The Conversation

Timeouts improve kids' behavior if you do them the right way

Written by Lucy (Kathleen) McGoron, Assistant Professor of Child and Family Development, Wayne State University

The disciplinary technique can reduce aggression and help get children to follow family rules. Brooke Fasani Auchincloss/The Image Bank via Getty Images

With parents spending more time with their children than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their need for discipline that works is greater than ever. Fortunately, there are some proven techniques....

Poor, minority students at dilapidated schools face added risks amid talk of reopening classrooms

Written by Hardy Murphy, Professor of Education, IUPUI

Making schools safe will take more than wiping down surfaces.AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

Classrooms, gyms and cafeterias at schools across the U.S. have remained empty for months now. And despite some districts beginning to reopen, many others will remain closed amid fears that prematurely restarting in-person classes could cost more lives in the...

Does coronavirus linger in the body? What we know about how viruses in general hang on in the brain and testicles

Written by William Petri, Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia

Are there places in the body where SARS-CoV-2 can hide from the immune system?fotograzia / Getty Images

As millions of people are recovering from COVID-19, an unanswered question is the extent to which the virus can “hide out” in seemingly recovered individuals. If it does, could this explain some of the lingering symptoms of COVID-19...

Why a Canadian hockey team's name recalls US Civil War destruction

Written by Christopher J. Young, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Director of the Center for Innovation and Scholarship in Teaching and Learning, and Professor of History, Indiana University

A Czech-born goaltender for a Canadian hockey team wears a jersey recalling the 1864 burning of Atlanta, Georgia.AP Photo/Mark Zaleski

As the National Hockey League gets its abbreviated season back underway, a team with a name hearkening back to the Civil War will take the ice – in Canada.

In September 1864, having conquered the city of...

One 19th-century artist's effort to grapple with tuberculosis resonates during COVID-19

Written by Elizabeth Lee, Associate Professor of Art History, Dickinson College

A detail from Abbott Thayer's 1887 painting 'Angel,' in which his eldest daughter appears as a heavenly figure.Smithsonian American Art Museum, gift of John Gellatly

Like everyone else, artists have been challenged by new conditions and routines since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many have had to adjust what they make as well as how and...

Fine-particle air pollution has decreased across the US, but poor and minority communities are still the most polluted

Written by Jonathan Colmer, Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Virginia

Fresno, California and the surrounding San Joaquin Valley have some of the nation's highest levels of fine particle air pollution.AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian

Air pollution contributes to as many as 9 million premature deaths worldwide each year – twice as many as war, other violence, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Fine particulate...

How California’s COVID-19 surge widens health inequalities for Black, Latino and low-income residents

Written by Andrea N. Polonijo, Medical Sociologist, University of California, Riverside

Reliance on public transit and front-line jobs puts low-income Californians at a higher risk of coming in contact with someone infected with the coronavirus.Mario Tama/Getty Images

California, once a national role model for slowing the coronavirus’s spread, has seen record numbers of infections, hospitalizations and deaths in recent days. The...

Hitler en casa: cómo la máquina de relaciones públicas nazi reinventó la imagen doméstica del Führer y engañó al mundo

Written by Despina Stratigakos, Professor of Architecture, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Hitler se vendió en publicaciones internacionales como un amante de la naturaleza.ww2gallery/flickr, CC BY-NC

El 16 de marzo de 1941, mientras las ciudades europeas ardían y los judíos eran conducidos a guetos, The New York Times Magazine publicó una historia ilustrada sobre el retiro de Adolf Hitler en los Alpes de...

Test positivity rate: How this one figure explains that the US isn't doing enough testing yet

Written by Ronald D. Fricker, Jr., Professor of Statistics and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Administration, Virginia Tech

As cases surge, testing needs to increase as well.AP Photo/David J. Phillip

The U.S. has performed more coronavirus tests than any other country in the world. Yet, at the same time, the U.S. is notably underperforming in terms of suppressing COVID-19. Confirmed cases – as well as deaths – are surging in many parts of the country. Some...

Energy is a basic need, and many Americans are struggling to afford it in the COVID-19 recession

Written by Sanya Carley, Professor of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University

The COVID-19 recession has made it harder for many Americans to pay their energy bills. Getty Images

Several months into the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, lower-income families are struggling to pay their energy bills. That’s a big concern during extreme events like summer heat waves, which can be deadly – especially for elderly people,...