The Conversation

The US biofuel mandate helps farmers, but does little for energy security and harms the environment

Written by John DeCicco, Research Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan

Surplus corn piled outside a farmer's co-op storage facility in Paoli, Colorado.Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

If you’ve pumped gas at a U.S. service station over the past decade, you’ve put biofuel in your tank. Thanks to the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS, almost all gasoline sold nationwide is required to contain 10%...

Supreme Court signals shift on abortion – but will it strike down Roe or leave it to states to decide when 'personhood' occurs?

Written by Morgan Marietta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Will Justices give a green light to states to decide on abortion?Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

The Supreme Court justices signaled a potential major shift on abortion law on Dec. 1, 2021. Hearing arguments in a case that could fundamentally alter abortion rights and regulations throughout the nation, the six conservative justices who hold the...

Most school shooters get their guns from home – and during the pandemic, the number of firearms in households with teenagers went up

Written by Patrick Carter, Co-Director, Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention; Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan

The scene of the latest – but likely not the last – U.S. school shooting. AP Photo/Paul Sancya

Four days before a 15-year-old sophomore killed four students and wounded others at a high school shooting in Michigan, his father purchased the firearm used in the attack.

That the teenager used a weapon from home during the Nov. 30 attack is...

How the US census led to the first data processing company 125 years ago – and kick-started America’s computing industry

Written by David Lindsay Roberts, Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, Prince George's Community College

This electromechanical machine, used in the 1890 U.S. census, was the first automated data processing system.Niall Kennedy/Flickr, CC BY-NC

The U.S. Constitution requires that a population count be conducted at the beginning of every decade.

This census has always been charged with political significance, and continues to be. That’s clear...

Charting changes in a pathogen's genome yields clues about its past and hints about its future

Written by Claire Guinat, Postdoctoral Fellow in Computational Evolution, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

A virus's genes hold a record of where it's traveled, and when.imaginima/E+ via Getty Images

More than 250 million people worldwide have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, usually after a diagnostic nose swab. Those swabs aren’t trash once they’ve delivered their positive result, though. For scientists like us they carry additional valuable...

Independent commissions can ditch partisanship and make redistricting fairer to voters

Written by Jon X. Eguia, Professor of Economics, Michigan State University

People wait in line to get their ballot to vote in the 2020 general election in Detroit, Michigan. Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images

States across the U.S. are drawing new electoral districts for the next decade in a process called redistricting. In some states, districts are drawn by the state legislature; in others, by an independent...

Aaron Rodgers dropped the ball on critical thinking – with a little practice you can do better

Written by Joe Árvai, Dana and David Dornsife Professor of Psychology and Director of the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

However Rodgers came to his decision to remain unvaccinated, he did not follow the tenets of critical thinking.Patrick McDermott/Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

It was hard to miss the news about Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers testing positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 3. Like the vast majority of people currently catching...

Small-group learning can mitigate the effects of school closures – but only if teachers use it well

Written by Mark J. Van Ryzin, Research Associate Professor in Education, University of Oregon

For peer learning to be effective, each child should have a specific task or role.Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/DigitalVision Collection via Getty Images

Schools aren’t just where kids go to learn reading, math, science and history. The social skills they learn – like how to build and maintain relationships with peers – are also critical....

HIV prevention pill PrEP is now free under most insurance plans – but the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act puts this benefit at risk

Written by Paul Shafer, Assistant Professor of Health Law, Policy and Management, Boston University

The FDA approved the first PrEP drug, Truvada, in 2012.AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Since the start of the HIV epidemic in 1981, over 700,000 Americans have lost their lives to AIDS. Being infected used to be a death sentence. But now, 40 years later, the U.S. is on the precipice of eradicating HIV.

The U.S. Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative provides a road...

Biden brings a menorah lighting back to the White House, rededicating a Hanukkah tradition from the 20th century

Written by Jonathan D. Sarna, University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University

The lighting of the National Menorah in Washington, D.C. in 2012.AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

President Joe Biden’s staff has dispatched invitations to a “Menorah Lighting to be held at the White House” on Dec. 1, the evening when the fourth candle of the eight-day festival of Hanukkah will be lit. The event promises to be quite...