The UK farmer protests you probably haven’t heard about

Farm workers milk cows, drive machinery and pick crops – yet their grievances are seldom heard.

Alex Heffron, PhD Candidate in Geography, Lancaster University • conversation
Feb. 25, 2025 ~8 min

Colonialism’s legacy has left Caribbean nations much more vulnerable to hurricanes

The islands’ vulnerability has roots deep in the exploitative systems forced on them by colonialism, from slave-based land policies to ill-suited development that put lives in harm’s way.

Farah Nibbs, Assistant Professor of Emergency and Disaster Health Systems, University of Maryland, Baltimore County • conversation
Oct. 22, 2024 ~11 min


AI ‘companions’ promise to combat loneliness, but history shows the dangers of one-way relationships

Tech companies are offering AI companions as a convenient cure for the loneliness epidemic, but there have been other forms of faux relationships, and they tend to have more to do with ego than heart.

Anna Mae Duane, Director, University of Connecticut Humanities Institute; Professor of English, University of Connecticut • conversation
Feb. 12, 2024 ~8 min

Judges still cite cases in which enslaved people are property

"The pervasive influence of the law of slavery on contemporary American law raises hard questions," says Justin Simard of the Citing Slavery Project.

Kim Ward-Michigan State • futurity
June 15, 2023 ~7 min

Bermuda is key to American colonial history

A new history book makes the case that the small island of Bermuda is nothing less than "the crucible of colonization."

Sandra Knispel-U. Rochester • futurity
May 31, 2023 ~8 min

When fishing boats go dark at sea, they're often committing crimes – we mapped where it happens

Understanding when, where and why fishing vessels sometimes turn off their transponders is a key step toward curbing illegal fishing and other crimes on the high seas.

Heather Welch, Researcher in Ecosystem Dynamics, University of California, Santa Cruz • conversation
Dec. 21, 2022 ~9 min

Emancipation laws often kept people in bondage

"Emancipations always happened on the terms of the enslavers," says historian Kris Manjapra, author of a new book on what he calls "ghostlining."

Tufts University • futurity
July 5, 2022 ~11 min

Report: Prison labor programs violate human rights

"The labor conditions of incarcerated workers in many US prisons violate the most fundamental human rights to life and dignity," says Claudia Flores.

U. Chicago • futurity
June 27, 2022 ~9 min


Algorithm finds signs of slavery in Amazon rainforest

Artificial intelligence and low-cost satellite imagery combine to spot forced labor at deforestation sites in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.

Edmund L. Andrews-Stanford • futurity
April 25, 2022 ~6 min

Enslaved disabled people were key to community

Although slaveholders devalued enslaved people with disabilities, a new book shows their integral contributions to their communities.

Bert Gambini-Buffalo • futurity
Feb. 22, 2022 ~7 min

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