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We’ll see more fire seasons like 2020 - here’s a strategy for managing our nation’s flammable landscapes

  • Written by Jennifer Balch, Associate Professor of Geography and Director, Earth Lab, University of Colorado Boulder

As of late fall, wildfires are still smoldering under snowfall in Colorado. I am hoping that the cold and snowy weather over the last few days will finally put to bed the 2020 fire season in my state. Through much of October, great pillars of smoke rose in the sky and ash rained down from at least four major fall wildfires, affecting millions in...

Read more: We’ll see more fire seasons like 2020 - here’s a strategy for managing our nation’s flammable...

In its troubled hour, polling could use an irreverent figure to reset expectations

  • Written by W. Joseph Campbell, Professor of Communication Studies, American University School of Communication
imagePollsters predicted a much higher vote for Joe Biden, including in Florida, where workers at the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Office in Largo process voters' ballots on Nov. 3.Octavio Jones/Getty Images

Polling is hardly a flamboyant field that attracts a lot of colorful characters. It is a rather reserved profession that now finds...

Read more: In its troubled hour, polling could use an irreverent figure to reset expectations

In appealing to 'give each other a chance,' Biden recalls the democratic charity of Abraham Lincoln

  • Written by Christopher Beem, Managing Director of the McCourtney Institute of Democracy, Co-host of Democracy Works Podcast, Penn State
imagePresident-elect Joe Biden speaks on Nov. 7, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

On Nov. 7, in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, Joe Biden delivered his first speech as president-elect. In declaring victory, Biden spoke directly to those who didn’t support him.

“And to those who voted for President Trump, I understand...

Read more: In appealing to 'give each other a chance,' Biden recalls the democratic charity of Abraham Lincoln

Biden's climate change plans can quickly raise the bar, but can they be transformative?

  • Written by Edward R Carr, Professor and Director, International Development, Community, and Environment, Clark University
imageThe next administration will need to carefully weigh the economic, social and environmental impacts of both climate change and the policy responses.Jim Watson/Getty Images

The day Joe Biden becomes president, he can start taking actions that can help slow climate change. The question is whether he can match the magnitude of the challenge.

If his...

Read more: Biden's climate change plans can quickly raise the bar, but can they be transformative?

Buying a coronavirus vaccine for everyone on Earth, storing and shipping it, and giving it safely will all be hard and expensive

  • Written by Nicole Hassoun, Professor of Philosophy, Binghamton University, State University of New York
imageBoxing up humanitarian aid at UNICEF's vast warehouse in October of 2020AP Photo

Infectious diseases do not respect borders.

An estimated 3 billion people in low-income countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America are likely to lack access to a COVID-19 vaccine for years after it becomes available. In poor nations, many communities lack the...

Read more: Buying a coronavirus vaccine for everyone on Earth, storing and shipping it, and giving it safely...

Oil field operations likely triggered earthquakes in California a few miles from the San Andreas Fault

  • Written by Thomas H. Goebel, Assistant Professor, University of Memphis
imageActivity in the San Ardo oil field near Salinas, California, has been linked to earthquakes.Eugene Zelenko/Wikimedia, CC BY

The way companies drill for oil and gas and dispose of wastewater can trigger earthquakes, at times in unexpected places.

In West Texas, earthquake rates are now 30 times higher than they were in 2013. Studies have also linked...

Read more: Oil field operations likely triggered earthquakes in California a few miles from the San Andreas...

How you can help veterans every day

  • Written by Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth, Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University
imageU.S. Army veteran Derek Martin gives his son a big hug at a veteran support group cookout on Nov. 7, 2015. Jon Hatch/Digital First Media/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty Images

As the nation celebrates our 17 million living veterans, it is also important to know that the number of these heroes who are ending their own lives prematurely is rising.

In...

Read more: How you can help veterans every day

Conservatives backed the ideas behind Obamacare, so how did they come to hate it?

  • Written by Christopher Robertson, Professor of Law, Boston University
imageMitt Romney, left, and Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House, in a presidential debate in Des Moines, Iowa. Both men backed some of the original ideas of the ACA.Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo

The Affordable Care Act is back before the U.S. Supreme Court in the latest of dozens of attacks against the law by conservatives fighting what they now...

Read more: Conservatives backed the ideas behind Obamacare, so how did they come to hate it?

How to host a safe holiday meal during coronavirus – an epidemiologist explains her personal plans

  • Written by Melissa Hawkins, Professor of Public Health, Director of Public Health Scholars Program, American University
imageHoliday events will need to be a little different due to the pandemic. Funwithfood/E+ via Getty Images

Like many people in this unusual year, I am adjusting my family’s holiday plans so that we can all be safe during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

I am an epidemiologist and mother of four with a large extended family. Given the serious nati...

Read more: How to host a safe holiday meal during coronavirus – an epidemiologist explains her personal plans

Russia's rigged elections look nothing like the US election – they have immediate, unquestioned results there

  • Written by Regina Smyth, Professor of Political Science, Indiana University
imageNot in Russia: An election observer takes notes as Gwinnett County workers process ballots in Lawrenceville, Georgia, Nov. 6.Jessica McGowan/Getty Images

The 2020 election, in which Joe Biden is the projected winner, is not what a rigged election looks like.

Rigged elections are organized. Vote counts certainly don’t play out in front of the...

Read more: Russia's rigged elections look nothing like the US election – they have immediate, unquestioned...

More Articles ...

  1. Why we didn't get a vaccine by Election Day – but why we may get one soon
  2. Who are patron saints and why do Catholics venerate them?
  3. Flaws emerge in modeling human genetic diseases in animals
  4. What the California vote to keep the ban on affirmative action means for higher education
  5. Choosing health insurance is so complicated, 23% of workers with only two choices picked the worse one
  6. How children with lethal cancers and other incurable illnesses have benefited from the Affordable Care Act – and why they'll suffer if the Supreme Court overturns it
  7. Before Kamala Harris, many Black women aimed for the White House
  8. Exoplanets are still out there -- a new model tells astronomers where to look for more using 4 simple variables
  9. Conservatives value personal stories more than liberals do when evaluating scientific evidence
  10. Farmers are depleting the Ogallala Aquifer because the government pays them to do it
  11. So-called 'Latino vote' is 32 million Americans with diverse political opinions and national origins
  12. The complicated origin of the expression 'peanut gallery'
  13. Why Republicans and others concerned about the economy have reason to celebrate Biden in the White House
  14. Georgia's political shift – a tale of urban and suburban change
  15. Biden wins – experts on what it means for race relations, US foreign policy and the Supreme Court
  16. How votes are counted in Pennsylvania: Changing numbers are a sign of transparency, not fraud, during an ongoing process
  17. Has Donald Trump had his Joe McCarthy moment?
  18. Is democracy sacred?
  19. Job policies that offer generous unemployment benefits create more happiness – for everyone
  20. A skin-eating fungus from Europe could decimate Appalachia's salamanders – but researchers are working to prevent an outbreak
  21. Keep calm and carry on – but how? A psychologist offers 10 tips to manage the uncertainty and stress of election aftermath
  22. COVID-19 reveals how obesity harms the body in real time, not just over a lifetime
  23. Delinquent electric bills from the pandemic are coming due – who will pay them?
  24. How Reagan's notions of a 'good society' resonate with Trump supporters today
  25. Remote education is rife with threats to student privacy
  26. 5 types of misinformation to watch out for while ballots are being counted – and after
  27. Congress could select the president in a disputed election
  28. Trump's Pennsylvania lawsuits invoke Bush v. Gore – but the Supreme Court probably won't decide the 2020 election
  29. 3 scholars explain Senate results in South Carolina, Iowa and Arizona - and what they say about voters
  30. A disputed election delivered 3 governors to Georgia – at the same time
  31. Post-election grief is real, and here are 5 coping strategies – including getting back into politics
  32. Although now required by California law, ethnic studies courses likely to be met with resistance
  33. California voters decide Uber and Lyft drivers are 'contractors' as gig workers continue search for a livable wage
  34. The International Space Station at 20 offers hope and a template for future cooperation
  35. Even if you're asymptomatic, COVID-19 can harm your heart, study shows – here's what student athletes need to know
  36. An embarrassing failure for election pollsters
  37. History tells us that a contested election won't destroy American democracy
  38. Who invented the Electoral College?
  39. 'Rainbow wave' of LGBTQ candidates run and win in 2020 election
  40. A Q A with a historian of presidential polls
  41. 'Wait and see' is an unsatisfying – but accurate – way to present election results
  42. A history of contested presidential elections, from Samuel Tilden to Al Gore
  43. Election night has been a big media event since electric lights first announced the winner in 1892
  44. Death rates have fallen by 18% for hospitalized COVID–19 patients as treatments improve
  45. In supporting same-sex civil unions, Pope Francis is showing how the Catholic definition of what constitutes a family is changing
  46. Only the richest ancient Athenians paid taxes – and they bragged about it
  47. Poor US pandemic response will reverberate in health care politics for years, health scholars warn
  48. In supporting civil unions for same sex couples, Pope Francis is moving Catholics toward a more expansive understanding of family
  49. How schools can reduce parents' anxiety during the pandemic
  50. Magnetism of Himalayan rocks reveals the mountains' complex tectonic history