Since 9/11, media outlets have often depicted Muslims in unflattering terms, with today’s Islamophobic political rhetoric fanning the flames. But Virginia Commonwealth University’s Katie Logan explains how Marvel superhero Kamala Khan – a Muslim, Pakistani-American teenager – is upending this script: Khan’s patriotism and heroics exist “because of her Muslim heritage, not despite it.”
While President Trump threatens to slam the brakes on U.S. climate change programs, California is pushing forward with the most ambitious greenhouse gas reduction policies in the nation. Advocates say these measures will jump-start new green industries, but USC Dornsife economist Matthew Kahn explains why it’s hard to verify such claims.
And as part of our collection of articles for Black History Month, Drake University’s Shontavia Johnson describes how American slaves were shut out of the U.S. patent system – they could hold no property, including patents on their own inventions.
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Kamala Khan is a Muslim, Pakistani-American teenager who fights crime in Jersey City.
Marvel Comics
Katie M. Logan, Virginia Commonwealth University
The Marvel superhero directly confronts a 'war on terror culture' that regards Muslim-Americans as threats.
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Science + Technology
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Shontavia Johnson, Drake University
American slaves couldn't hold property – including patents on their own inventions. But that didn't stop black Americans from innovating since the beginning of the country's history.
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Environment + Energy
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Monte Mills, The University of Montana
More than an easement: A scholar of Native American law lays out the legal arguments in the Dakota Access Pipeline and why they matter to all of us.
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Matthew Kahn, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
California has set ambitious goals for cutting carbon emissions and shifting to a clean energy economy. How will this strategy affect the state's huge economy? An economist weighs the evidence.
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Politics + Society
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Jessica Trisko Darden, American University School of International Service; Stéfanie von Hlatky, Queen's University, Ontario
Can Canada manage to keep up trade while also meeting US expectations for a safe border?
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Health + Medicine
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Ashwin Vasan, Columbia University
We need to take a close look at how primary care systems function in places at great risk of epidemic disease, and what we can do to make these systems more resilient.
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Economy + Business
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Sheila M. Cannon, Trinity College Dublin
The trend of mixing social and commercial goals has been a long time coming.
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Christopher Sheil, UNSW; Frank Stilwell, University of Sydney
The IMF has been expressing public concern about inequality since 2010, but this has not translated into concrete action within the IMF’s own policies and programs.
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Rest of the World
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United Kingdom
Stephan Lautenschlager, University of Birmingham
A 245m year old fossil is the first evidence that of live births in one of the major groups of animals. United Kingdom
Justin Rogers, University of Bath
Vulnerable children have had their hopes crushed. Africa
Mercy Muendo, Mount Kenya University
Inflammatory speech has often found fertile ground in Kenya's election campaign period. As the country approaches another political cliff-hanger, law enforcement agencies have their work cut out.
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