The Conversation

5 ways Americans' lives will change if Congress makes daylight saving time permanent

Written by Steve Calandrillo, Professor of Law, University of Washington

Some people dread the time change that occurs twice a year -- and for good reason.AP Photo/Elise Amendola

The U.S. Senate approved the Sunshine Protection Act in March 2022, with the goal of making daylight saving time permanent starting in November 2023. If that happens, the U.S. will never again “spring forward” or “fall...

How Ukraine has defended itself against cyberattacks – lessons for the US

Written by Robert Peacock, Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida International University

As missiles rain down on Ukraine's telecommunications infrastructure, including Kyiv's TV tower, hackers have been attacking in cyberspace.Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images

In 2014, as Russia launched a proxy war in Eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea, and in the years that followed, Russian hackers hammered Ukraine. The cyberattacks went so far...

Ketanji Brown Jackson and the color blind society of Martin Luther King Jr.

Written by Bev-Freda Jackson, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, American University School of Public Affairs

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson in a US Senate office on March 29, 2022.Alex Wong/Getty Images

U.S. Sen. Chuck E. Grassley had a question for Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearings to be the first African American woman on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wanted...

Har Gobind Khorana: The chemist who cracked DNA's code and made the first artificial gene was born into poverty 100 years ago in an Indian village

Written by Sahotra Sarkar, Professor of Philosophy and Integrative Biology, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts

Har Gobind Khorana pieced together how DNA encoded for the proteins that life relies on.AP Photo/Paul Shane

2022 marks the 100th birthday of Nobel Prize winning chemist Har Gobind Khorana – or so we think. The exact date of his birth is not known, because Khorana was born in poverty in a British Indian class that rarely recorded such dates....

Putin is staking his political future on victory in Ukraine – and has little incentive to make peace

Written by Monica Duffy Toft, Professor of International Politics and Director of the Center for Strategic Studies at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

Peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin won't be easy.Mikhail Klimentyev/SputnikAFP via Getty Images

Despite stop-and-start peace talks, a resolution to the brutal war in Ukraine appears distant.

Major cities in Ukraine are faltering. Civilians, including children, are dying of shrapnel and glass wounds, exposure and thirst.

At the same...

Using lies and disinformation, Putin and his team have been building the case for a Ukraine invasion for 14 years

Written by Juris Pupcenoks, Associate Professor of Political Science, Marist College

The destroyed fuel station in Stoyanka, Ukraine. Putin has been laying the rhetorical groundwork for the invasion of Ukraine for years. Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images

As the invasion of Ukraine began in late February 2022, President Vladimir Putin offered several justifications for why Russia had no other option.

First: Russia needed to fight the...

How the 'test to treat' initiative aims to get ahead of the next wave of COVID-19

Written by C. Michael White, Professor of Pharmacy Practice, University of Connecticut

Pharmacies could play an increasingly important role in testing and treatment of COVID-19.dusanpetkovic/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Going into the third year of the pandemic, public health experts are developing strategies to work within communities to have a more nimble and rapid response to COVID-19 infection rates.

C. Michael White, a professor...

The 1 in 10 U.S. doctors with reservations about vaccines could be undermining the fight against COVID-19

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

While the vast majority of primary care providers have higher confidence in vaccines than the general public, some do not.Evgeniy Shkolenko/iStock via Getty Images Plus

American attitudes toward scientific expertise have become increasingly contentious in recent years. But many people across the political spectrum still place high levels of trust...

Planting mixes of flowers around farm fields helps keep bees healthy

Written by Hamutahl Cohen, Extension Agent, University of Florida

Bees feeding in monoculture fields of single crops such as sunflowers crowd together and pass parasites to one another at high rates.Lauren Ponisio/University of Oregon, CC BY-ND

It’s springtime in California, and bees are emerging to feast on flowering fields – acres upon acres of cultivated almonds, oranges and other fruits and nuts...

People are more likely to react to a Black person's story of injustice – even if it happened to someone who is white

Written by Anne Hamby, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Boise State University

Black people are seen as more credible speaking on issues of racial injustice. Scott Olson/Getty Images

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

The big idea

People appear more willing to boycott a retailer in response to a video message about a consumer’s experience of injustice while shopping when the narrator is...