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Scientists suggest US embassies were hit with high-power microwaves – here's how the weapons work

  • Written by Edl Schamiloglu, Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, School of Engineering, University of New Mexico, University of New Mexico
imageThis U.S. Air Force microwave weapon is designed to knock down drones by frying their electronics.AFRL Directed Energy Directorate

The mystery ailment that has afflicted U.S. embassy staff and CIA officers off and on over the last four years in Cuba, China, Russia and other countries appears to have been caused by high-power microwaves, according...

Read more: Scientists suggest US embassies were hit with high-power microwaves – here's how the weapons work

Why does the Electoral College exist, and how does it work? 5 essential reads

  • Written by Jeff Inglis, Politics + Society Editor, The Conversation US
imageMissouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt signs an official tally of the Electoral College votes from the 2016 presidential election, in January 2017.AP Photo/Zach Gibson

On Dec. 14, the members of the Electoral College will meet in state capitols across the country and cast their ballots for president and vice president. The expected vote total: 306 for...

Read more: Why does the Electoral College exist, and how does it work? 5 essential reads

Why shielding businesses from coronavirus liability is a bad idea

  • Written by Timothy D. Lytton, Distinguished University Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State University
imagePosting signs like this are often enough to avoid liability. AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Congress may be close to a deal on another coronavirus bailout, but Senate Republican demands for liability protections for businesses remain a major obstacle.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has long warned of an “avalanche” of lawsuits that...

Read more: Why shielding businesses from coronavirus liability is a bad idea

5 years after Paris: How countries’ climate policies match up to their promises, and who's aiming for net zero emissions

  • Written by Morgan Bazilian, Professor of Public Policy and Director, Payne Institute, Colorado School of Mines
imageEven if every country meets its commitments, the world will still be on track to warm by more than 3 degrees Celsius this century, a new UNEP report shows.Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Saturday marks the fifth anniversary of the Paris climate agreement – the commitment by almost every country to try to keep global warming well below 2 degrees...

Read more: 5 years after Paris: How countries’ climate policies match up to their promises, and who's aiming...

Oregon just decriminalized all drugs – here's why voters passed this groundbreaking reform

  • Written by Scott Akins, Professor, Sociology Department, Oregon State University
imageAccording to Oregon law, possessing a small amount of drugs for personal consumption is now a civil – rather than criminal – offense. Peter Dazeley via Getty

Oregon became the first state in the United States to decriminalize the possession of all drugs on Nov. 3, 2020.

Measure 110, a ballot initiative funded by the Drug Policy...

Read more: Oregon just decriminalized all drugs – here's why voters passed this groundbreaking reform

Why do scientists care about worms?

  • Written by Helen Robertson, Postdoctoral Scholar of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, University of Chicago
imageWhether in the wild or in the lab, worms have an interesting story to tell.Sinhyu/iStock via Getty Images

I traveled to a marine research station on a picturesque Swedish fjord many times over the four years I worked on my Ph.D. What brought me back again and again? Buried in the mud off the west coast of Sweden lives a small orangey brown worm,...

Read more: Why do scientists care about worms?

Why we're so bad at counting the calories we eat, drink or burn

  • Written by Kaitlin Woolley, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Cornell University
imageGetting the portions right can be tricky. knape/E+ via Getty Images

People often eat more than usual around the holidays – and this year more than most as the pandemic prompts many to stress eat.

A common way to avoid putting on extra weight is by choosing healthier options with fewer calories per serving. One problem with this strategy is...

Read more: Why we're so bad at counting the calories we eat, drink or burn

Why the Virgin of Guadalupe is more than a religious icon to Catholics in Mexico

  • Written by Rebecca Janzen, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, University of South Carolina
imageA statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe, at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

Each year, as many as 10 million people travel to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, in what is believed to be the largest Catholic pilgrimage in the Americas. Due to COVID-19 concerns, the pilgrimage, which is...

Read more: Why the Virgin of Guadalupe is more than a religious icon to Catholics in Mexico

Latinos are especially reluctant to get flu shots – how a small clinic in Indiana found ways to overcome that

  • Written by Pamela M. Aaltonen, Professor Emerita; Immediate Past President, APHA, Purdue University
imageJuan Miranda receives a flu shot from Yadira Santiago Banuelos, family nurse practitioner, at the Family Health Clinic of Monon in Monon, Indiana. Purdue University/Rebecca McElhoe

Every year, tens of millions of Americans avoid the flu vaccine. During the 2019-2020 flu season, fewer than half of U.S. adults got the shot.

The Latino population is...

Read more: Latinos are especially reluctant to get flu shots – how a small clinic in Indiana found ways to...

More Articles ...

  1. We discovered a 115,000-year-old iguana nest fossil in the Bahamas
  2. Kids want to learn more about mental illness and how to cope with parents who live with it
  3. Foreign policy is Biden's best bet for bipartisan action, experts say – but GOP is unlikely to join him on climate change
  4. Workers are looking for direction from management – and any map is better than no map
  5. Bitter battles between stinkbugs and carnivorous mice could hold clues for controlling human pain
  6. Fragments of energy – not waves or particles – may be the fundamental building blocks of the universe
  7. The Electoral College system isn't 'one person, one vote'
  8. Daily DIY sniff checks could catch many cases of COVID-19
  9. 4 ways to close the COVID-19 racial health gap
  10. Computer science jobs pay well and are growing fast. Why are they out of reach for so many of America's students?
  11. When can children get the COVID-19 vaccine? 5 questions parents are asking
  12. Can Joe Biden win the transition?
  13. In 'The Queen's Gambit' and beyond, chess holds up a mirror to life
  14. The iconic American inventor is still a white male – and that's an obstacle to race and gender inclusion
  15. Nigerians got their abusive SARS police force abolished – but elation soon turned to frustration
  16. The Taliban are megarich – here's where they get the money they use to wage war in Afghanistan
  17. How remote learning is making educational inequities worse
  18. Peatlands keep a lot of carbon out of Earth's atmosphere, but that could end with warming and development
  19. Genetic engineering transformed stem cells into working mini-livers that extended the life of mice with liver disease
  20. We scanned the DNA of 8,000 people to see how facial features are controlled by genes
  21. From permafrost microbes to survivor songbirds – research projects are also victims of COVID-19 pandemic
  22. Substack isn't a new model for journalism – it’s a very old one
  23. New electoral districts are coming – an old approach can show if they're fair
  24. Racism at the county level associated with increased COVID-19 cases and deaths
  25. How sensors monitor and measure our bodies and the world around us
  26. Donors grow more generous when they support nonprofits facing hostile environments abroad
  27. Brazil's president rejects COVID-19 vaccine, undermining a century of progress toward universal inoculation
  28. The Atlantic: The driving force behind ocean circulation and our taste for cod
  29. Why Biden will find it hard to undo Trump's costly 'America first' trade policy
  30. Intimate partner violence has increased during pandemic, emerging evidence suggests
  31. How do archaeologists know where to dig?
  32. I'm an astronomer and I think aliens may be out there – but UFO sightings aren't persuasive
  33. How Hanukkah came to be an annual White House celebration
  34. This DIY contact tracing app helps people exposed to COVID-19 remember who they met
  35. Wisconsin's not so white anymore – and in some rapidly diversifying cities like Kenosha there's fear and unrest
  36. As the pandemic rages, the US could use a little bit more 'samfundssind'
  37. How COVID-19 vaccines will get from the factory to your local pharmacy
  38. How to fight Holocaust denial in social media – with the evidence of what really happened
  39. Trump plan to revive the gallows, electric chair, gas chamber and firing squad recalls a troubled history
  40. What are emergency use authorizations, and do they guarantee that a vaccine or drug is safe?
  41. How TikTok is upending workplace social media policies – and giving us rebel nurses and dancing cops
  42. In a year of Black Lives Matter protests, Dutch wrestle (again) with the tradition of Black Pete
  43. Tiny treetop flowers foster incredible beetle biodiversity
  44. How a flu virus shut down the US economy in 1872 – by infecting horses
  45. What makes the world's biggest surfable waves?
  46. The chattering classes got the 'Hillbilly Elegy' book wrong – and they're getting the movie wrong, too
  47. Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 will have side effects – that's a good thing
  48. How a troop drawdown in Afghanistan signals American weakness and could send Afghan allies into the Taliban's arms
  49. A better way for billionaires who want to make massive donations to benefit society
  50. Cicely was young, Black and enslaved – her death during an epidemic in 1714 has lessons that resonate in today's pandemic