The Conversation

Racism is behind anti-Asian American violence, even when it's not a hate crime

Written by Pawan Dhingra, Professor of Sociology and American Studies, Amherst College

Children attend a March 17 vigil at Clemente Park in Lowell, Massachusetts, for the victims of the shooting spree in Atlanta. Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Over the past year, attacks on Asian Americans have increased more than 150% over the previous year, including the March 16 murders of eight people, including six Asian American...

4 reasons no president should want to give a press conference

Written by David E. Clementson, Assistant Professor in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia

A president's reputation is safer when he's in the Oval Office rather than giving a press conference.Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

By mid-March 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden had not given a press conference since his inauguration – the longest that a new president has gone without holding a press conference in 100 years.

The Associated...

'Doing nothing' is all the rage – is it a form of resistance, or just an indulgence for the lucky few?

Written by Ingrid Nelson, Associate Professor of English, Amherst College

John White Alexander's 'Repose' (1895).Heritage Images via Getty Images

The pandemic has either created too much free time or too little. Kitchen-table commutes and reduced social obligations expand mornings and weekends for some, while caretakers and gig workers are exhausted by the constant, overlapping demands of home and work.

It’s no...

Police and civilians disagree on when body camera footage should be made public

Written by Dan Bromberg, Associate Professor of Public Administration and Political Science, University of New Hampshire

When should the public be able to see what this camera captures?AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Many police chiefs and regular American civilians agree that officers’ body camera footage should be released to the public after police shoot someone dead.

They differ, though, on when the images should be made public. This complicates achieving...

The pandemic recession has pushed a further 9.8 million Americans into food insecurity

Written by Craig Gundersen, Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Lines outside food distribution centers have become a common scene.Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

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The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed hardship on millions of vulnerable Americans through unemployment and reduced work hours. And this has increased food insecurity across the nation.

There is no official figure yet for how many more...

Context influences the decisions you make – whether you're a homebuyer, a juror or a physician

Written by Jennifer Trueblood, Associate Professor of Psychology, Vanderbilt University

How might a house that comes on the market today affect what you think of this one?fstop123/E+ via Getty Images

When my husband and I purchased a new home last year, the house we ultimately bought was one we had at first ruled out. While the house had many positives, including being affordable, it also had several negatives, so we’d kept...

How effective is the first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine?

Written by William Petri, Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia

UPS employees roll out first doses of the Pfizer vaccine at the UPS hub in Louisville, Ky., on Dec. 13, 2020. Michael Clevenger/Getty Images

As the COVID-19 vaccines reach more people across the country, some people have asked: Could we delay the second dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to allow more people to be vaccinated more quickly? And,...

Closed borders, travel bans and halted immigration: 5 ways COVID-19 changed how – and where – people move around the world

Written by Mary A. Shiraef, Ph.D. Student in Political Science, University of Notre Dame

Most countries closed their borders, at least partially, at some point last year. But the world is starting to reopenCOVID Border Accountability Project, CC BY-SA

Trips canceled: 2.93 billion. International border closures: 1,299. Lives interrupted: Countless.

After the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, most countries in the...

3 ways employers could help fight vaccine skepticism

Written by Rita Men, Associate Professor of Public Relations, University of Florida

Monterey Mushrooms, an agricultural employer in California, teamed up with its union and the local county to get its workers vaccinated. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Ending the pandemic depends on achieving herd immunity, estimated at 70% or even 80% to 90% of a population. With some 30% of Americans telling pollsters they have no interest in getting...

Losing cultural context in emergency communication can be a matter of life and death

Written by Amer Hamad Issa Abukhalaf, Research Assistant and Ph.D. Candidate, University of Florida

Migrant workers in a Florida community hit hard by Hurricane Irma line up for donated supplies.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Can a butterfly in Chicago cause a tornado in Hong Kong? A metaphorical concept called the “butterfly effect” describes the sensitivity of a system to minor changes. The use of this concept has grown significantly in...