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Editor's note
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When thousands of students leave school today as part of a nationwide protest against lax gun laws, they will be stepping into risky legal territory. But given the gravity of their cause, Clay Calvert, director of the University of Florida’s Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project, argues that school officials should carefully consider whether punishing the student protesters is the right course of action.
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote, “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” If the public knows about what government is doing, in other words, government is likely to behave better than when it operates in the dark. So this Sunshine Week, scholars Suzanne Pietrowsky of Rutgers University, Newark, Alex Ingrams of Tilburg University and Daniel Berliner at the London School of Economics share their concerns that the open government movement could, ironically, be threatening to Freedom of Information laws.
The acclaimed British physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking, best known for his work on black holes and relativity, died early Wednesday. Tributes have begun to pour in.
And it’s March 14, which math fans know as Pi Day. Here’s our roundup of what to know about pi: what it is, how it got its name, some unexpected places it appears and – crucially – how to celebrate this mathematical holiday.
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Jamaal Abdul-Alim
Education Editor
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Top stories
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Students from South Plantation High School, carrying placards, protest in support of gun control.
Carlos Garcia/Reuters
Clay Calvert, University of Florida
When students walk out of school March 14 to protest what they see as lax gun laws, some risk punishment from their schools. But it may be worth it to send a message, a First Amendment scholar argues.
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One government transparency movement may now be threatened by the other.
Shutterstock
Suzanne J. Piotrowski, Rutgers University Newark ; Alex Ingrams, Tilburg University; Daniel Berliner, London School of Economics and Political Science
During Sunshine Week, three scholars of government transparency look at a potential collision between the old freedom of information movement and the new open government movement. Is there room for both?
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Politics + Society
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Char Miller, Pomona College
Defiant against Trump's policies on immigration and environment, California finds itself defending its way of life – the California Dream itself.
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Fabio Andres Diaz, International Institute of Social Studies
A former FARC rebel commander-turned- presidential candidate has withdrawn from Colombia's 2018 election. Despite increased violence, the peace accord he signed will probably survive this setback.
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Economy + Business
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Allen Rostron, University of Missouri-Kansas City
The gun industry has been virtually immune from liability for the deaths and injuries caused by its products since 2005. Can this change?
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Christopher Sands, Johns Hopkins University
U.S. President Donald Trump has exempted Canada, for now, from hefty tariffs on steel. An increase in defence spending would likely stand Canada in greater stead with the president.
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Science + Technology
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Alan Duffy, Swinburne University of Technology; Alice Gorman, Flinders University; Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland; Lisa Harvey-Smith, CSIRO; Matthew Bailes, Swinburne University of Technology; Steven Tingay, Curtin University
Stephen Hawking inspired people with his work on black holes and other mysteries of the universe. Many were quick to pay tribute to the theoretical physicist who died today in the UK, aged 76.
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Janice R. Naegele, Wesleyan University
Neuroscience labs around the world may need to reevaluate some of their assumptions about whether what works in animals will really produce meaningful treatments for people.
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Pi Day
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Jeff Inglis, The Conversation
It's March 14, the day we irrationally celebrate the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Here's a roundup from our archive of what we know about pi.
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Daniel Ullman, George Washington University
3/14 on the calendar approximates the first three digits of the mathematical constant π. Math nerds will celebrate with baked goods, but π is a deeper, nobler entity.
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Lorenzo Sadun, University of Texas at Austin
We know pi appears when we talk about circles. But it appears in many other places, too. Why, pi, why?
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Xiaojing Ye, Georgia State University
On the occasion of Pi Day, a look at the history of calculating the actual, and increasingly exact, value of pi (π).
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