New treatments target different stages of COVID-19, including before patients become sick enough to need a hospital.Juan Monino via Getty ImagesA year ago, when U.S. health authorities issued their first warning that COVID-19 would cause severe “disruption to everyday life,” doctors had no effective treatments to offer beyond...
A floral scent can be enjoyable for a person, but it has an important job for the flower.Richard L. Harkess, CC BY-ND
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 flowers smell? – Henry E., Age 9, Somerville, Massachusetts
Imag...
Trumpeting the past? The Bible has conflicting narratives over the conquest of CanaanWikimedia CommonsAt a time when Americans are seemingly as polarized as ever over the present, the country’s past also appears to be up for debate.
The killing of George Floyd and the anti-racism protests it sparked and The New York Times’ 1619 Project,...
Read more: What the Bible's approach to history can teach us about America's glory and shame
Jubilee singers at Fisk University, in Nashville, Tennessee, pose for
promotional photograph, circa 1871.William L. Clements LibraryFrederick Douglass is perhaps best known as an abolitionist and intellectual. But he was also the most photographed American of the 19th century. And he encouraged the use of photography to promote social change for...
Read more: How Black people in the 19th century used photography as a tool for social change
It may seem like a lot, but it's not the most important change in the bill.AP Photo/J. Scott ApplewhiteThe US$1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill that the House just passed includes a gradual increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025. While its chances in the Senate appear slim, the proposal has brought national attention to the...
The giant predators were a deadly danger to early European explorers of the Arctic.Chris Hellier/Corbis Historical via Getty ImagesPolar bears have long held visual artists in their thrall. Over time, the mythologies around these extraordinary animals have evolved – and so have the ways artists have depicted them in their work.
Reflecting a...
Is Sen. Marco Rubio, espousing a polished populism, the future of the GOP?Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesDonald Trump lost the 2020 election, but his populist ideas may continue to animate the Republican Party.
As scholars of American beliefs and elections, we can envision a less Trumpy version of Trumpism holding sway over the party in coming years. We...
Read more: A less Trumpy version of Trumpism might be the future of the Republican Party
No guessing who in this 1864 depiction may have been compensated after slavery ended.API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesThe cost of slavery and its legacy of systemic racism to generations of Black Americans has been clear over the past year – seen in both the racial disparities of the pandemic and widespread protests over police brutality.
Yet...
Phthalates can be found in many common products and types of plastic packaging.Curtoicurto via Getty Images, CC BY-NDYou may not realize it, but you likely encounter phthalates every day. These chemicals are found in many plastics, including food packaging, and they can migrate into food products during processing. They’re in personal care...
Read more: What are phthalates, and how do they put children's health at risk?
Nearly 1,000 workers at this Smithfield Foods pork-processing plant in South Dakota contracted COVID-19 between mid-March and mid-April 2020. Kerem Yucel / AFP via Getty ImagesWorking in meatpacking plants has always been dangerous. A recent study shows that it became deadlier in the era of COVID-19, even as company profits soared.
This analysis,...
