The Conversation

Can you have too much Botox?

Written by Matthew J. Lin, Assistant Clinical Professor, Dermatologist and Mohs Surgeon, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Six million Botox procedures are performed every year.Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

Demand for cosmetic treatments, including botox and fillers, has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Dermatologists and plastic surgeons are attributing the boom to patients wanting to put their best face forward for online Zoom meetings, as well as...

How even a casual brush with the law can permanently mar a young man's life – especially if he's Black

Written by Gary Painter, Professor of Public Policy, University of Southern California

Even a minor arrest and no conviction can be devastating. Doug Berry/Photodisc via Getty Images

George Floyd’s death highlighted how even a minor alleged infraction – in his case, over a fake $20 bill – can lead to a fatal interaction with law enforcement.

As a result, a coalition of advocacy organizations, criminal justice reform...

Women equal men in computing skill, but are less confident

Written by Matthew J. Liberatore, John F. Connelly Chair in Management at the Villanova School of Business, Villanova University

Studies show women are perfectly capable of getting the job done.Dean Mitchell/E+ via Getty Images

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

The big idea

In the workplace, women are now as good as men when it comes to computing performance, but there is still a gender gap when it comes to confidence, according to our new...

Stressful times are an opportunity to teach children resilience

Written by Vanessa LoBue, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Rutgers University Newark

To protect students and communities across the U.S. from COVID-19, many districts have switched to digital learning or a hybrid of in-classroom and virtual schooling.ZEPHYR/Getty Images

Between the global COVID-19 pandemic, the associated economic downturn and widespread protests over racism, it’s difficult for everyone. Many people are...

How the airline industry recovers from COVID-19 could determine who gets organ transplants

Written by Tinglong Dai, Associate Professor of Operations Management & Business Analytics, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing

The airline industry has been cancelling routes because of the traffic drop-off during the pandemic. That has an impact on organ transplants.Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

The COVID-19 pandemic has crippled the airline industry. Passenger numbers are down more than two-thirds from last year, and airlines have been canceling flights and shutting down rou...

What is charismatic Catholicism?

Written by Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross

Members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal organization, which began in Pennsylvania in 1967, holding a meeting in FrancePhoto by Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma via Getty Images

President Donald Trump has nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett in Milwaukee, on Aug. 24, 2018.Ra...

Not letting students choose their roommates can make college a drag

Written by Kevin Fosnacht, Associate Research Scientist, Indiana University

Assigning roommates in college doesn't lead students to have more diverse circles of friends. GCShutter/iStock via Getty Images Plus

When colleges and universities assign roommates instead of letting students pick and choose their own, the idea is often to increase the chance that students will live with someone from a different racial or ethnic...

How COVID-19 is changing the English language

Written by Roger J. Kreuz, Associate Dean and Professor of Psychology, University of Memphis

The coronavirus forced the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary to break with tradition.Illustration by Anurag Papolu/The Conversation; dictionary photo by Spauln via Getty Images and model of COVID-19 by fpm/iStock via Getty Images , CC BY-SA

In April, the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary did something unusual. For the previous 20...

Quarantine rule breakers in 17th-century Italy partied all night – and some clergy condemned the feasting

Written by Hannah Marcus, Assistant Professor, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University

The 17th-century plague in Rome.Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts between religious freedom and public health regulations have been playing out in courts around the world.

Churches from California to Maine have flouted public health orders by convening in person, indoors, unmasked and...

Sacred violence is not yet ancient history – beating it will take human action, not divine intervention

Written by Michael A. Vargas, Professor of History, State University of New York at New Paltz

Pope Urban II giving marching orders ahead of the First Crusade.Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Along with their swastikas borrowed from Nazi Germany, white supremacists marching in the U.S. and elsewhere have in recent years displayed crosses embellished with the Latin phrase “Deus Vult” – “God wills it.”...