The Conversation

Expert in fluid dynamics explains how to reduce the risk of COVID-19 airborne transmission inside a car

Written by Varghese Mathai, Assistant Professor of Physics, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Opening all windows, or one front and one rear window, increases the amount of airflow in the car, reducing the risk of airborne transmission.Sisoje/E+ via Getty Images

Editor’s note: Varghese Mathai is a physicist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who studies the flow of fluids and gases. He conducted a study using computational...

The problem with India's 'love jihad' laws

Written by Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana University

Activist protest against 'love jihad' laws being proposed in India.Manjunath Kiran/AFP via Getty Images

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the Bharatiya Janata Party government has put forward several anti-Muslim policies. The latest is a clampdown on what it sees as “love jihad,” the belief that Muslims are seeking...

Death threats and intimidation of public officials signal Trump's autocratic legacy

Written by Shelley Inglis, Executive Director, University of Dayton Human Rights Center, University of Dayton

Rioters storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, seeking to intimidate politicians into overturning the presidential election.AP Photo/John Minchillo

As the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump approaches, federal officials are investigating threats to attack or kill members of Congress. This comes in the wake of the Capitol riot, when...

Intense scrutiny of Chinese-born researchers in the US threatens innovation

Written by Caroline Wagner, Milton & Roslyn Wolf Chair in International Affairs, The Ohio State University

Who should be allowed into U.S. labs and who should be kept out?7postman/E+ via Getty Images

The arrest of MIT engineering professor Gang Chen on Jan. 14 has drawn attention to the role of China in U.S. science and technology system. It’s not the first time suspicions have fallen on a Chinese-born scientist – Chen is a naturalized U.S....

What is an executive order, and why don't presidents use them all the time?

Written by Sharece Thrower, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt University

Modern presidents, including Trump and Obama, have issued far fewer executive orders than their predecessors before World War II.Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Just hours after taking the oath of office, President Joe Biden signed nine executive orders – far surpassing every other president’s first day on the job in modern history.

Thes...

How new voters and Black women transformed Georgia's politics

Written by Sharon Austin, Professor of Political Science, University of Florida

Georgia's recent election of three Democrats for national office – one Jewish, one Black and one Catholic – upended over a century of politics openly hostile to minorities.Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

In July 1964, Georgia restaurateur Lester Maddox violated the newly passed Civil Rights Act by refusing to serve three Black Georgia...

Incitement to violence is rarely explicit – here are some techniques people use to breed hate

Written by H. Colleen Sinclair, Associate Professor of Social Psychology, Mississippi State University

Dangerous speech is a toxic brew of emotion and age-old tropes.Mihajlo Maricic / iStock via Getty Images Plus

As senators plan for an impeachment trial in which former President Donald Trump is accused of inciting his supporters to mount a deadly insurrection at the Capitol, global concern is growing about threats of violent unrest in multiple...

Beetle parents manipulate information broadcast from bacteria in a rotting corpse

Written by Stephen Trumbo, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut

Parent beetle regurgitating liquefied carrion to its young.Stephen Trumbo, CC BY-SA

Biologists are accustomed to hearing stories of microbes manipulating their host – a fungus that turns ants into suicidal zombies, a protozoan that makes rats seek out cat urine – but there are few examples of hosts turning the tables on their microbes.

M...

How Biden's dogs could make the Oval Office a workplace with less stress and better decision-making

Written by Ellen Furlong, Associate Professor of Psychology, Illinois Wesleyan University

Presidential pup Major Biden stretches his legs on the White House lawn.The Official White House photo/Adam Schultz via Twitter, CC BY

On Jan. 24 the White House welcomed two new residents: Champ and Major, the newly minted first dogs of the United States. The first dogs are poised to offer special benefits to workers in the White House.

The first...

Think US evangelicals are dying out? Well, define evangelicalism ...

Written by Ryan Burge, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Eastern Illinois University

Not flagging, merely changing stripes. The Washington Post via Getty Images

The death spiral of evangelicalism has long been written about in both the religious and mainstream press.

The assumption is that evangelicalism has weathered the storms of secularization and politicization poorly. Journalist Eliza Griswold, writing for The New Yorker,...