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The Conversation

We call workers 'essential' – but is that just referring to the work, not the people?

  • Written by Zachary Jaggers, Postdoctoral Scholar of Linguistics, University of Oregon
Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in New York protest conditions in the company's warehouse.AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

By this point in the coronavirus pandemic, you’ve probably heard a lot about “essential workers.” They’re the people working in hospitals and grocery stores, on farms and in meatpacking plants....

Read more: We call workers 'essential' – but is that just referring to the work, not the people?

Will we ever be able to shrink and grow stuff?

  • Written by Salvatore Rappoccio, Associate Professor of Physics, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
It would be fun to be able to shrink people and objects, but it's something we can only imagine.Jasmin Merdan/Moment via Getty Images

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Will we ever be able to shrink and grow stuff? –...

Read more: Will we ever be able to shrink and grow stuff?

How people react to the threat of disease could mean COVID-19 is reshaping personalities

  • Written by Vivian Zayas, Associate Professor of Psychology, Cornell University
Your body wants you to freak out about germs so you avoid them.FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic will be “imprinted on the personality of our nation for a very long time,” predicted Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

No doubt in the future...

Read more: How people react to the threat of disease could mean COVID-19 is reshaping personalities

How using music to parent can liven up everyday tasks, build family bonds

  • Written by Lisa Huisman Koops, Professor of Music Education, Case Western Reserve University
Parents can sing their way through the day.Jose Luis Pelaez Inc./Getty Images

Editor’s Note: Lisa Huisman Koops researches how parents incorporate music into everything from daily chores and routines to family and religious practices. It’s something she believes has taken on more importance now that families are spending more time...

Read more: How using music to parent can liven up everyday tasks, build family bonds

Leaders' empathy matters in the midst of a pandemic

  • Written by Jonathan D. Fitzgerald, Assistant Professor of Humanities, Regis College
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is near tears as he thanked the Kraft family for flying desperately needed protective masks from China to Boston in a New England Patriots jet, April 1, 2020.Getty/Jim Davis/The Boston Globe

Resilience, communication skills, openness and impulse control top the list of six qualities that presidential historian Doris...

Read more: Leaders' empathy matters in the midst of a pandemic

Pants or no pants? Tips for virtual job interviews from home

  • Written by Elizabeth C. Tippett, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Oregon
Bad idea.ozgurcankaya/Getty Images

If you have the good fortune of scoring a virtual job interview in the middle of a pandemic, the initial euphoria of potential employment may soon be replaced with anxiety over what to wear – as well as putting your home life on display for a potential employer.

And with good reason. Social scientists have...

Read more: Pants or no pants? Tips for virtual job interviews from home

EPA decides to reject the latest science, endanger public health and ignore the law by keeping an outdated fine particle air pollution standard

  • Written by H. Christopher Frey, Glenn E. Futrell Distinguished University Professor of Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University
Diesel emissions are a major source of fine particle pollution.Bob Chamberlin/Getty Images

The COVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown have temporarily produced clearer skies across the U.S. Meanwhile, however, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been busy finding reasons not to pursue long-lasting air quality gains.

On April 30, 2020, the...

Read more: EPA decides to reject the latest science, endanger public health and ignore the law by keeping an...

How cafes, bars, gyms, barbershops and other 'third places' create our social fabric

  • Written by Setha Low, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Geography and Psychology and Director of the Public Space Research Group, CUNY Graduate Center
Empty cafes with tipped chairs are a common sight worldwide during the coronavirus pandemic.Frank Rumpenhorst/picture alliance via Getty Images

Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic implies many painful losses. Among them are so-called “third places” – the restaurants, bars, gyms, houses of worship, barber shops and other...

Read more: How cafes, bars, gyms, barbershops and other 'third places' create our social fabric

Why offering businesses immunity from coronavirus liability is a bad idea

  • Written by Timothy D. Lytton, Distinguished University Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State University
Taking reasonable precautions such as wearing gloves can help businesses avoid civil liability.Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Governors around the country are attempting to restart the economy by easing restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The prospect of returning to “normal” amid a pandemic has businesses lobbying...

Read more: Why offering businesses immunity from coronavirus liability is a bad idea

What are the 'reopen' protesters really saying?

  • Written by Diana Daly, Assistant Professor of Information, University of Arizona
Protesters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on April 20 call for the governor to lift restrictions meant to help combat the spread of the coronavirus.AP Photo/Matt Slocum

The “anti-lockdown” and #Reopen protests in the U.S. have powerful and secretive backers, but there are real Americans on the streets expressing their opinions.

As an ethno...

Read more: What are the 'reopen' protesters really saying?

More Articles ...

  1. Your guide to the 2020 census questionnaire
  2. The impulse to garden in hard times has deep roots
  3. Why the WHO, often under fire, has a tough balance to strike in its efforts to address health emergencies
  4. Spring signals female bees to lay the next generation of pollinators
  5. The 'first scientist's 800-year-old tonic for what ails us: The truth
  6. Why are kids asking such big questions during the pandemic?
  7. We found and tested 47 old drugs that might treat the coronavirus: Results show promising leads and a whole new way to fight COVID-19
  8. Why apparel brands' efforts to police their supply chains aren't working
  9. Coronavirus: Why is it so hard to aid small businesses hurt by a disaster?
  10. Infected with the coronavirus but not showing symptoms? A physician answers 5 questions about asymptomatic COVID-19
  11. Language differences spark fear amid the coronavirus pandemic
  12. Refugees tell stories of problems – and unity – in facing the coronavirus
  13. How could an explosive Big Bang be the birth of our universe?
  14. How Apple and Google will let your phone warn you if you've been exposed to the coronavirus
  15. Masks and distancing make it tough for the hard-of-hearing, but here's how to help
  16. Can your community handle a natural disaster and coronavirus at the same time?
  17. Brazilian mystics say they're sent by aliens to 'jump-start human evolution' – but their vision for a more just society is not totally crazy
  18. Endangered tigers face growing threats from an Asian road-building boom
  19. Archaeologists have a lot of dates wrong for North American indigenous history – but we're using new techniques to get it right
  20. Empty pews take a financial toll on many US congregations
  21. I was a nurse on the front lines of Ebola, and I saw that nurses need support for the trauma and pain they experience
  22. Wait times remain stubbornly long in hospital emergency rooms
  23. Top football recruits bring in big money for colleges – COVID-19 could threaten revenue
  24. Are we living in a dystopia?
  25. What does 'survival of the fittest' mean in the coronavirus pandemic? Look to the immune system
  26. As states weigh human lives versus the economy, history suggests the economy often wins
  27. Scientist at work: Trapping urban coyotes to see if they can be 'hazed' away from human neighborhoods
  28. Very good dogs don't necessarily make very good co-workers
  29. Climate change threatens drinking water quality across the Great Lakes
  30. Why are white supremacists protesting to 'reopen' the US economy?
  31. Kids have a right to a basic education, according to a new legal milestone
  32. COVID-19 is a dress rehearsal for entrepreneurial approaches to climate change
  33. How the Trump administration accidentally insured over 200,000 through Obamacare
  34. 3 volunteering guidelines to heed during the coronavirus pandemic
  35. 3 crisis-leadership lessons from Abraham Lincoln
  36. Measuring maternal grief in Africa
  37. Who's at risk of not being counted in the 2020 census: 6 essential reads
  38. Scientists at work: Uncovering the mystery of when and where sharks give birth
  39. Coronavirus impact: Meat processing plants weigh risks of prosecution if they're blamed for spreading infection
  40. Welcome to your sensory revolution, thanks to the pandemic
  41. Failure to count COVID-19 nursing home deaths could dramatically skew US numbers
  42. Lethargic global response to COVID-19: How the human brain's failure to assess abstract threats cost us dearly
  43. 5 things college students should include in a plan for their wellness
  44. How the US military could help fight the coronavirus outbreak
  45. 5 lessons from the coronavirus about inequality in America
  46. A global mask shortage may leave farmers and farm workers exposed to toxic pesticides
  47. From pews to patients – churches have long served as hospitals, particularly in times of crisis
  48. Jewish history explains why some ultra-Orthodox communities defy coronavirus restrictions
  49. Coronavirus bailouts will cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars – unlike past corporate rescues that actually made money for the US Treasury
  50. The coronavirus genome is like a shipping label that lets epidemiologists track where it's been