NewsPronto

 
The Property Pack
.

The Conversation

When noted journalists bashed political polls as nothing more than 'a fragmentary snapshot' of a moment in time

  • Written by W. Joseph Campbell, Professor of Communication Studies, American University School of Communication
imageLegendary New York City columnist Jimmy Breslin, right, ready to do shoe-leather journalistic research in a bar, said preelection polls were "monstrous frauds."Michael Brennan/Getty Images

Poll-bashing – the aggressive, even extreme lambasting of pollsters and their work – used to be blood sport among prominent American journalists.

Mike...

Read more: When noted journalists bashed political polls as nothing more than 'a fragmentary snapshot' of a...

A language generation program's ability to write articles, produce code and compose poetry has wowed scientists

  • Written by Prasenjit Mitra, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, Pennsylvania State University
imageGPT-3 is 10 times more complex than its predecessor.antoniokhr/iStock via Getty Images

Seven years ago, my student and I at Penn State built a bot to write a Wikipedia article on Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s play “Chitra.” First it culled information about “Chitra” from the internet. Then it looked at...

Read more: A language generation program's ability to write articles, produce code and compose poetry has...

3 research-based ways to cope with the uncertainties of pandemic life

  • Written by Bethany Teachman, Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia
imageDon't assume that something you're uncertain about will have a terrible outcome.LWA-Dann Tardif/Stone via Getty Images

It’s 1:36 a.m. and I’ve just gotten my daughter back to sleep after she threw up violently. She has no fever, no cough, no shortness of breath, but what if…. I think it’s food poisoning and not COVID-19,...

Read more: 3 research-based ways to cope with the uncertainties of pandemic life

How and when will we know that a COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective?

  • Written by William Petri, Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia
imageHow much longer must society wait for a vaccine?ANDRZEJ WOJCICKI/Getty Images

With COVID-19 vaccines currently in the final phase of study, you’ve probably been wondering how the FDA will decide if a vaccine is safe and effective.

Based on the status of the Phase 3 trials currently underway, it is unlikely that the results of these trials will...

Read more: How and when will we know that a COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective?

3 ways a 6-3 Supreme Court would be different

  • Written by Morgan Marietta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell
imagePeople gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court building as news spread of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Sept. 18 death.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

If the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is replaced this year, the Supreme Court will become something the country has not seen since the justices became a dominant force in American cultural...

Read more: 3 ways a 6-3 Supreme Court would be different

The case of Biden versus Trump – or how a judge could decide the presidential election

  • Written by John E. Finn, Professor Emeritus of Government, Wesleyan University
imageWill judges decide who wins the presidential election?Geoff Livingston/Getty

Imagine the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. Given the unprecedented number of mail-in votes this election, Americans may wake up and still not know who won the presidential contest between Republican President Donald J. Trump and Democratic challenger Joseph Biden.

The...

Read more: The case of Biden versus Trump – or how a judge could decide the presidential election

Tips for living online – lessons from six months of the COVID-19 pandemic

  • Written by Pamela Scott Bracey, PhD, Associate Professor of Instructional Systems and Workforce Development, Mississippi State University
imageLife online isn't ideal, but it is manageable.Alistair Berg/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Valentine’s Day was sweet, spring break was fun, then… boom! COVID-19. Stay-at-home orders, workplace shutdowns, school closures and social distancing requirements changed lives almost overnight. Forty-two percent of the U.S. workforce now works...

Read more: Tips for living online – lessons from six months of the COVID-19 pandemic

Pandemic crushes Guyana’s dreams of big oil profits as ‘resource curse’ looms over oil-producing nations

  • Written by Amy Myers Jaffe, Research professor, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
imageSecretary of State Mike Pompeo with Guyana's president, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Sept. 18. Pompeo is the first U.S. secretary of state to visit the tiny South American country. AFP via Getty Images

This year was supposed to bring great things for Guyana.

ExxonMobil discovered massive oil deposits off the South American country’s Caribbean coast in...

Read more: Pandemic crushes Guyana’s dreams of big oil profits as ‘resource curse’ looms over oil-producing...

How can smoke from West Coast fires cause red sunsets in New York?

  • Written by Jeffrey B. Halverson, Professor of Geography & Environmental Systems, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
imageA red hazy sunset over Indiana caused by wildfire smoke from the Western U.S. SOPA Images/LightRocket va Getty Images

If you are one of the millions of people in the Midwest and Eastern U.S. who turned your gaze toward the sky recently, you may have noticed the Sun shining through an odd, milky haze. This widespread opaque veil was caused not by...

Read more: How can smoke from West Coast fires cause red sunsets in New York?

Retiring early can be bad for the brain

  • Written by Plamen Nikolov, Assistant Professor of Economics, Binghamton University, State University of New York
imageContinuing to engage in mental challenges keeps the brain from deteriorating in early retirement. Westend61/Getty Images

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

People who retire early suffer from accelerated cognitive decline and may even encounter early onset of dementia, according to a new economic study I...

Read more: Retiring early can be bad for the brain

More Articles ...

  1. Voting while God is watching – does having churches as polling stations sway the ballot?
  2. SARS-CoV-2 infection can block pain, opening up unexpected new possibilities for research into pain relief medication
  3. Que la pandemia no te impida observar el cielo estrellado y la Luna: aquí 5 opciones para hacerlo en casa
  4. Ginsburg's legal victories for women led to landmark anti-discrimination rulings for the LGBTQ community, too
  5. Scientists don't share their findings for fun – they want their research to make a difference
  6. Why you're getting so many political text messages right now
  7. US-China fight over fishing is really about world domination
  8. For many immigrant students, remote learning during COVID-19 comes with more hurdles
  9. What the Greek classics tell us about grief and the importance of mourning the dead
  10. Many colleges have gone test-optional – here's how that could change the way students are admitted
  11. Can Trump and McConnell get through the 4 steps to seat a Supreme Court justice in just 6 weeks?
  12. The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is so intense, it just ran out of storm names – and then two more storms formed
  13. The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is so intense, it just ran out of storm names
  14. Humans ignite almost every wildfire that threatens homes
  15. Video: Who should get a COVID-19 vaccine first?
  16. Keeping coronavirus vaccines at subzero temperatures during distribution will be hard, but likely key to ending pandemic
  17. Monarch butterflies' spectacular migration is at risk – an ambitious new plan aims to help save it
  18. COVID-19 vaccines: Open source licensing could keep Big Pharma from making huge profits off taxpayer-funded research
  19. The detection of phosphine in Venus' clouds is a big deal – here's how we can find out if it's a sign of life
  20. Timing, signatures and huge demand make mail-in voting difficult
  21. Trump's appeals to white anxiety are not 'dog whistles' – they're racism
  22. Why Teddy Roosevelt's warning to lay off a candidate's religious beliefs is still relevant today
  23. Good nutrition can contribute to keeping COVID-19 and other diseases away
  24. Federal Reserve hopes years of zero rates will spur inflation – but there are risks
  25. Wildfires can leave toxic drinking water behind – here's how to protect the public
  26. Pessimists have been saying America is going to hell for more than 200 years
  27. 6 ways mail-in ballots are protected from fraud
  28. Inclusion starts with better management – here's what employees say about making diversity work
  29. Poll workers on Election Day will be younger – and probably more diverse – due to COVID-19
  30. Presidential campaigns take flight in the age of the coronavirus
  31. American society teaches everyone to be racist – but you can rewrite subconscious stereotypes
  32. From Washington to Trump, all presidents have told lies (but only some have told them for the right reasons)
  33. How to keep teen boys happily singing – instead of giving up when their voices start to change
  34. Future teachers often think memorization is the best way to teach math and science – until they learn a different way
  35. Faked videos shore up false beliefs about Biden's mental health
  36. Teens want COVID-19 advice that gives them safe ways to socialize – not just rules for what they can’t do
  37. Climate change and forest management have both fueled today's epic Western wildfires
  38. How a new way of parsing COVID-19 data began to show the breadth of health gaps between Blacks and whites
  39. Lessons from how the polio vaccine went from the lab to the public that Americans can learn from today
  40. Banning apps like TikTok and WeChat is a good way to ensure a country will trail in tech leadership and profits
  41. 5 ways the COVID-19 pandemic could affect your college application
  42. Why do women change their stories of sexual assault? Holocaust testimonies may provide clues
  43. Why San Francisco felt like the set of a sci-fi flick
  44. To be a great innovator, learn to embrace and thrive in uncertainty
  45. Ancient DNA is revealing the genetic landscape of people who first settled East Asia
  46. El dilema ético de permitir los ensayos médicos en los que se infectan deliberadamente a humanos con COVID-19
  47. When hurricanes temporarily halt fishing, marine food webs recover quickly
  48. Disaster work is often carried out by prisoners – who get paid as little as 14 cents an hour despite dangers
  49. Charlie Hebdo shootings served as an extreme example of the history of attacks on satirists
  50. Family and friends can be key to helping end domestic violence, study suggests