The Conversation

5 ways MacKenzie Scott’s $5.8 billion commitment to social and economic justice is a model for other donors

Written by Elizabeth J. Dale, Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Leadership, Seattle University

The philanthropist is giving away billions of dollars quickly to help people like these Floridians seeking donated food.Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announced on Dec. 15 that she had given almost US$4.2 billion to hundreds of nonprofits. It was her second announcement of this kind since she...

Museum specimens could help fight the next pandemic – why preserving collections is crucial to future scientific discoveries

Written by Jocelyn P. Colella, Assistant Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Assistant Curator of Mammals, University of Kansas

Behind the scenes, natural history museums store biological samples from the field.Ryan Stephens, CC BY-ND

Imagine yourself as the first naturalist to stand in a place where little recorded scientific knowledge exists, like Alfred Russel Wallace in the Malay Archipelago or Alexander von Humboldt in the Americas in the early 1800s. The notes you...

Americans aren't getting enough to eat during the coronavirus pandemic – here's what's happening in Los Angeles County

Written by Kayla de la Haye, Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California

People in Los Angeles picked up boxes containing nutritious food in April 2020 as food insecurity surged.AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

The number of Americans who can’t get enough food is rising from already troubling levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. About 1 in 10 Americans said in November 2020 that their household sometimes or often did not...

K-12 schools need to take cyberattacks more seriously

Written by Nir Kshetri, Professor of Management, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

Cyberattacks against America's K-12 schools are on the rise. janiecbros via iStock / Getty Images Plus

Teachers in Baltimore County Public Schools knew something was wrong late in the day on Nov. 24 when they began to experience trouble entering grades into the school district’s computer system. Around the same time, the video for a meeting...

The reality of Black men's love lives and marriages is very different than what's usually shown on TV – I spent years actually talking to them

Written by Armon Perry, Professor of Social Work, University of Louisville

The popular image of Black men is skewed in America.MoMo Productions/Getty Images

Finding and keeping a good Black man in a relationship has become a cottage industry. From celebrities and reality TV stars to social media influencers, for better or worse, there is no shortage of relationship advice to people seeking to figure out Black men.

And...

Why being stuck at home – and unable to hang out in cafes and bars – drains our creativity

Written by Korydon Smith, Professor of Architecture and Associate Director of Global Health Equity, University at Buffalo

By encouraging random encounters and free-flowing conversation, coffee shops are engines of innovation.Hulton Archive/Stringer via Getty Images

While the pandemic has caused thousands of small businesses to temporarily close or shutter for good, the disappearance of the corner coffee shop means more than lost wages.

It also represents a collective...

Companies accused of crimes get more digital privacy rights than people under new Trump policy

Written by Sarah Esther Lageson, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Rutgers University - Newark

In the U.S., the internet never forgets. Westend61/Getty Images

Corporations increasingly receive the same rights as people. Now, it seems, they have privileges even people don’t.

Case in point: The Labor Department recently urged regulators to stop issuing press releases about companies that may have violated laws on discrimination, worker...

COVID-19 means a lot more work for families of children with disabilities, but schools can help

Written by Sandra M. Chafouleas, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut

Mike Keller, a 13-year old boy with autism, uses a keyboard and iPad to communicate with his mother, Lori Mitchell-Keller.Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Children don’t come with how-to manuals. Even if they did, they would all require a manual of their own, tailored to their unique make and model. That’s why...

Will going out in the cold give you a cold?

Written by Libby Richards, Associate Professor of Nursing, Purdue University

Viruses spread easier during the winter than other times of the year, but being outside isn't the main cause of transmission.Christopher Kimmel via Getty Images

Many of us have heard: “Don’t go outside without a coat; you’ll catch a cold.”

That’s not exactly true. As with many things, the reality is more complicated....

Was Jesus really born in Bethlehem? Why the Gospels disagree over the circumstances of Christ's birth

Written by Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III, Adjunct Assistant Professor of the New Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary

A doll representing the infant Jesus in St. Catherine's, the Franciscan church in the town of Bethlehem.David Silverman/Getty Images

Every Christmas, a relatively small town in the Palestinian West Bank comes center stage: Bethlehem. Jesus, according to some biblical sources, was born in this town some two millennia ago.

Yet the New Testament...