The Conversation

Dangerous bacteria is showing up in school water systems, reminding all buildings reopening amid COVID-19 to check the pipes

Written by Caitlin R. Proctor, Lillian Gilbreth Postdoctoral Fellow, Purdue University

Schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania have already found Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease, in their water systems.Andrew Whelton/Purdue University, CC BY-ND

As schools cautiously reopen for the fall semester, several have discovered potentially harmful bacteria in their water systems. Parents are likely concerned about what...

Business liability shield is holding up another coronavirus bailout – a legal scholar explains why immunity is unnecessary and even harmful

Written by Timothy D. Lytton, Distinguished University Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State University

Reasonable precautions like advising customers to wear masks can be enough to prevent successful lawsuits. Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

Senate Republicans’ push to grant companies sweeping immunity from civil liability for failure to adequately protect workers and customers from infection has been one of the key sticking points...

A doctor's open apology to those fighting overweight and obesity

Written by J. David Prologo, Associate Professor, Emory University School of Medicine, Emory University

Doctors have told people who are overweight to exercise more and eat less, when in fact their overweight may be due to genetic or other factors that exercise won't change. UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, CC BY-SA

Obesity has emerged as a significant risk factor for poor outcomes in patients infected with COVID-19. Based on how...

Does 4 years of college make students more liberal?

Written by Matthew J. Mayhew, The William Ray and Marie Adamson Flesher Professor of Higher Education, The Ohio State University

Students' positive attitudes toward conservative ideas are the same before and after four years of college. FatCamera/E+ via Getty Images

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

The big idea

Over four years of college, students develop positive attitudes for political liberals but not conservatives.

Why it matters

Higher...

Protecting half of the planet is the best way to fight climate change and biodiversity loss – we've mapped the key places to do it

Written by Greg Asner, Director, Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science and Professor, Arizona State University

Rapid loss of species like these Spix's macaws, considered extinct in the wild, may represent the sixth mass extinction in Earth's history.PATRICK PLEUL/DPA/AFP via Getty Images

Humans are dismantling and disrupting natural ecosystems around the globe and changing Earth’s climate. Over the past 50 years, actions like farming, logging,...

How the Civil War drove medical innovation – and the pandemic could, too

Written by Jeffrey Clemens, Associate Professor of Economics, University of California San Diego

Bernard Tobey, a double amputee, and his son, wearing Union sailor uniforms, standing beside a small wagon displaying Secretary of War Edwin Stanton's dispatch on the fall of Fort Fisher. Fetter's New Photograph Gallery/Library of Congress

The current COVID-19 pandemic, the largest public health crisis in a century, threatens the health of people...

The pandemic has revealed the cracks in US manufacturing: Here's how to fix them

Written by Sridhar Kota, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan

The global pandemic has interrupted supply chains for almost 75% of US companies.Thatree Thitivongvaroon/Getty Images

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed glaring deficiencies in the U.S. manufacturing sector’s ability to provide necessary products – especially amidst a crisis. It’s been five months since the nation declared a...

If sitting at a desk all day is bad during coronavirus, could I lie down to work instead?

Written by Arthur L. Weltman, Professor of Kinesiology and Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia

Is relaxing in the hammock or easy chair somehow better for you than sitting?Rodrigo Snchez/EyeEm via Getty Images

Most of us have heard that too much sitting is bad for you. Studies show sitting increases the risk for cardiovascular disease and mortality, Type 2 diabetes and cancer.

With Americans more sedentary than ever, that’s...

'From each according to ability; to each according to need' – tracing the biblical roots of socialism's enduring slogan

Written by Luc Bovens, Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Marx, Madison or God? Who said it first...or at all? Bettmann/Corbis/ Lucas Schifres via Getty Images

“From each according to ability; To each according to need,” is a phrase derived from where?

A) The works of Karl Marx

B) The Bible

C) The Constitution of the United States

If you answered “A,” you are kinda right. But if you...

Kamala Harris represents an opportunity for coalition building between Blacks and Asian Americans

Written by Danielle Casarez Lemi, Tower Center Fellow, Southern Methodist University

Kamala Harris speaking via a screen to demonstrators at the protest against racism and police brutality on Aug. 28, 2020, in Washington, D.C. Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

Kamala Harris is the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother; she is Black and South Asian. She celebrates both sides of her ancestry, which unites two racial...