The Conversation

Fleeing from the coronavirus is dangerous for you, the people you encounter along the way and wherever you end up

Written by Rebecca S.B. Fischer, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Texas A&M University

Traveling is risky during the coronavirus outbreak. Places like airports, bus stops, and gas stations especially so. AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan

COVID-19 is affecting life in nearly every corner of the globe. Public health officials are heavily relying on two community interventions to curb the pandemic spread: social distancing and restricted travel....

Students could be undercounted in the census as coronavirus closes colleges – here's why that matters

Written by Dudley L. Poston, Jr., Professor of Sociology, Texas A&M University

Howard University students moving out of dorms in Washington.Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

At college dormitories and student apartments across the U.S., census forms will be piling up – but many run the risk of not being filled in.

The spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. has coincided with the start of data collection for the 2020 census.

This...

How do we protect ourselves at home during coronavirus, and what if someone has been exposed? 4 questions answered

Written by Brian Labus, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Erica Cisneros helps her daughters, Emilia and Eden, with their schoolwork at their home on March 18, 2020 in San Anselmo, California. Getty Images/Ezra Shaw

Editor’s note: As coronavirus spreads through the country, states have closed schools and nonessential businesses and prohibited group gatherings. This leaves most of us at home, but...

How one federal agency took care of its workers during the yellow fever pandemic in the 1790s

Written by Julia Mansfield, Visiting Assistant Professor of History, St. Joseph's University

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, at a Senate GOP lunch meeting on March 20, 2020, to discuss the 'phase 3' coronavirus stimulus bill. Getty/ Drew Angerer

U.S. lawmakers are debating strategies to stem the economic impact of the coronavirus. With businesses across the country cutting back hours or closing, the pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of...

What happens to charitable giving when the economy falters?

Written by Patrick Rooney, Executive Associate Dean for Academic Programs, Professor of Economics and Philanthropic Studies, IUPUI

Will Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan quickly get money to charities?Peter Barreras/Invision/AP

As the new coronavirus pandemic sends the economy into a tailspin, Patrick Rooney, an economist at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, and Jon Bergdoll, a philanthropy statistician, explain what usually happens to giving during...

Buildings grown by bacteria -- new research is finding ways to turn cells into mini-factories for materials

Written by Wil Srubar, Assistant Professor of Architectural Engineering and Materials Science, University of Colorado Boulder

A block of sand particles held together by living cells.The University of Colorado Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science, CC BY-ND

Buildings are not unlike a human body. They have bones and skin; they breathe. Electrified, they consume energy, regulate temperature and generate waste. Buildings are organisms – albeit inanimate...

Ancient Greeks purged city-states of disease as they would a human body – and it was the most vulnerable that suffered

Written by Meghan Henning, Assistant Professor of Christian Origins, University of Dayton

The Plague of Athens.Michiel Sweerts/ Los Angeles County Museum of Art/Wikipedia

With the spread of the coronavirus, the world is becoming pointedly aware of the extent to which human beings are interconnected. The rapid spread of the virus has highlighted how much we are dependent upon one another, not just for basic biological needs, but also for...

Coronavirus, los niños y las escuelas: experta en salud pública contesta 4 preguntas

Written by Aubree Gordon, Professor of Public Health, University of Michigan

Una escuela cerrada en la ciduad de New Rochelle, Nueva York, 11 de marzo, 2020.AP Photo/Chris Erhmann

Nota de Editor: La Organización Mundial de la Salud ha declarado una pandemia por coronavirus, y mas casos han sido anunciados en diferentes estados. El cierre de escuelas, como el cierre estatal de escuelas en Ohio, Oregon, Maryland, Nuevo...

When restaurants close, Americans lose much more than a meal

Written by Rebecca L. Spang, Professor of History and Director, Liberal Arts and Management Program (LAMP), Indiana University

The Big Texan restaurant, Amarillo, Texas.Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress

Arnold Schwarzenegger tweeted a video of himself on March 15 saying: “No more restaurants.” Seated in his palatial kitchen with two miniature horses, Whiskey and Lulu, beside him, the former California governor pronounced: “We don’t go out, we...

Workers left out of government and business response to the coronavirus

Written by Thomas Kochan, Professor of Management, Co-Director of the MIT Sloan Institute for Work and Employment Research, MIT Sloan School of Management

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Walmart CEO Doug McMillon at a White House press conference joining government and corporate officials – but no representatives of workers.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

As the coronavirus crisis unfolds, workers and families around the country are finding out how weak the U.S. social safety net is.

Nearly three...