The Conversation

Women risk losing decades of workplace progress due to COVID-19 – here's how companies can prevent that

Written by Stephanie M.H. Moore, Lecturer, Indiana University

Mothers are more likely to take care of the kids while fathers get to do their jobs.miodrag ignjatovic/E+ via Getty Images

American women have made strides in the workplace over the past half-century in terms of earnings, employment and careers – in no small part thanks to the efforts of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The COVID-19...

Racial justice giving is booming: 4 trends

Written by Kim Williams-Pulfer, Postdoctoral Research Appointee-Mays Family Institute on Diverse Philanthropy, IUPUI

There's been an outpouring of giving in honor of Ahmaud Arbery and other victims of racial injustice.AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

The tragic, high-profile killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans in 2020 have sparked a reckoning on race. As researchers of philanthropy, we’re keeping an eye on how this national awakening is affecting...

Remote learning isn't new: Radio instruction in the 1937 polio epidemic

Written by Katherine A. Foss, Professor of Media Studies, Middle Tennessee State University

A UNICEF survey found that 94% of countries implemented some form of remote learning when COVID-19 closed schools last spring, including in the United States.

This is not the first time education has been disrupted in the U.S. – nor the first time that educators have harnessed remote learning. In 1937, the Chicago school system used radio to...

Trump and Biden ads on Facebook and Instagram focus on rallying the base

Written by Jennifer Stromer-Galley, Professor of Information Studies, Syracuse University

Online political advertising is mostly attempting to mobilize candidates' existing supporters.AP Photo/Steve Ruark

The campaigns of Donald Trump and Joe Biden together spent US$65.8 million on social media advertising between June 1 and Sept. 13, according to Syracuse University’s Illuminating 2020 project. The project, which I am part of,...

Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis: What lies ahead could include a constitutional crisis over succession

Written by Stephanie Newbold, Associate Professor, Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University Newark

President Donald Trump walks off Marine One at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on October 2, 2020 as White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows watches.Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Since Donald Trump was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for COVID-19 treatment on Oct. 2, there have been conflicting...

Trump is taking the latest in COVID-19 treatments – here's what doctors know works against the virus

Written by William Petri, Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia

Both President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for COVID-19.MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

With 74-year-old President Trump and 50-year-old first lady Melania Trump testing positive for the coronavirus, what are the best proven treatments for them and other patients?

We are both physician-scientists at the University...

A brief history of presidents disclosing – or trying to hide – health problems

Written by David E. Clementson, Assistant Professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows speaks to reporters about President Trump's positive coronavirus test outside the White House on Oct. 2, 2020. Drew Angerer/Getty

President Donald Trump went directly to the public and announced via Twitter early on Oct. 2 that “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our...

Older people like President Trump are at more risk from COVID-19 because of how the immune system ages

Written by Brian Geiss, Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology, Colorado State University

Masking up is one way to cut down on risk of COVID-19 infection.Alex Brandon/Getty Images News via Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s announcement that he’s tested positive for COVID-19 is especially concerning because of his age. At 74 years old, Trump is solidly within an age group that’s been hit hard during the coronavirus...

What is COVAX and why does it matter for getting vaccines to developing nations?

Written by Nicole Hassoun, Professor of Philosophy, Binghamton University, State University of New York

How will vaccines be equitably distributed?Andrew Brookes/Getty Images

There is a global effort to distribute vaccines to poorer countries, but some of the world’s largest countries, including the U.S.,Russia and China, do not intend to support the effort.

That lack of backing could have devastating consequences for accessing a COVID-19...

In 'The Good Lord Bird,' a new version of John Brown rides in at a crucial moment in US history

Written by William Nash, Professor of American Studies and English and American Literatures, Middlebury

Was abolitionist John Brown a psychopath, a sinner or a saint?

The answer depends on whom you ask, and when.

The long-awaited premiere of Showtime’s “The Good Lord Bird,” based on James McBride’s novel of the same name, comes at a time when evolving popular perceptions of Brown have once again gotten people thinking and...