$25 billion donated by 50 people

+ the tiny flies that pollinate 'the food of the gods' US Edition - Today's top story: What the $25 billion the biggest US donors gave in 2020 says about high-dollar charity today [View in browser]( US Edition | 10 February 2021 [The Conversation]( Academic rigor, journalistic flair The top 50 donors in the U.S. gave nearly $25 billion in 2020, up from $16 billion a year earlier, according to a detailed new report published by The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Where did all of that money go? We asked three philanthropy scholars – Binghamton’s David Campbell, Seattle University’s Elizabeth Dale and Jasmine McGinnis Johnson of George Washington University – to assess the trends [and where even this huge surge of giving fell short of expectations](. Also today: - [New study: Hundreds of fish species are consuming plastic]( - [The history of integrating schools in the North]( - [What effect will a conservative Supreme Court have on liberal legislation?]( Emily Schwartz Greco Philanthropy + Nonprofits Editor Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott, seen here before they divorced in 2019, were the top two U.S. charitable donors the following year. Jorg Carstensen/dpa/AFP via Getty Images [What the $25 billion the biggest US donors gave in 2020 says about high-dollar charity today]( David Campbell, Binghamton University, State University of New York; Elizabeth J. Dale, Seattle University; Jasmine McGinnis Johnson, George Washington University While support for social services and historically black colleges and universities rose sharply, these donors spent a tiny fraction of what the government distributed to people who needed help. Environment + Energy - [Hundreds of fish species, including many that humans eat, are consuming plastic]( Alexandra McInturf, University of California, Davis; Matthew Savoca, Stanford University As more and more plastic trash permeates the oceans, fragments are making their way into fish and shellfish – and potentially into humans. Politics + Society - [Liberals in Congress and the White House have faced a conservative Supreme Court before]( Lucy Cane, University of Denver The US Supreme Court is often less insulated from partisan politics than many Americans assume. Education - [Fighting school segregation didn’t take place just in the South]( Ashley Farmer, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts In the 1950s, Harlem mother Mae Mallory fought a school system that she saw as 'just as Jim Crow' as the one she had attended in the South. - [Why are so many 12th graders not proficient in reading and math?]( Elizabeth Leyva, Texas A&M-San Antonio; David J. Purpura, Purdue University; Emily Solari, University of Virginia Three education experts explain why students aren't learning the basics. Science + Technology - [Tiny cacao flowers and fickle midges are part of a pollination puzzle that limits chocolate production]( DeWayne Shoemaker, University of Tennessee Entomologists wonder if the insects currently pollinating farmed cacao are the right ones for the task. Trending on Site - [I analyzed all of Trump’s tweets to find out what he was really saying]( Michael Humphrey, Colorado State University The 45th president of the United States used a specific technique to tell different versions of the very same story, of a nation under threat and a man working to save it. - [Remote learning isn’t new: Radio instruction in the 1937 polio epidemic]( Katherine A. Foss, Middle Tennessee State University This isn't the first time America's schoolchildren have studied remotely – and Chicago's 1937 'radio school' experiment shows how technology can fill the gap during a crisis. - [What The Weeknd’s changing face says about our sick celebrity culture]( Alvaro Jarrin, College of the Holy Cross Over the past year, the singer has carefully constructed a visage that has made him nearly unrecognizable. You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation](. Not interested anymore? [Unsubscribe](. 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451