The Conversation

Video: Current rates of vaccine hesitancy in the US could mean a long road to normalcy

Written by Matt Motta, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Oklahoma State University

Current rates of vaccine hesitancy could jeopardize America's efforts to achieve herd immunity.Nordroden / Getty Images

Poltical scientist Matt Motta studies the social and political determinants of anti-science attitudes. In this Q&A, he answers questions about the current levels of vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. and how that might affect the...

A man was reinfected with coronavirus after recovery – what does this mean for immunity?

Written by Megan Culler Freeman, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellow, University of Pittsburgh

Is it possible to get COVID-19 twice?May James/AFP via Getty Images

A 33-year old man was found to have a second SARS-CoV-2 infection some four-and-a-half months after he was diagnosed with his first, from which he recovered. The man, who showed no symptoms, was diagnosed when he returned to Hong Kong after a trip to Spain.

I am a virologist with...

Biloxi's 15-year recovery from Hurricane Katrina offers lessons for other coastal cities

Written by Jennifer Trivedi, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Core Faculty Member for the Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware

A demolished miniature golf course in Biloxi, Miss., in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Sept. 15, 2005.Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images

The one-two punch of tropical storms Marco and Laura along the U.S. Gulf coast eerily echoes Hurricane Katrina’s arrival 15 years ago, on August 29, 2005. Katrina, which caused some US$170 billion in...

Western wildfires are spinning off tornadoes – here’s how fires create their own freakish weather

Written by Charles Jones, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of California, Santa Barbara

Extreme wildfires can fuel tornadoes, creating erratic and dangerous conditions for firefighters.David McNew/Getty Images

It might sound like a bad movie, but extreme wildfires can create their own weather – including fire tornadoes.

It happened in California as a heat wave helped to fuel hundreds of wildfires across the region, many of them...

Extreme wildfires can create their own dangerous weather, including fire tornadoes – here's how

Written by Charles Jones, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of California, Santa Barbara

Extreme wildfires can fuel tornadoes, creating erratic and dangerous conditions for firefighters.David McNew/Getty Images

It might sound like a bad movie, but extreme wildfires can create their own weather – including fire tornadoes.

It happened in California as a heat wave helped to fuel hundreds of wildfires across the region, many of them...

Constant dieters might be choosing the wrong way to lose weight

Written by Peggy Liu, Assistant Professor of Business Administration and Ben L. Fryrear Faculty Fellow, University of Pittsburgh

Bigger isn't always better. James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images

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

The big idea

Dieters looking for a healthier substitute of their favorite high-fat food – such as a bag of potato chips – typically have two choices in the grocery aisle: a smaller package of the exact same...

Reopening elementary schools carries less COVID-19 risk than high schools – but that doesn't guarantee safety

Written by Jennifer Head, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, Berkeley

Safety precautions like wearing face masks and leaving space between desks are also important to limit the coronavirus's spread.Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images

While only a fraction of the country’s 50 million public school kids headed back to school in-person this month, many have already found themselves back at...

While the US is reeling from COVID-19, the Trump administration is trying to take away health care

Written by Paul Shafer, Assistant Professor, Health Law, Policy, and Management, Boston University

People affected by the downturn in the economy caused by coronavirus at a food bank in Central Florida in April, 2020. Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The death toll from COVID-19 keeps rising, creating grief, fear, loss and confusion.

Unfortunately for us all, the pain only begins there. Other important health policy news that would ordinarily...

Voters aren’t the only ones who dread slow mail – struggling small businesses are also at risk from Postal Service delays

Written by Ednilson Bernardes, Professor of Supply Chain Management, West Virginia University

The USPS has suffered delays in recent months.AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Thousands of baby chicks shipped to small poultry farmers through the U.S. Postal Service have arrived at their destinations dead in recent weeks.

This was just one of the disturbing results of changes to how the Postal Service operates, which have led to widespread delays...

Approval of a coronavirus vaccine would be just the beginning – huge production challenges could cause long delays

Written by Bruce Y. Lee, Professor of Health Policy and Management, City University of New York

Billions of people are going to need a coronavirus vaccine and that demand is going to be hard to meet. Francesco Carta fotografo/Moment via Getty Images

The race for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is well underway. It’s tempting to assume that once the first vaccine is approved for human use, all the problems of this pandemic will be immediately...