The Conversation

It’s Hurricane Preparedness Week, and communities aren't ready for both coronavirus and a disaster

Written by Mark Abkowitz, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies, Vanderbilt University

It's hard to avoid close contact during a hurricane evacuation and recovery.Mehdi Taamallah/AFP/Getty Images

Hurricane season is only weeks away, and many communities are only now considering how to handle a large-scale disaster on top of the coronavirus pandemic.

Forecasters are warning of a more active than usual Atlantic hurricane season, which...

Your genes could determine whether the coronavirus puts you in the hospital – and we're starting to unravel which ones matter

Written by Austin Nguyen, PhD Candidate in Computational Biology and Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health & Science University

The relationship between the coronavirus and human genetics is murky. fatido/E+ via Getty Images

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

The big idea

When some people become infected with the coronavirus, they only develop mild or undetectable cases of COVID-19. Others suffer severe symptoms, fighting to breathe on a...

The mysterious disappearance of the first SARS virus, and why we need a vaccine for the current one but didn't for the other

Written by Marilyn J. Roossinck, Professor of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, Pennsylvania State University

Visitors look at new anti-SARS outfits for medical workers on display Thursday Nov. 6, 2003 in Shanghai, China, as the country braced for a resurgence. The disease never made a comeback.AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko

Some people question why the current coronavirus has brought the world to standstill while a previous deadly coronavirus, SARS, did not.

Othe...

Coronavirus is giving smokers incentive to quit, and social distancing could help them do it

Written by Amy Harrington, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School

Research shows smoking or vaping can make coronavirus illnesses worse.krisanapong detraphiphat via Getty Images

The coronavirus pandemic is giving smokers more reasons to give up the habit, and it’s creating a unique window of opportunity to do so.

As a medical doctor working in addiction psychiatry, I work with a lot of patients who smoke or...

Exercise may help reduce risk of deadly COVID-19 complication: ARDS

Written by Zhen Yan, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Virginia

Exercise has many benefits, including boosting defenses against complications that occur during SARS-CoV-2 infections. Julien McRoberts / Getty Images

Scientists are constantly revealing newly discovered benefits of exercise. In experiments over the past 10 years, my research has found that exercise can help with a respiratory problem known as...

Global sea piracy ticks upward, and the coronavirus may make it worse

Written by Brandon Prins, Professor of Political Science & Global Security Fellow at the Howard Baker Center, University of Tennessee

Suspected pirates surrender to the U.S. Coast Guard off the coast of Somalia in 2009.LCDR Tyson Weinert/U.S. Coast Guard

In early April, eight armed raiders boarded the container ship Fouma as it entered the port of Guayaquil, Ecuador. They fired warning shots toward the ship’s bridge, boarded the ship and opened several shipping containers,...

Activist farmers in Brazil feed the hungry and aid the sick as president downplays coronavirus crisis

Written by Rebecca Tarlau, Assistant Professor of Education and of Labor and Employment Relations, Pennsylvania State University

A mass grave for COVID-19 victims in Brazil, which has more total cases than anywhere else in Latin America, Manaus, April 2020.Chico Batata via Getty Images

For months, President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil has insisted the coronavirus is not a serious threat. Beyond instituting a national lockdown in mid-March, his government has left 209 million...

Everyday ethics: When should we lift the lockdown?

Written by Lee McIntyre, Research Fellow, Center for Philosophy and History of Science, Boston University

The roads are open, but not yet the shops.Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

A lot of people are facing ethical decisions about their daily life as a result of the coronavirus. Ethicist Lee McIntyre has stepped in to help provide advice over the moral dilemmas we face. If you have a question you’d like a philosopher to answer, send it to us at u...

Coronavirus could revolutionize work opportunities for people with disabilities

Written by Lisa Schur, Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University

Working from home is an accommodation long sought by many people with disabilities.Maskot/Getty Images

Working from home has become the “new normal” for many of us during the COVID-19 pandemic. While this clearly has its downsides, one group in particular may benefit a great deal: people with disabilities.

This is important because...

A majority of vaccine skeptics plan to refuse a COVID-19 vaccine, a study suggests, and that could be a big problem

Written by Kristin Lunz Trujillo, PhD Candidate in Political Science, University of Minnesota

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the NIAID, said that a vaccination could be available as early as January 2021.AP Photo/Alex Brandon/File

The availability of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus will likely play a key role in determining when Americans can return to life as usual. Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and...