Human Behavior, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 4, 2020

What is antifa?

As long as there has been fascism — a political movement that stokes nationalism and racism, and uses violence to bolster authoritarian rule — there have been antifascists that resist such regimes. This relationship dates to the emergence of fascism in Europe in the 1920s, and then continued in Mussolini's...

Aug 19, 2020

Will the 2020 election be a 'fraudulent mess'? The science says no.

As the 2020 presidential election approaches, and the coronavirus continues to circulate throughout the United States, President Donald Trump has begun to decry mail-in voting, calling it a scam and predicting on Twitter that the election would be a fraudulent mess. Scientific literature on mail-in voting shows it has very...

Oct 30, 2020

Why Americans are so enamored with election polls

The Republican pollster Frank Luntz warned on Twitter and elsewhere the other day that if preelection polls in this year’s presidential race are embarrassingly wrong again, “then the polling industry is done.” It was quite the forecast. While it is possible the polls will misfire, it’s exceedingly unlikely that such...

Nov 1, 2020

7 ways the election will shape the future of science, health and the environment

When all the votes are cast and counted in this year’s momentous November 3 election, the results will have deep and potentially long-lasting impacts on numerous areas of society, including science. President Donald Trump and his challenger, former vice president Joe Biden, have presented vastly different visions for handling crucial...

Nov 2, 2020

Why is red for Republicans and blue for Democrats?

In any 2020 electoral map, the color scheme is clear: Red is for Republicans, blue is for Democrats. But where did this universal agreement on color-coding come from? It's relatively new. Though red and blue have often been used to stand in for opposing sides in U.S. political history, it's...

Nov 3, 2020

What happens if a president loses an election but won't leave the White House?

President Donald Trump has suggested he would not accept the results of the 2020 presidential election if he were to lose. Let's say he does lose and he refuses to leave the White House. What then? Nothing like this has ever happened in American history, so it's difficult to know...

Nov 4, 2020

A history of contested presidential elections, from Samuel Tilden to Al Gore

As states continue to count their ballots in the 2020 election, it seems possible that Democrats and Republicans will end up in court over whether President Trump will win a second term in the White House. President Trump has said he’s going to contest the election results – going so...

Nov 4, 2020

Who invented the Electoral College?

The delegates in Philadelphia agreed, in the summer of 1787, that the new country they were creating would not have a king but rather an elected executive. But they did not agree on how to choose that president. Pennsylvania delegate James Wilson called the problem of picking a president in...

Nov 24, 2020

Margaret Thatcher: Facts about the controversial prime minister in 'The Crown'

More than 30 years since she was last in power, Margaret Thatcher remains a divisive figure in Britain. Some see the prime minister as having saved the country from economic decline, while others believe she destroyed the livelihoods of millions of workers. But none can deny that Thatcher became a...

Jan 6, 2021

What is sedition?

On Wednesday (Jan. 6), armed supporters of President Donald Trump forced their way into the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., waving Confederate and pro-Trump flags as they stormed the steps and breached the building. Shortly before the rioters broke into the Capitol, President Trump spoke at a rally saying we...

Jan 7, 2021

What is the 25th amendment?

After an unruly mob of President Donald Trump's supporters violently stormed the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday (Jan. 6) reportedly at Trump's behest, citizens and lawmakers are urging Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Invoking the amendment would immediately remove Trump...

Jan 8, 2021

What is a coup?

When armed supporters of President Donald Trump broke into and vandalized the United States Capitol on Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C., many were chanting Stop the steal, referring to President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the recent election. Some wore sweatshirts reading Civil War with the date January 6, 2021. Their...

Jan 13, 2021

How does impeachment work?

On Jan. 13, 2021, President Trump became the first president to face impeachment twice. Impeachment is the leveling of charges against an elected official by a legislative body. It's a fairly rare event in U.S. politics, particularly at the presidential level. But when impeachment proceedings do happen, they are guided...

Jan 15, 2021

Inauguration day: Why presidents must wait 2 months to start

More than two months after he was elected to be the 46th president of the United States, Joseph Biden will be officially sworn in to office on Wednesday Jan. 20, 2021. But if votes are cast in November, why does so much time elapse between the election and the inauguration...

Jan 25, 2021

Facts don't convince people in political arguments. Here's what does.

In his inaugural address last week, President Joe Biden called for unity. But how can Americans come together, given what seems to be growing political contention and deep divides? New research suggests the answer can be found in stories, not statistics. People respect those they disagree with more when their...