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The Conversation

10 years after Fukushima, safety is still nuclear power's greatest challenge

  • Written by Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo
imageAn International Atomic Energy Agency investigator examines Reactor Unit 3 at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant, May 27, 2011.Greg Webb, IAEA/Flickr, CC BY-SA

Ten years ago, on March 11, 2011, the biggest recorded earthquake in Japanese history hit the country’s northeast coast. It was followed by a tsunami that traveled up to 6 miles (10...

Read more: 10 years after Fukushima, safety is still nuclear power's greatest challenge

The oil industry says it might support a carbon tax – here's why that could be good for producers and the public alike

  • Written by Richard Schmalensee, Professor Emeritus, Member of National Bureau of Economic Research Board of Directors, MIT Sloan School of Management
imageRegulations have an accountability problem.AP Photo/Gregory Bull

The oil industry’s lobbying arm, the American Petroleum Institute, suggested in a new draft statement that it might support Congress putting a price on carbon emissions to combat climate change, even though oil and gas are major sources of those greenhouse gas emissions.

An...

Read more: The oil industry says it might support a carbon tax – here's why that could be good for producers...

Backlash against Johnson Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine is real and risky – here's how to make its rollout a success

  • Written by Tinglong Dai, Associate Professor of Operations Management & Business Analytics, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
imageThe concern is about more than one shot vs. two.Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

More than 50 million Americans have received at least one dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. So far, Americans have been largely brand-agnostic, but that’s about to change as a new vaccine rolls out.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been hailed...

Read more: Backlash against Johnson Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine is real and risky – here's how to make its...

Support for QAnon is hard to measure – and polls may overestimate it

  • Written by James Shanahan, Dean of the Media School, Indiana University
imageIt's not clear exactly how many people believe or follow QAnon.AP Photo/Matt Rourke

It’s hard to know how many people actually believe the key tenets of QAnon’s claims, including that devil-worshipping, cannibalistic pedophiles are somehow running the world. Its adherents have caused violence and insurrection, as happened at the U.S....

Read more: Support for QAnon is hard to measure – and polls may overestimate it

Support for Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package may not be as broad as it seems – it's all a matter of perspective

  • Written by Aaron Saiewitz, Associate Professor of Accounting, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
imageGovernment spending bills that cost billions or trillions of dollars can seem abstract.Siri Stafford/DigitalVision via Getty ImagesimageCC BY-NC-ND

Congress is on the verge of spending US$1.9 trillion to provide additional coronavirus relief to Americans, including $1,400 direct payments and extended unemployment benefits. Opinion polls show the bill...

Read more: Support for Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package may not be as broad as it seems –...

Women used to dominate the beer industry – until the witch accusations started pouring in

  • Written by Laken Brooks, Doctoral Student of English, University of Florida
imageThree women dressed in Middle-Age period garb as alewives.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images

What do witches have to do with your favorite beer?

When I pose this question to students in my American literature and culture classes, I receive stunned silence or nervous laughs. The Sanderson sisters didn’t chug down bottles of Sam...

Read more: Women used to dominate the beer industry – until the witch accusations started pouring in

Going forth with standardized tests may cause more problems than it solves

  • Written by Erin Marie Furtak, Professor of STEM Education and Associate Dean of Faculty, University of Colorado Boulder

Despite the many ways that COVID-19 has disrupted schools, the U.S. Department of Education will not give states a pass on giving standardized tests to students this year as it did in spring 2020. That’s according to new guidance the department issued Feb. 22.

The guidance invites states to request waivers to shorten tests, give the tests in...

Read more: Going forth with standardized tests may cause more problems than it solves

Fungal microbiome: Whether mice get fatter or thinner depends on the fungi that live in their gut

  • Written by Kent Willis, Assistant Professor of Neonatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
imageFungi make up a small but important part of gut microbiomes.Mogana Das Murtey and Patchamuthu Ramasamy via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

Mice with certain communities of fungi living in their gut gained more weight when eating processed food than mice whose gut microbiomes...

Read more: Fungal microbiome: Whether mice get fatter or thinner depends on the fungi that live in their gut

Why white supremacists and QAnon enthusiasts are obsessed – but very wrong – about the Byzantine Empire

  • Written by Roland Betancourt, Professor, University of California, Irvine
imageInspiration for a mob of angry white men?Getty Images

From Charlottesville to the Capitol, medieval imagery has been repeatedly on show at far-right rallies and riots in recent years.

Displays of Crusader shields and tattoos derived from Norse and Celtic symbols are of little surprise to medieval historians like me who have long documented the...

Read more: Why white supremacists and QAnon enthusiasts are obsessed – but very wrong – about the Byzantine...

The science behind frozen wind turbines – and how to keep them spinning through the winter

  • Written by Hui Hu, Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Iowa State University
imageIce can be a wind turbine's worst enemy.AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

Winter is supposed to be the best season for wind power – the winds are stronger, and since air density increases as the temperature drops, more force is pushing on the blades. But winter also comes with a problem: freezing weather.

Even light icing can produce enough surface...

Read more: The science behind frozen wind turbines – and how to keep them spinning through the winter

More Articles ...

  1. January warm spells, March freezes: How plants manage the shift from winter to spring
  2. Revisiting reparations: Is it time for the US to pay its debt for the legacy of slavery?
  3. What the policing response to the KKK in the 1960s can teach about dismantling white supremacist groups today
  4. Queer in the country: Why some LGBTQ Americans prefer rural life to urban 'gayborhoods'
  5. Motivation is a key factor in whether students cheat
  6. Public transit drivers struggle to enforce mask mandates
  7. Even before COVID-19, US nursing homes were filling empty beds with psychiatric patients
  8. Your favorite fishing stream may be at high risk from climate change – here’s how to tell
  9. Why repressive Saudi Arabia remains a US ally
  10. Pope's upcoming visit brings attention to the dwindling population of Christians in Iraq
  11. Colleges are eliminating sports teams – and runners and golfers are paying more of a price than football or basketball players
  12. News organizations that want journalists to engage with their audience may be setting them up for abuse
  13. Forcibly sterilized during Fujimori dictatorship, thousands of Peruvian women demand justice
  14. Scientist at work: Tracking the epic journeys of migratory birds in northwest Mexico
  15. Two gaps to fill for the 2021-2022 winter wave of COVID-19 cases
  16. How some people can end up living at airports for months – even years – at a time
  17. Most US states don't have a filibuster – nor do many democratic countries
  18. Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax would reduce inequality – the problem is it's probably unconstitutional
  19. The Texas blackouts showed how climate extremes threaten energy systems across the US
  20. COVID-19 revealed how sick the US health care delivery system really is
  21. COVID-19 costs could push hospitals to rethink billions of dollars in wasted supplies
  22. Can QAnon survive another 'Great Disappointment' on March 4? History suggests it might
  23. Tobacco killed 500,000 Americans in 2020 – is it time to control cigarette-makers?
  24. What's in a name for a vaccine campaign? Maybe the end of the pandemic
  25. Why using reconciliation to pass Biden's COVID-19 stimulus bill violates the original purpose of the process
  26. Colleges confront their links to slavery and wrestle with how to atone for past sins
  27. As death approaches, our dreams offer comfort, reconciliation
  28. What the mythical figure of Şahmeran in Turkey represents and why activists use it
  29. What's really driving coal power's demise?
  30. 6 COVID-19 treatments helping patients survive
  31. Why do flowers smell?
  32. What the Bible's approach to history can teach us about America's glory and shame
  33. How Black people in the 19th century used photography as a tool for social change
  34. Ensuring the minimum wage keeps up with economic growth would be the best way to help workers and preserve FDR's legacy
  35. Polar bears have captivated artists' imaginations for centuries, but what they've symbolized has changed over time
  36. A less Trumpy version of Trumpism might be the future of the Republican Party
  37. There was a time reparations were actually paid out – just not to formerly enslaved people
  38. What are phthalates, and how do they put children's health at risk?
  39. Meatpacking plants have been deadly COVID-19 hot spots – but policies that encourage workers to show up sick are legal
  40. Can vaccinated people still spread the coronavirus?
  41. Misinformation-spewing cable companies come under scrutiny
  42. How does the Johnson Johnson vaccine compare to other coronavirus vaccines? 4 questions answered
  43. Alexei Navalny leads Russians in a historic battle against arbitrary rule, with words echoing Catherine the Great
  44. Facebook's news blockade in Australia shows how tech giants are swallowing the web
  45. Deported veterans, stranded far from home after years of military service, press Biden to bring them back
  46. What is fascism?
  47. Audio chatrooms like Clubhouse have become the hot new media by tapping into the age-old appeal of the human voice
  48. What public school students are allowed to say on social media may be about to change
  49. Giving while female: Women are more likely to donate to charities than men of equal means
  50. The exercise pill: How exercise keeps your brain healthy and protects it against depression and anxiety