The Conversation

Alumni gratitude and support for causes are behind donations of $50 million or more to colleges and universities

Written by Michael Worth, Professor of Nonprofit Management, George Washington University

Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels, left, speaks with Michael Bloomberg, who has given the school more than $3.3 billion. Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

The top motive people cite for their donations of US$50 million or more to colleges or universities was...

Is gaming good for kids?

Written by John Velez, Assistant Professor of Communication Science, Indiana University

In addition to being fun, video games can build real-world skills.Carol Yepes/Moment via Getty images

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.

My parents are always saying there’s so much bad stuff about video games, but is...

5 strategies to prepare now for the next pandemic

Written by Tiffany A. Radcliff, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Health Policy and Management, Texas A&M University

Stacked disasters – like a winter storm that damages a water system during a pandemic – can provide lessons for the next time around.AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

While the world is still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, public health and emergency management experts are already preparing for the next one. After all, biologists are...

How Black Americans used portraits and family photographs to defy stereotypes

Written by Janette Greenwood, Professor of History, Clark University

Portrait of Betty and Willis Coles by William Bullard from about 1902.Courtesy of Frank Morrill, Clark University and the Worcester Art Museum

Unstable. Criminal. Impoverished. Absentee fathers. Neglectful mothers. “A tangle of pathology,” as the Moynihan Report, a 1965 study on Black poverty, put it.

For decades, the Black family has...

Immune interference – why even 'updated' vaccines could struggle to keep up with emerging coronavirus strains

Written by Matthew Woodruff, Instructor, Lowance Center for Human Immunology, Emory University

Nurse Natalie O'Connor loads syringes with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in February 2021.Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

Despite the success and optimism of the new COVID-19 vaccination campaigns being rolled out worldwide, the emergence of new viral strains threatens to undermine their effectiveness. Indeed, South Africa has been forced to...

A year into the pandemic, the coronavirus is messing with our minds as well as our bodies

Written by Athena Aktipis, Associate Professor of Psychology, Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University

It's not a stretch to say asymptomatic spreaders unwittingly engage in zombielike behaviors. gremlin via Getty Images

COVID-19 has hijacked people’s lives, families and work. And, it has hijacked their bodies and minds in ways that they may not even be aware of.

As we see it, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is a sort of zombie...

Economists: Biden's $1,400 COVID-19 checks may be great politics, but it's questionable economics

Written by Robert H. Scott III, Professor of Economics & Finance, Monmouth University

Most people used the first coronavirus check to pad their savings or pay down debt. AP Photo/Eric Gay

The US$1,400 direct checks to people are the most expensive and perhaps most popular part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package racing its way through Congress right now.

President Joe Biden is expected to soon sign the bill after the Hou...

States drop COVID-19 mask mandates but still expect people to mask up – will they?

Written by Murray J. Côté, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, Texas A&M University

Texas' announced it is ending its COVID-19 restrictions. Its vaccination rate is among the lowest in the U.S., and its case numbers are still high.Montinique Monroe/Getty Images

The governors of Texas and Mississippi announced that they were rescinding their statewide mask mandates and allowing restaurants and other businesses to return to 100%...

Women in Afghanistan worry peace accord with Taliban extremists could cost them hard-won rights

Written by Mona Tajali, Assistant Professor in IR and WGSS, Agnes Scott College

Audience members listen to Afghan parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi speak in 2014. Women's access to politics increased greatly after the Taliban's 2001 ouster.Sha Marai/AFP via Getty Images

Three Afghan women who worked at a media company were gunned down in Jalalabad in early March. In January, unidentified gunmen killed two female Supreme Court...

10 years after Fukushima, safety is still nuclear power's greatest challenge

Written by Kiyoshi Kurokawa, Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo

An International Atomic Energy Agency investigator examines Reactor Unit 3 at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant, May 27, 2011.Greg Webb, IAEA/Flickr, CC BY-SA

Ten years ago, on March 11, 2011, the biggest recorded earthquake in Japanese history hit the country’s northeast coast. It was followed by a tsunami that traveled up to 6 miles (10...