The Conversation

Acapulco was built to withstand earthquakes, but not Hurricane Otis' destructive winds – how building codes failed this resort city

Written by Michel Bruneau, Professor of Engineering, University at Buffalo

Acapulco's beachfront condo towers were devastated by Hurricane Otis.Rodrigo Oropeza/AFP via Getty Images

Acapulco wasn’t prepared when Hurricane Otis struck as a powerful Category 5 storm on Oct. 25, 2023. The short notice as the storm rapidly intensified over the Pacific Ocean wasn’t the only problem – the Mexican resort...

Young men in violent parts of Philadelphia, Chicago die from guns at a higher rate than US troops in the heat of battle

Written by Alex Knorre, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Boston College

Mass shootings tend to dominate the debate over gun violence – but they accounted for just 3% of all firearm homicides in the United States in 2021.

The vast majority of gun homicides are murders that happen in an extremely concentrated number of neighborhoods – places where the rate of gun deaths rivals war zones.

As a scholar of gun...

Young men in violent parts of Philadelphia, Chicago die from guns at a higher rate than US troops in the heat of battle

Written by Alex Knorre, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Boston College

Mass shootings tend to dominate the debate over gun violence – but they accounted for just 3% of all firearm homicides in the United States in 2021.

The vast majority of gun homicides are murders that happen in an extremely concentrated number of neighborhoods – places where the rate of gun deaths rivals war zones.

As a scholar of gun...

Supreme Court considers whether to uphold law that keeps guns out of the hands of domestic abusers

Written by Morgan Marietta, Professor of Political Science, University of Texas at Arlington

Will the federal law prohibiting the possession of firearms by someone subject to a domestic violence restraining order survive? iStock / Getty Images Plus

Should it be legal to take away the guns of people who are under a domestic violence protective order, which aims to shield victims from their abusers?

That’s the question posed in one of...

Supreme Court considers whether to uphold law that keeps guns out of the hands of domestic abusers

Written by Morgan Marietta, Professor of Political Science, University of Texas at Arlington

Will the federal law prohibiting the possession of firearms by someone subject to a domestic violence restraining order survive? iStock / Getty Images Plus

Should it be legal to take away the guns of people who are under a domestic violence protective order, which aims to shield victims from their abusers?

That’s the question posed in one of...

What's your chronotype? Knowing whether you're a night owl or an early bird could help you do better on tests and avoid scams

Written by Cindi May, Professor of Psychology, College of Charleston

Owl chronotypes function better at night, while lark chronotypes are more energized in the morning.The Photo Matrix/Moment, nomis_g/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Timing is everything. For early risers and late-nighters alike, listening to your internal clock may be the key to success. From the classroom to the courtroom and beyond, people perform...

What's your chronotype? Knowing whether you're a night owl or an early bird could help you do better on tests and avoid scams

Written by Cindi May, Professor of Psychology, College of Charleston

Owl chronotypes function better at night, while lark chronotypes are more energized in the morning.The Photo Matrix/Moment, nomis_g/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Timing is everything. For early risers and late-nighters alike, listening to your internal clock may be the key to success. From the classroom to the courtroom and beyond, people perform...

Climate change hits indebted businesses hardest, new research suggests

Written by Huan Kuang, Assistant Professor of Finance, Bryant University

Climate change leads to investment droughts, too. mgstudyo/E+/Getty Images

Climate change poses the biggest risks to the most vulnerable people, and the same is true for businesses: Highly leveraged companies – those that have accumulated too much debt – are uniquely susceptible to climate shocks. That’s what we found in a...

Climate change hits indebted businesses hardest, new research suggests

Written by Huan Kuang, Assistant Professor of Finance, Bryant University

Climate change leads to investment droughts, too. mgstudyo/E+/Getty Images

As Ohio and other states decide on abortion, anti-abortion activists look to rebrand themselves as not religious

Written by Anne Whitesell, Assistant Professor, Political Science, Miami University

Roman Catholic nuns pray with anti-abortion activists across the street from a Planned Parenthood clinic in New York in September 2023.Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

Abortion has become an increasingly polarized, political issue in the United States since 2022, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right...