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How Crisco toppled lard – and made Americans believers in industrial food

  • Written by Helen Zoe Veit, Associate Professor of History, Michigan State University
It's all about having faith in the purity of the process.melissamn/Shutterstock.com

Perhaps you’ll unearth a can of Crisco for the holiday baking season. If so, you’ll be one of millions of Americans who have, for generations, used it to make cookies, cakes, pie crusts and more.

But for all Crisco’s popularity, what exactly is...

Read more: How Crisco toppled lard – and made Americans believers in industrial food

Tracking your heart rate? 5 questions answered about what that number really means

  • Written by Anne R. Crecelius, Associate Professor of Health and Sport Science, University of Dayton
It's one of your body's most basic vital signs.Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock.com

The rise of wearable fitness trackers has increased the number of people monitoring their heart rate, both throughout the day and during exercise.

Whether you’re an athlete trying to gain the competitive edge, a weekend warrior tracking progress or someone who is just...

Read more: Tracking your heart rate? 5 questions answered about what that number really means

150 cooks, servers and dishwashers almost shut down a Democratic debate, showing unions' growing clout in the party

  • Written by Ruben J. Garcia, Professor of Law, Co-Director of UNLV Workplace Law Program, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Joe Biden was among the top candidates who met with Unite Here culinary workers in Las Vegas. MediaPunch/IPX/Damairs Carter

Organized labor’s clout in the Democratic Party is growing. For evidence, look no further than the small California food services union that nearly managed to shut down a presidential debate.

Unite Here Local 11, which...

Read more: 150 cooks, servers and dishwashers almost shut down a Democratic debate, showing unions' growing...

Think presidential debates are dull? Thank 1950s TV game shows

  • Written by Michael J. Socolow, Associate Professor, Communication and Journalism, University of Maine
Host Jack Barry, middle, is flanked by contestants on '21,' a 1950s TV game show.Orlando Fernandez/New York World-Telegram and Sun/Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons

Televised political debates continue to disappoint viewers and critics. Sometimes they even frustrate the participants themselves.

That’s because, since their inception,...

Read more: Think presidential debates are dull? Thank 1950s TV game shows

Parents of medically fragile children and their kids could use help, understanding year-round

  • Written by Katherine Rafferty, Assistant Teaching Professor, Iowa State University
Katie Buck holds her son, Alex, 3, who has Trisomy 18, a chromosomal abnormality that causes severe developmental delays. Aly Carroll, CC BY-ND

December is a prime time to fundraise for children’s hospitals and other charities, as people want to give back and help sick children throughout the holiday season.

But for children who live with...

Read more: Parents of medically fragile children and their kids could use help, understanding year-round

7 reasons to learn a foreign language

  • Written by Kathleen Stein-Smith, Associate University Librarian; Adjunct Faculty, Fairleigh Dickinson University
America lags when it comes to being able to speak more than one language. Monopoly919/Shutterstock.com

Half of the world population is bilingual, but only 25% of Americans can hold a conversation in another language.

Changing that is one of the goals of language advocacy efforts, such as the Lead with Languages campaign. As the author of a book on...

Read more: 7 reasons to learn a foreign language

7 science-based strategies to boost your willpower and succeed with your New Year’s resolutions

  • Written by Jelena Kecmanovic, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Georgetown University
Behavioral science has ideas about how to keep on track beyond January.duchic/Shutterstock.com

It’s that time of year when people make their New Year’s resolutions – indeed, 93% of people set them, according to the American Psychological Association. The most common resolutions are related to losing weight, eating healthier,...

Read more: 7 science-based strategies to boost your willpower and succeed with your New Year’s resolutions

My team uses crossbows and drones to collect bacteria from whales – and the results are teaching us how to keep whales healthy

  • Written by Amy Apprill, Associate Scientist of Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
A bowhead whale breaches the surface of the cold waters near Point Barrow, Alaska.Kate Stafford, University of Washington, CC BY-SA

As we drew closer to the massive humpback whale, I became painfully aware how small our inflatable motorboat actually was. I also realized I’d been unconsciously holding my breath and that conversation in the...

Read more: My team uses crossbows and drones to collect bacteria from whales – and the results are teaching...

Feeling sick is an emotion meant to help you get better faster

  • Written by Joshua Schrock, Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology, University of Oregon
The emotion of lassitude might help your body fight off infection by making certain adjustments.Kalinka Georgieva/Shutterstock.com

You know what it’s like to be sick. You feel fatigued, maybe a little depressed, less hungry than usual, more easily nauseated and perhaps more sensitive to pain and cold.

The fact that illness comes with a...

Read more: Feeling sick is an emotion meant to help you get better faster

When a chief justice reminded senators in an impeachment trial that they were not jurors

  • Written by Steven Lubet, Williams Memorial Professor of Law, Northwestern University
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., fields questions from reporters about an impeachment trial in the Senate, Dec. 10, 2019. AP/J. Scott Applewhite

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell created a predictable stir when he told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he would structure the impending impeachment trial of President Donald Trump...

Read more: When a chief justice reminded senators in an impeachment trial that they were not jurors

More Articles ...

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  2. Planetary confusion -- why astronomers keep changing what it means to be a planet
  3. How can we make sure that algorithms are fair?
  4. 3 lessons for today's teachers and students from coach Vince Lombardi
  5. 6 charts that illustrate the surprising financial strength of American houses of worship
  6. Catholic activism, not repentance for sexual abuse, is what forces clergy to resign
  7. Evangelical gangs in Rio de Janeiro wage 'holy war' on Afro-Brazilian faiths
  8. Transgender homeless Americans find few protections in the law
  9. Why Congress would keep working during a government shutdown
  10. US-China trade deal: 3 fundamental issues remain unresolved
  11. In impeachment spotlight, dueling views of professionalism appear
  12. Impeachment is better than exile
  13. Kids aren't getting enough exercise, even in sporty Seattle
  14. Memo from a historian: White ladies cooking in plantation museums are a denial of history
  15. When Trump calls someone a dog, he's tapping into ugly history
  16. Margaret Morse Nice thought like a song sparrow and changed how scientists understand animal behavior
  17. Butterfly lovers become citizen scientists by logging sightings on eButterfly
  18. Uber's data revealed nearly 6,000 sexual assaults. Does that mean it's not safe?
  19. Asking people with memory loss about past holidays can help them recall happy times
  20. As rural Americans struggle for health care access, insurers may be making things worse
  21. The Earth needs multiple methods for removing CO2 from the air to avert worst of climate change
  22. 'Organic' label doesn't guarantee that holiday ham was a happy pig
  23. The dangers of depicting Greta Thunberg as a prophet
  24. Why are whales big, but not bigger?
  25. How old should kids be to get phones?
  26. ‘Richard Jewell’ is only the latest film to depict a female journalist trading sex for scoops
  27. Supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy may have a friend
  28. Winter is coming: 5 essential reads about snow and ice
  29. Myths around mental illness cause high rates of unemployment
  30. Slave life's harsh realities are erased in Christmas tours of Southern plantations
  31. School resource officers aren't arrested often – but when they are, it's usually for sexual misconduct
  32. Myanmar charged with genocide of Rohingya Muslims: 5 essential reads
  33. Examining how primates make vowel sounds pushes timeline for speech evolution back by 27 million years
  34. USMCA: The 3 most important changes in the new NAFTA and why they matter
  35. Mexican Mennonites combat fears of violence with a new Christmas tradition
  36. Like 'Little Women,' books by Zitkála-Šá and Taha Hussein are classics
  37. We calculated emissions due to electricity loss on the power grid – globally, it's a lot
  38. Not every campus is a political battlefield
  39. 5 new ways for schools to work with families
  40. What happens when black Americans leave their segregated hometowns
  41. 'Robotic blacksmithing': A technology that could revive US manufacturing
  42. Paul Volcker helped shape an independent Federal Reserve – a vital legacy that's under threat
  43. What can drones do to protect civilians in armed conflict?
  44. Fat-shaming pregnant women isn't just mean, it's harmful
  45. Millions of burnt trees and rusted cars: Post-disaster cleanup is expensive, time-consuming and wasteful
  46. Taliban negotiations resume, feeding hope of a peaceful, more prosperous Afghanistan
  47. Super rats or sickly rodents? Our war against urban rats could be leading to swift evolutionary changes
  48. How the 'extreme abstinence' of the purity movement created a sense of shame in evangelical women
  49. In its anti-'Medicare for All' push, the health insurance industry pulls from an old playbook
  50. A brief guide to how the China-US trade war will affect your holiday shopping