The Conversation

El Niño is starting to lose strength after fueling a hot, stormy year, but it’s still powerful − an atmospheric scientist explains what’s ahead for 2024

Written by Paul Roundy, Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University at Albany, State University of New York

In California, El Niño helped fuel a wet 2023 and early 2024.Mario Tama/Getty Images

Wild weather has been roiling North America for the past few months, thanks in part to a strong El Niño that sent temperatures surging in 2023. The climate phenomenon fed atmospheric rivers drenching the West Coast and contributed to summer’s...

Sugary handshakes are how cells talk to each other − understanding these name tags can clarify how the immune system works

Written by Kelvin Anggara, Group leader in Single molecule imaging, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research

Handshakes between glycans are one way cells recognize each other.Kelvin Anggara, CC BY

Like the people they make up, cells communicate by bumping into one another and exchanging handshakes. Unlike people, cells perform these handshakes using the diverse range of sugar molecules coating their surface like trees covering a landscape. Handshakes...

Anger, sadness, boredom, anxiety – emotions that feel bad can be useful

Written by Heather Lench, Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Texas A&M University

A bad feeling can trigger behavior that leads to something better.Rawpixel/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Remember the sadness that came with the last time you failed miserably at something? Or the last time you were so anxious about an upcoming event that you couldn’t concentrate for days?

These types of emotions are unpleasant to experience...

The myth of men’s full-time employment

Written by Sarah Damaske, Professor of Sociology and Labor and Employment Relations, Penn State

He's not alone.Image Bank/Getty Images

Men’s employment in the U.S. reached a 20-year high in 2023, with nearly 90% of men ages 25 to 54 in the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This supports the broad expectation – some might say stereotype – that full-time employment is the norm for American men.

Yet...

The Super Bowl gets the Vegas treatment, with 1 in 4 American adults expected to gamble on the big game

Written by Thomas Oates, Associate Professor of Sport Media, University of Iowa

Billions of dollars are being bet on the matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.Ethan Miller/Getty Images

CC BY-ND

A record 67.8 million American adults are expected to bet US$23.1 billion on Super Bowl LVIII, according to a new survey conducted by Morning Consult for the American Gaming Association. The estimated number of...

Heart attacks, cancer, dementia, premature deaths: 4 essential reads on the health effects driving EPA’s new fine particle air pollution standard

Written by Jennifer Weeks, Senior Environment + Cities Editor, The Conversation

Large industrial facilities like this oil refinery outside Houston are major sources of fine particulate air pollution.AP Photo/David J. Phillip

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a new standard for protecting the public from fine particulate air pollution, known as PM2.5 because the particles are smaller than 2.5 millionths of...

Americans spend millions of dollars on Valentine’s Day roses. I calculated exactly how much

Written by Jay L. Zagorsky, Associate Professor of Markets, Public Policy and Law, Boston University

Feb. 14 is Valentine’s Day – an occasion that traditionally combines romance with big business. One of the biggest businesses is selling roses, which Americans increasingly love. Back in 1989, about 1 billion cut roses were sold annually in the U.S. By 2023, that had risen to roughly 2.8 billion – enough to give every adult in...

Breastfeeding benefits mothers as much as babies, but public health messaging often only tells half of the story

Written by Tisha Felder, Associate Professor of Behavioral Sciences, University of South Carolina

Breastfeeding lowers the risk of diabetes as well as breast and ovarian cancers for mothers.Goodboy Picture Company/E+ via Getty Images

Four babies are born every second in the world, and there are only two options for their first food at birth: human milk or formula.

Global and U.S. health authorities agree, however, that human milk provides the...

Russia’s fanning of anti-Israeli sentiment takes dark detour into Holocaust denialism

Written by Peter Rutland, Professor of Government, Wesleyan University

People wave Russian, Palestinian and Hamas flags.Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images)

The war in Gaza isn’t only challenging the geopolitics of the Middle East: It is also complicating matters in Ukraine, as Russia seeks to capitalize on growing anti-Israeli sentiment in the Global South.

Russia was slow to condemn the Oct. 7 attack in Israel and...

What’s sociology? A sociologist explains why Florida’s college students should get the chance to learn how social forces affect everyone’s lives

Written by Joya Misra, Provost Professor of Sociology and Public Policy, UMass Amherst

Studying this discipline helps you understand how society works.FG Trade/E+ via Getty Images

In January 2024, Florida officially voted to reduce the number of students enrolled in sociology courses.

That might sound baffling if you haven’t tuned into this cultural skirmish. But for me – I’m the American Sociological...