The Conversation

Tiny treetop flowers foster incredible beetle biodiversity

Written by Caroline S. Chaboo, Adjunct Professor in Insect Systematics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Hundreds of beetle species seem to be specialists that feed only from small white flowers on trees.Susan Kirmse, CC BY-ND

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

The big idea

Biologists have long known that rainforest treetops support a huge number of beetle species, but why these canopies are so rich in beetle diversity has r...

How a flu virus shut down the US economy in 1872 – by infecting horses

Written by Ernest Freeberg, Professor of History, University of Tennessee

Henry Bergh (in top hat) stopping an overcrowded horsecar, from Harper's Weekly, Sept. 21, 1872. Library of Congress

In 1872 the U.S. economy was growing as the young nation industrialized and expanded westward. Then in the autumn, a sudden shock paralyzed social and economic life. It was an energy crisis of sorts, but not a shortage of fossil...

What makes the world's biggest surfable waves?

Written by Sally Warner, Assistant Professor of Climate Science, Brandeis University

Some places, like Nazaré Canyon in Portugal, produce freakishly huge waves.AP Photo/Armando Franca

On Feb. 11, 2020, Brazilian Maya Gabeira surfed a wave off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, that was 73.5 feet tall. Not only was this the biggest wave ever surfed by a woman, but it also turned out to be the biggest wave surfed by anyone...

The chattering classes got the 'Hillbilly Elegy' book wrong – and they're getting the movie wrong, too

Written by Lisa R. Pruitt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor of Law, University of California, Davis

Film critics have had nary a good word to say about Netflix’s new movie “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Reviewers varyingly called it “Oscar-Season B.S.,” “woefully misguided,” “Yokel Hokum,” “laughably bad” and simply “awful.”

I admit to delight when I read professional critics...

Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 will have side effects – that's a good thing

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

A little bit of post-injection soreness is completely normal.Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Takeaways

Temporary side effects from vaccines are a normal sign of a developing immune response.
Vaccines work by training your immune system to recognize and remember a pathogen in a safe way.
Expected side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine...

How a troop drawdown in Afghanistan signals American weakness and could send Afghan allies into the Taliban's arms

Written by Brian Glyn Williams, Professor of Islamic History, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Afghan security forces gather near the site of an attack in Jalalabad in August 2020.AP Photo/Rahmat Gul

President Donald Trump’s recent call to withdraw just over half of the 4,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan has been condemned as an act that “would hurt our allies and delight, delight, the people who wish us harm” by members of...

A better way for billionaires who want to make massive donations to benefit society

Written by Andrew J. Hoffman, Professor of Management & Organizations; Professor of Environment & Sustainability; Holcim (US), Inc. Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the Ross School of Business and School of Environment and Sustainability, University of

Jeff Bezos is pouring $10 billion into the fight against climate change.Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images

Jeff Bezos, the world’s wealthiest person, announced on Instagram in November 2020 that he was giving 16 organizations a total of about US$800 million for a wide array of climate-protecting work.

This money will help pay to restore and...

Cicely was young, Black and enslaved – her death during an epidemic in 1714 has lessons that resonate in today's pandemic

Written by Nicole S Maskiell, Assistant Professor of History Peter and Bonnie McCausland Fellow of History, University of South Carolina

Over 1.4 million people have died from COVID-19 so far this year. How history memorializes them will reflect those we most value.Author provided, CC BY-ND

What I believe to be the oldest surviving gravestone for a Black person in the Americas memorializes an enslaved teenager named Cicely.

Cicely’s body is interred across from Harvard’s...

Tribes mount organized responses to COVID-19, in contrast to state and federal governments

Written by Lisa Hardy, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Social Science Community Engagement Lab, Northern Arizona University

The Native nations have fought hard to keep the pandemic out of their communities. grand river via Getty Images

As the months roll by, the pandemic continues to hit Indigenous nations hard. But this phenomenon is not new. Epidemics have been part of colonialism since settlers arrived. Health inequities tell us that illnesses have different outcomes...

AI makes huge progress predicting how proteins fold – one of biology's greatest challenges – promising rapid drug development

Written by Marc Zimmer, Professor of Chemistry, Connecticut College

A simple chain of amino acids folds into a complex three-dimensional structure.

Takeaways

A “deep learning” software program from Google-owned lab DeepMind showed great progress in solving one of biology’s greatest challenges – understanding protein folding.
Protein folding is the process by which a protein takes its shape...