America’s prisons are overcrowded, violent and symbols of racial oppression. Although prison reform has become a rare bipartisan issue, and gradual improvements have been made, the notion of an open prison being built in America – a facility with no walls, locks or armed guards – seems far-fetched.
But two human rights researchers, Emily Nagisa Keehn and Dana Walters, while studying the United Nations resolution on open prisons from 1955, learned about an experimental open prison in Chino, California, led by a prison reformer named Kenyon Scudder. Keehn and Walters tell the story of the California Institution for Men and its idealistic leader.
When asked to donate money they had earned through participating in a study, average people tended to choose the less onerous requirements rather than big ones.
When children don't live with their fathers, educators often act as if the men don't exist, an expert on child development laments in an essay about why schools must do more to recognize dads.
New research investigated who uses the wide array of tools available to people who've received their own raw genetic data and want to maximize what they learn from it.
Before the advent of genetic testing, definitions of paternity were primarily social and legal. Science has destabilized these older definitions, but it has not replaced them.
Samantha Mascuch, Georgia Institute of Technology; Julia Kubanek, Georgia Institute of Technology
Researchers have just discovered a new species of bacteria that cranks out a deadly toxin. In a common arrangement in the marine environment, a slug and alga both use this toxin for their own defense.
Kelebogile Zvobgo, University of Southern California
The first truth commission to research lynchings has been established in Maryland. It has the potential to educate the public about and support racial reconciliation. But it also faces obstacles.
Linda R. Phillips, University of Arizona; Lisa Marie O'Neill, University of Arizona
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is June 15; were you aware? Not many people are, yet abuse is growing. Two experts explain the trend and offer possible solutions.
2019 marks the 60th anniversary of the world's most famous doll, Barbie. It's an opportunity to look back at the journey of its creator, Ruth Handler, a visionary leader and model for women.
