohio State University; Michael Betz, The Ohio State University

Rural development experts say the best way to help coal communities by is investing in people, infrastructure and a clean environment. Instead, President Trump's budget cuts programs in these areas.

Arts + Culture

  • Gentrification? Bring it

    Jonathan Wynn, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Andrew Deener, University of Connecticut

    In the country's wealthiest cities, gentrification is a dirty word. But it's all relative – just ask Hartford and Columbus.

Science + Technology

Health + Medicine

  • How Obamacare has helped poor cancer patients

    Fumiko Chino, Duke University

    Poor people who have cancer are one of the most financially vulnerable groups in the US. Obamacare aimed to improve their access to care. A recent study shows how it did.

Politics + Society

Economy + Business

Trending on site

  • Why Rick Perry's proposed subsidies for coal fail Economics 101

    Meredith Fowlie, University of California, Berkeley; Maximilian Auffhammer, University of California, Berkeley

    Energy Secretary Rick Perry has proposed to reward coal plants for stockpiling fuel onsite – allegedly making the power system more reliable. Two economists give this idea a failing grade.

  • Indigenous people invented the so-called 'American Dream'

    Lewis Borck, Leiden University; D. Shane Miller, Mississippi State University

    Anti-immigrant policies ignore that American ideals like liberty, equality and the pursuit of happiness can be traced back to the indigenous pioneers who once moved freely across North America.

  • How Columbus, of all people, became a national symbol

    William Francis Keegan, University of Florida

    An anthropologist tells the story of how Columbus actually came close to falling into historical obscurity, until American hubris got in the way.

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