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The Conversation

How to use habit science to help you keep your New Year's resolution

  • Written by Wendy Wood, Provost Professor of Psychology and Business, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Willpower and habits involve different parts of the brain.lemono/Shutterstock.com

More than 80% of people who make New Year’s resolutions have already given up on their goals by February.

While there’s a lot of resolution advice on the internet, much of it fails to highlight the crux of behavioral change.

To make individual decisions...

Read more: How to use habit science to help you keep your New Year's resolution

What everyone should know about Reconstruction 150 years after the 15th Amendment's ratification

  • Written by Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Assistant Professor of Secondary Social Studies, West Virginia University
Many African Americans made education a high priority after the Civil War.National Museum of African American History and Culture

I’ll never forget a student’s response when I asked during a middle school social studies class what they knew about black history: “Martin Luther King freed the slaves.”

Martin Luther King Jr. was...

Read more: What everyone should know about Reconstruction 150 years after the 15th Amendment's ratification

America's love affair with the single-family house is cooling, but it won't be a quick breakup

  • Written by Robert Parker, Co-Director, Institute for Policy Research and Engagement, University of Oregon
Single-family houses on former farmland west of Des Moines, Iowa. Lynn Betts/USDA

For decades land use regulation across the U.S. has emphasized single-family houses on large lots. This approach has priced many people out of the quintessential American dream: homeownership. It also has promoted suburban sprawl – a pattern of low-density,...

Read more: America's love affair with the single-family house is cooling, but it won't be a quick breakup

3 big ways that the US will change over the next decade

  • Written by Dudley L. Poston, Jr., Professor of Sociology, Texas A&M University
The U.S. will undergo some significant shifts in the next decade.DenisProduction.com/Shutterstock.com

The U.S. has just entered the new decade of the 2020s.

What does our country look like today, and what will it look like 10 years from now, on Jan. 1, 2030? Which demographic groups in the U.S. will grow the most, and which groups will not grow as...

Read more: 3 big ways that the US will change over the next decade

Why your New Year's resolution to go to the gym will fail

  • Written by William Clark, Adjunct Lecturer of Health and Wellness Studies, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Gyms start to empty as more and more people give up their New Year's resolutions.AP Photo/Sang Tan

Come January, 40% of Americans will make New Years resolutions, and nearly half of them will aim to lose weight or get in shape.

But 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by February, and gyms will experience a decrease in traffic after the first...

Read more: Why your New Year's resolution to go to the gym will fail

A new way to give an old TB vaccine proves highly effective in monkeys

  • Written by JoAnne L. Flynn, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh
Chest x-ray of a person with TB infection in both the right and left lungs. Schira/Shutterstock.com

What if you could make the tuberculosis vaccine much more powerful, not by altering the ingredients, but just by changing the way it is given to people? It would help prevent the infection that kills more people every year than any other microbe.

A...

Read more: A new way to give an old TB vaccine proves highly effective in monkeys

Countries to watch in 2020, from Chile to Afghanistan: 5 essential reads

  • Written by Catesby Holmes, Religion Editor | International Editor, The Conversation US
Anti-government protesters in Chile defend themselves against a police water cannon, Santiago, Nov. 15, 2019. AP Photo/Luis Hidalgo

Where will the world’s attention turn in 2020?

The United States’ impeachment trial of Donald Trump and the United Kingdom’s long-awaited Brexit are sure bets. And after the U.S. military withdrawal...

Read more: Countries to watch in 2020, from Chile to Afghanistan: 5 essential reads

How putting purpose into your New Year’s resolutions can bring meaning and results

  • Written by Benjamin Houltberg, Research Director, Performance Science Institute, University of Southern California
Remembering why you want to eat better and take better care of yourself can help you stick to your resolutions. Being present to family is one important reason.Prostock studio/Shutterstock.com

People worldwide make New Year’s resolutions every year in an attempt to improve their lives. Common resolutions are to exercise more, eat healthier,...

Read more: How putting purpose into your New Year’s resolutions can bring meaning and results

Higher education in America's prisons: 4 essential reads

  • Written by Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Education Editor, The Conversation
There is growing political interest in providing higher education to those behind bars.AdrianoK/Shutterstock.com

In 2020, I’m going to take you to prison. At least that’s my plan as education editor, since there’s a growing interest among lawmakers and others in education behind bars.

As a former crime reporter, I have a keen...

Read more: Higher education in America's prisons: 4 essential reads

Why the race for the presidency begins with the Iowa caucus

  • Written by Steffen W. Schmidt, Lucken Endowed Professor of Political Science, Iowa State University
On Jan. 3, 2012, voters sign in on caucus night at Point of Grace Church in Waukee, Iowa. AP/Evan Vucci

The first and most visible test of candidate support in the 2020 presidential election is the Iowa presidential caucus, which takes place on Feb. 3.

While Iowa does not control who becomes the candidate of each party, Iowans’ choices almost...

Read more: Why the race for the presidency begins with the Iowa caucus

More Articles ...

  1. Deaf Christians often struggle to hear God's word, but some find meaning in the richness of who they are
  2. What do kids really think about Santa?
  3. Washington's perilous Christmas night crossing of the Delaware: Health hazards worse than war
  4. Lemurs are the world's most endangered mammals, but planting trees can help save them
  5. Hate exercise? Small increases in physical activity can make a big difference
  6. Archaeological discoveries are happening faster than ever before, helping refine the human story
  7. 3 internet language trends from 2019, explained
  8. Statistic of the decade: The massive deforestation of the Amazon
  9. Why some people distrust atheists
  10. Mormons and money: An unorthodox and messy history of church finances
  11. Hangovers happen as your body tries to protect itself from alcohol's toxic effects
  12. How undoing 'Obamacare' would harm more than the health of Americans
  13. From Vietnam to Afghanistan, all US governments lie
  14. Exploring the data on Hollywood's gender pay gap
  15. How being 'tough on crime' became a political liability
  16. Impeachment overkill, the USMCA's impact on jobs and the power of imagery: 3 quotes from the Democratic debate, explained
  17. Finding opportunity in crisis: 3 essential reads about environmental solutions
  18. We asked kids to send us their burning questions – here are 5 of our favorites from 2019
  19. Why are so few people born on Christmas Day, New Year's and other holidays?
  20. Battle at the border: 5 essential reads on asylum, citizenship and the right to live in the US
  21. Don't let your vote get stolen – 5 essential reads about disinformation in 2020
  22. Religious minorities around the world face an uncertain future: 5 essential reads
  23. Where does beach sand come from?
  24. Confederate Christmas ornaments are smaller than statues – but they send the same racist message
  25. Why bad customer service won't improve anytime soon
  26. How old would you want to be in heaven?
  27. Giving pregnant women antibiotics could harm the lungs of preemies, according to study in mice
  28. Should you avoid meat for good health? How to slice off the facts from the fiction
  29. Nonprofits that empower leaders of color are more apt to do something about racial inequality
  30. A real-life deluminator for spotting exoplanets by reflected starlight
  31. The holidays remind us that grief cannot be wished away
  32. Democratic presidential hopefuls are promising to ramp up funding for public schools
  33. 5 ways chess can make you a better law student and lawyer
  34. Here's how you can be nudged to eat healthier, recycle and make better decisions every day
  35. How St. Francis created the Nativity scene, with a miraculous event in 1223
  36. Alcoholic? Me? How to tell if your holiday drinking is becoming a problem
  37. Can Congress hold Trump accountable? 4 essential reads on a historic power struggle
  38. The Madrid climate conference's real failure was not getting a broad deal on global carbon markets
  39. How Crisco toppled lard – and made Americans believers in industrial food
  40. Tracking your heart rate? 5 questions answered about what that number really means
  41. 150 cooks, servers and dishwashers almost shut down a Democratic debate, showing unions' growing clout in the party
  42. Think presidential debates are dull? Thank 1950s TV game shows
  43. Parents of medically fragile children and their kids could use help, understanding year-round
  44. 7 reasons to learn a foreign language
  45. 7 science-based strategies to boost your willpower and succeed with your New Year’s resolutions
  46. My team uses crossbows and drones to collect bacteria from whales – and the results are teaching us how to keep whales healthy
  47. Feeling sick is an emotion meant to help you get better faster
  48. When a chief justice reminded senators in an impeachment trial that they were not jurors
  49. The science of gift wrapping explains why sloppy is better
  50. Planetary confusion -- why astronomers keep changing what it means to be a planet