The Conversation

How 18 million Americans could move into rural areas – without leaving home

Written by Devon Brenner, Assistant VP for Outreach and Initiatives, Office of Research and Economic Development, and Professor, College of Education, Mississippi State University

Lawrence, Kan., is one of the communities that would go from being considered urban to rural.Ian Ballinger via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

About 46 million Americans – 14% of the nation’s inhabitants – are currently classified as living in rural areas. That number could jump to 64 million – an increase of nearly 40% –...

Pollen can raise your risk of COVID-19 – and the season is getting longer thanks to climate change

Written by Lewis Ziska, Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University

Pollen can suppress how the body's immune system responds to viruses.Callista Images via Getty Images

Exposure to pollen can make you more susceptible to COVID-19, and it isn’t just a problem for people with allergies, new research released March 9 shows. Plant physiologist Lewis Ziska, a co-author of the new peer-reviewed study and other...

How a 'feminist' foreign policy would change the world

Written by Rollie Lal, Associate Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University

Helping women is an explicit goal of the Biden administration's pandemic relief plan. Does the gender focus extend to the world?Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Biden administration has a woman, Vice President Kamala Harris, in its second-highest position, and 61% of White House appointees are women.

Now, it has declared its intention to “protect...

How urban planning and housing policy helped create 'food apartheid' in US cities

Written by Julian Agyeman, Professor of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, Tufts University

Black neighborhoods have a higher density of fast-food outlets than in white districts.David McNew/Getty Images

Hunger is not evenly spread across the U.S., nor within its cities.

Even in the the richest parts of urban America there are pockets of deep food insecurity, and more often than not it is Black and Latino communities that are hit hardest.

As...

Traffic is down on American highways during the pandemic, but vehicle deaths are up – here’s how to stay safe on the road

Written by Eric Jackson, Associate Research Professor, Director, Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center, University of Connecticut

Be careful on the road.Getty Images

Although there are fewer cars on America’s roads since the pandemic began, the number of fatal car crashes has increased.

Early nationwide data supports this counterintuitive finding: Although daily trips from households fell by as much as 35% in 2020, preliminary traffic fatality count data for the first...

COVID-19 survivor's guilt a growing issue as reality of loss settles in

Written by David Chesire, Associate Professor, College of Medicine, University of Florida

Millions of Americans may wonder if they inadvertently passed COVID-19 to someone else.franckreporter/E+ via Getty Images

People are eager to return to normal after a year of coronavirus, but is the U.S. there yet? Hardly. The ongoing psychological and spiritual damage caused by the pandemic is rising, too.

Guilt and shame are two prevailing...

3 medical innovations fueled by COVID-19 that will outlast the pandemic

Written by Deborah Fuller, Professor of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Washington

Gene-based vaccines had never been approved for humans before the coronavirus pandemic.Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

A number of technologies and tools got a chance to prove themselves for the first time in the context of COVID-19. Three researchers working in gene-based vaccines, wearable diagnostics and drug discovery...

A global semiconductor shortage highlights a troubling trend: A small and shrinking number of the world's computer chips are made in the US

Written by Carol Handwerker, Professor of Materials Engineering, Purdue University

The U.S. is still a leader in designing and selling computer chips, but the vast majority of the world's chips are fabricated in Taiwan and South Korea.Macro Photo/iStock via Getty Images

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President Joe Biden’s executive order calling for a review of supply chains for critical products put a spotlight on the decades-long decline in...

Biased AI can be bad for your health – here's how to promote algorithmic fairness

Written by Sharona Hoffman, Professor of Health Law and Bioethics, Case Western Reserve University

AI medical systems promise superhuman capabilities, but they are only as fair as the data they're trained on.PhonlamaiPhoto/iStock via Getty Images

Artificial intelligence holds great promise for improving human health by helping doctors make accurate diagnoses and treatment decisions. It can also lead to discrimination that can harm minorities,...

Growing food and protecting nature don't have to conflict – here's how they can work together

Written by Thomas Hertel, Professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

Paul and Becky Rogers converted 14 acres of land in Kent County, Mich. to habitat that supports pollinators, songbirds and wildlife.USDA/Flickr, CC BY

Growing food in a sustainable, environmentally friendly way – while also producing enough of it – is among the most important challenges facing the U.S. and the world today.

The ongoing...