The Conversation

Tu cerebro evolucionó para acumular suministros y avergonzar a los otros por hacer lo mismo

Written by Stephanie Preston, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan

Los medios están llenos de historias sobre personas que dejan vacías las estanterías de los supermercados a causa del coronavirus, y con la dura reacción social que hay en contra de ellas.

¿Se ha vuelto loca la gente? ¿Cómo puede ser que un individuo llene su propio carrito,...

Coronavirus: social distancing may be a rare chance to get our sleep patterns closer to what nature intended

Written by Zlatan Krizan, Professor of Psychology, Iowa State University

Spending more time in bed and letting your body's natural rhythms take over could be good for your health.Stock-Asso/Shutterstock.com

The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting daily routines around the world. Overwhelmed hospitals, desolate schools, ghostly towns and self-isolation echo a campy horror flick, but an all too real one.

Companies are laying...

How Germany is managing its coronavirus epidemic, and reacting with disdain to Trump's policies

Written by Klaus W. Larres, Richard M. Krasno Distinguished Professor; Adjunct Professor of the Curriculum in Peace, War and Defense, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

On March 29 in Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate is almost deserted due to restrictions on public life. Getty/Carsten Koall/picture alliance

A recent work visit to Germany, where I grew up, stretched from one week to three. Those weeks coincided with the spread of the coronavirus in Germany as well as across Europe.

What I saw while there is that...

How prisoners, soldiers and Mormon missionaries make the census more complicated

Written by Rebecca Tippett, Director of Carolina Demography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Counting Americans is a complicated process.Tada Images/Shutterstock.com

The U.S. census is the most democratic and inclusive activity we do as a country.

For demographers like myself, this once-a-decade count serves as the backbone of virtually every product that we use to understand who Americans are, how they’ve changed and what this...

National Guard joins the coronavirus response – 3 questions answered

Written by Dwight Stirling, Lecturer in Law, University of Southern California

Members of the New York Army National Guard are setting up a 1,000-bed hospital at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images

As a military organization divided into 50 distinct parts that can be commanded by either the president or state governors, the National Guard is perhaps the least understood branch...

4 tips for staying connected during coronavirus, from migrants who live far from family

Written by Lynnette Arnold, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst

For immigrants like Juana, from El Salvador, migration -- not coronavirus -- is the main cause of separation from family. Norwalk, Connecticut, March 25, 2020.John Moore/Getty Images

As social distancing and shelter-in-place orders are implemented to curb the spread of coronavirus, ever more people worldwide are separated from relatives, friends...

What early Christian communities tell us about giving financial aid at a time of crises

Written by Cavan W. Concannon, Associate Professor of Religion, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Apostle Paul and his followers collected aid, likely for early Christians.Giovanni Paolo Panini /Hermitage Museum via Wikimedia Commons

Sometime in the late second century A.D., Christians in the city of Rome organized a collection to send to the followers of Jesus in the city of Corinth.

Modern-day scholars don’t know what the crisis was...

Feeling overwhelmed? Approach coronavirus as a challenge to be met, not a threat to be feared

Written by Bethany Teachman, Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia

Pick the mindset that makes you better able to respond.Thomas Barwick/DigitalVision via Getty Images

You have a choice to make when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic.

Do you treat this time as an insurmountable threat that pits you against everyone else? This option entails making decisions based solely on protecting yourself and your loved ones:...

Fighting boredom with banjos and Russian grammar – tips from polar explorers for surviving months of isolation

Written by Daniella McCahey, History Lecturer, University of Idaho

Members of Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition (1907–1909) gather round a gramophone player in Antarctica.Artist Unknown/Getty Images

Due to Antarctica’s extreme winter, which includes four months of total darkness, polar explorers endured intense confinement in close quarters for long periods of time.

American pioneer Richard Byrd explained,...

Social media companies are taking steps to tamp down coronavirus misinformation – but they can do more

Written by Bhaskar Chakravorti, Dean of Global Business, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Facebook, the least trusted tech company, has taken the lead in fighting coronavirus misinformation.AP Photo/Ben Margot

As we practice social distancing, our embrace of social media gets only tighter. The major social media platforms have emerged as the critical information purveyors for influencing the choices people make during the expanding...