The Conversation

Contaminación, el silencioso enemigo de la CDMX en la lucha contra el COVID-19

Written by Elena Delavega, Associate Professor of Social Work, University of Memphis

La Ciudad de Mexico, 20 de mayo, 2018. AP Photo/Marco Ugarte

La Ciudad de México es un tazón de polvo, una megalópolis contaminada donde la respiración es difícil y la ropa recién lavada colgada para secarse se pone rígida por la noche. Incluso antes de que la pandemia de COVID-19 comenzara a golpear...

¿Crees que eres malo para las matemáticas? Puedes sufrir un 'trauma matemático'

Written by Jennifer Ruef, Assistant Professor of Education Studies, University of Oregon

Hasta los profesores de matemáticas aveces sufren un miedo debilitante a equivocarse con la materia.Robert Kneschke / EyeEm / Getty Images

Enseño a la gente a enseñar matemáticas, y llevo 30 años trabajando en este campo. A lo largo de esas décadas, he conocido a muchas personas que sufren diversos grados...

The loneliness of social isolation can affect your brain and raise dementia risk in older adults

Written by Karra Harrington, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Clinical Psychologist, Pennsylvania State University

In healthy older people, loneliness has a pattern of stress response similar to that of people who are under chronic stress. Justin Paget via Getty Images

Physical pain is unpleasant, yet it’s vital for survival because it’s a warning that your body is in danger. It tells you to take your hand off a hot burner or to see a doctor about...

Yes, most workers can collect more in coronavirus unemployment than they earn – but that doesn't mean Congress should cut the $600 supplement

Written by David Salkever, Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The $600 federal jobless benefit expired on July 31. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Americans who lost their jobs because of the pandemic had been getting a US$600 bump on top of state benefits in their weekly unemployment checks since March. That ended on July 31, and lawmakers are debating whether to extend the program and if so by how much.

Senate...

The raging competition for medical supplies is not a game, but game theory can help

Written by Anna Nagurney, John F. Smith Memorial Professor of Operations Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst

In Colorado, where there is a shortage of PPE, workers prepare to enter an N95 mask-cleaning machine. AP Images / David Zalubowski

The world continues to reel from the pandemic and, among many other things, the shortage of medical supplies that has resulted. Yes, the world has experienced natural disasters, but they are typically limited in time...

75 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Vatican is providing moral guidance on nuclear weapons

Written by Drew Christiansen, Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Human Development, Georgetown University

Pope Francis observes a minute of silence for the victims of Hiroshima at the city's Peace Memorial Park.Carl Court/Getty Images

Ahead of the 75th anniversary year of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Pope Francis visited both cities.

At a solemn event at the Hiroshima Peace Park in November 2019, Francis declared the use of atomic...

Political conventions today are for partying and pageantry, not picking nominees

Written by Barbara Norrander, Professor, School of Government & Public Policy, University of Arizona

Delegates after Donald Trump accepted the GOP presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio on Thursday, July 21, 2016. Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/via Getty

In August the Democratic and Republican national conventions will take on new, uncharted formats. Due to COVID-19 concerns, gone are the mass gatherings in large...

Marijuana fueled Colombian drug trade before cocaine was king

Written by Lina Britto, Assistant Professor of History, Northwestern University

A marijuana trafficker practicing his aim in the Guajira, epicenter of Colombia's first drug boom, in 1979.Romano Cagnoni/Getty Images

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

The big idea

Long before Pablo Escobar’s Medellín cartel got rich supplying Americans with cocaine in the 1980s, Colombia was already...

Making the most of a tree epidemic

Written by Sasa Zivkovic, Assistant Professor of Architecture, Cornell University

Emerald ash borer larvae is removed from an ash tree in Saugerties, N.Y.AP Photo/Mike Groll

A large portion of North America’s 8.7 billion ash trees are now infested by a beetle called the emerald ash borer.

Since its discovery in the U.S. in 2002, the emerald ash borer has killed hundreds of millions of ash trees, drastically transforming...

Deciding how and whether to reopen schools is complex -- here's how rocket scientists would develop a plan

Written by Robert Bordley, Professor and Program Director, Systems Engineering and Design, University of Michigan

The US has taken on grand challenges that required complex coordination before, including Project Apollo. NASA

Dealing with the social and economic upheaval from the coronavirus pandemic will require the skills and talents of many types of professions – medical personnel, public health experts, parents, students, educators, legislators,...