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Defund the police? Actually, police salaries are rising in departments across the United States

  • Written by Laurie Woods, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Vanderbilt University

Police work can be one of the best-paid professions in the United States.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 2020 median salary for a police officer was US$67,290 – more than one-third higher than the national median of $48,769 for all occupations. Many officers probably earn much more, because the bureau’s analysis...

Read more: Defund the police? Actually, police salaries are rising in departments across the United States

How did the superstition that broken mirrors cause bad luck start and why does it still exist?

  • Written by Barry Markovsky, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of South Carolina
imageDamaging a mirror was believed to invite the wrath of the gods in ancient cultures.Fairfax Media via Getty Images

Every human culture has superstitions. In some Asian societies people believe that sweeping a floor after sunset brings bad luck, and that it’s a curse to leave chopsticks standing in a bowl of rice. In the U.S., some people panic...

Read more: How did the superstition that broken mirrors cause bad luck start and why does it still exist?

Florida condo collapse – searching for answers about what went wrong in Surfside can improve building regulation

  • Written by Norb Delatte, M.R. Lohmann Professor of Engineering and the Head of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Oklahoma State University
imageThe collapse of Champlain Towers is one of the worst building failures in recent memory.AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

The collapse of a huge condominium building near Miami, Florida was shocking news to wake up to on the morning of June 24, 2021. It is one of the worst building collapses in recent U.S. history.

I am a professor of engineering and have been...

Read more: Florida condo collapse – searching for answers about what went wrong in Surfside can improve...

The neuroscience behind why your brain may need time to adjust to 'un-social distancing'

  • Written by Kareem Clark, Postdoctoral Associate in Neuroscience, Virginia Tech
imageMaybe you're not quite feeling ready to get back out there.Grace Cary/Moment via Getty Images

With COVID-19 vaccines working and restrictions lifting across the country, it’s finally time for those now vaccinated who’ve been hunkered down at home to ditch the sweatpants and reemerge from their Netflix caves. But your brain may not be so...

Read more: The neuroscience behind why your brain may need time to adjust to 'un-social distancing'

A pediatric nurse explains the science of sneezing

  • Written by Meg Sorg, Clinical Assistant Professor of Nursing, Purdue University
imageSneezing with your eyes closed is a reflex you can consciously override.Robert Kneschke/EyeEm via Getty Imagesimage

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.

Why do we sneeze? – Naomi, 9, San Francisco, California

Why do people sneeze...

Read more: A pediatric nurse explains the science of sneezing

Fungal infections worldwide are becoming resistant to drugs and more deadly

  • Written by Rodney E. Rohde, Professor of Clinical Laboratory Science, Texas State University
imageMultidrug-resistant _Candida auris_ can cause serious infections among patients in hospitals and other group medical care settings.Science Photo Library via Getty

Say “fungus” and most people in the world would probably visualize a mushroom.

But this fascinating and beautiful group of microbes has offered the world more than just foods...

Read more: Fungal infections worldwide are becoming resistant to drugs and more deadly

College can still be rigorous without a lot of homework

  • Written by KC Culver, Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Southern California
imageCompleting hefty reading and writing assignments can pose an unnecessary burden on students who must work.SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images

How hard should it be to earn a college degree?

When the book “Academically Adrift” appeared in 2011, it generated widespread concern that college was not effectively educating students and...

Read more: College can still be rigorous without a lot of homework

Controversy over Communion in the Catholic Church goes back some 2,000 years

  • Written by Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
imageWhen Pope John Paul II was beatified, Zimbabwe's ruler, Robert Mugabe, was in attendance and given Communion.Franco Origlia/Getty Images

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently approved drafting a document on receiving Communion in the Catholic Church. It will include a section regarding standards for politicians and public...

Read more: Controversy over Communion in the Catholic Church goes back some 2,000 years

How colonialism's legacy makes it harder for countries to escape poverty and fossil fuels today

  • Written by Patrick Greiner, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Vanderbilt University
imageRenewable energy has increased access to electricity in poor countries, but it generally hasn't displaced fossil fuels.Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

While fossil fuels were powering wealthy nations’ economic growth in the 19th and 20th centuries, many countries across the Global South remained largely impoverished.

Today, all that...

Read more: How colonialism's legacy makes it harder for countries to escape poverty and fossil fuels today

Danish children struggle to learn their vowel-filled language – and this changes how adult Danes interact

  • Written by Morten H. Christiansen, The William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Psychology, Cornell University
imageThe way Danes speak makes it much harder for Danish children to learn the language. Fabio Trecca, CC BY-ND

Denmark is a rich country with an extensive welfare system and strong education. Yet surprisingly, Danish children have trouble learning their mother tongue. Compared to Norwegian children, who are learning a very similar language, Danish kids...

Read more: Danish children struggle to learn their vowel-filled language – and this changes how adult Danes...

More Articles ...

  1. Free-speech ruling won't help declining civil discourse
  2. What are tax havens? The answer explains why the G-7 effort to end them is unlikely to succeed
  3. What today's GOP demonstrates about the dangers of partisan conformity
  4. Youth sports and other challenges of a nonbinary world: 3 essential reads
  5. Closures of Black K-12 schools across the nation threaten neighborhood stability
  6. Tour de France: How many calories will the winner burn?
  7. Research that shines light on how cells recover from threats may lead to new insights into Alzheimer's and ALS
  8. Schools must act carefully on students' off-campus speech, Supreme Court rules
  9. Why it's such a big deal that the NFL's Carl Nassib came out as gay
  10. Conversion therapy is discredited and increases risk of suicide -- yet fewer than half of US states have bans in place
  11. The behind-the-scenes people and organizations connecting science and decision-making
  12. Ransomware, data breach, cyberattack: What do they have to do with your personal information, and how worried should you be?
  13. How palm oil became the world's most hated, most used fat source
  14. Why choosing the next dalai lama will be a religious – as well as a political – issue
  15. How the billions MacKenzie Scott is giving to colleges attended by students of color will help everyone in America
  16. Gifted education programs don't benefit Black students like they do white students
  17. 'Wrong number? Let's chat' Maasai herders in East Africa use misdials to make connections
  18. Yellowstone is losing its snow as the climate warms, and that means widespread problems for water and wildlife
  19. Despite outrage, new state voting laws don't spell democracy's end – but there are some threats
  20. How gay neighborhoods used the traumas of HIV to help American cities fight coronavirus
  21. For flood-prone cities, seawalls raise as many questions as they answer
  22. Transgender medicine – what care looks like, who seeks it out and what's still unknown: 3 essential reads
  23. The FDA’s weak drug manufacturing oversight is a potentially deadly problem
  24. Flawed data led to findings of a connection between time spent on devices and mental health problems – new research
  25. How Vladimir Putin uses natural gas to exert Russian influence and punish his enemies
  26. Biden's goal to permanently boost support for families echoes a failed Nixon proposal from 50 years ago – will it take off this time?
  27. I have city kids make comic books to create a buzz about mosquitoes and ecology
  28. What is the religious exemption to Title IX and what's at stake in LGBTQ students' legal challenge
  29. Global herd immunity remains out of reach because of inequitable vaccine distribution – 99% of people in poor countries are unvaccinated
  30. 'Upcycling' promises to turn food waste into your next meal
  31. Explorer Robert Ballard's memoir finds shipwrecks and strange life forms in the ocean's darkest reaches
  32. White Gen X and millennial evangelicals are losing faith in the conservative culture wars
  33. The gas tax's tortured history shows how hard it is to fund new infrastructure
  34. US third parties can rein in the extremism of the two-party system
  35. Critical race theory sparks activism in students
  36. The surface of Venus is cracked and moves like ice floating on the ocean – likely due to tectonic activity
  37. What's behind the rising profile of transgender kids? 3 essential reads
  38. Why gain-of-function research matters
  39. As urban life resumes, can US cities avert gridlock?
  40. What's next for health care reform after the Supreme Court rejects ACA's most recent challenge
  41. Does outer space end – or go on forever?
  42. How to consume news while maintaining your sanity
  43. The dip in the US birthrate isn't a crisis, but the fall in immigration may be
  44. 'Managed retreat' done right can reinvent cities so they're better for everyone – and avoid harm from flooding, heat and fires
  45. This tiny minority of Iraqis follows an ancient Gnostic religion – and there's a chance they could be your neighbors too
  46. 4 ways to get more Black and Latino teachers in K-12 public schools
  47. Supreme Court unanimously upholds religious liberty over LGBTQ rights -- and nods to a bigger win for conservatives ahead
  48. Federal policy has failed to protect Indigenous women
  49. How Black writers and journalists have wielded punctuation in their activism
  50. Lighter pavement really does cool cities when it’s done right