The Conversation

First space tourists will face big risks, as private companies gear up for paid suborbital flights

Written by Sara M. Langston, Assistant Professor of Spaceflight Operations, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Ready to take your suborbital selfie?EvgeniyShkolenko

On May 30, 2020, millions of Americans watched the inaugural SpaceX Crew Dragon launch NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. This mission marked two significant events: First, the return of launch to orbit capability for human spaceflight from the United States. Secondly, it success...

Life on welfare isn't what most people think it is

Written by Tom Mould, Professor of Anthropology and Folklore, Butler University

Public assistance programs are intended to help people up – but that's not always how recipients experience the aid.Ascent/PKS Media Inc./Getty

When Americans talk about people receiving public assistance – food stamps, disability, unemployment payments and other government help – they often have stereotypes and inaccurate...

City compost programs turn garbage into 'black gold' that boosts food security and social justice

Written by Kristen DeAngelis, Associate Professor of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Compost awaiting distribution at the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District's Rancho Las Virgenes compost facility, Calabasas, Calif.Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Almost overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed many Americans’ relationships with food. To relieve some of the stress associated with shopping safely...

COVID-19 is deadlier for black Brazilians, a legacy of structural racism that dates back to slavery

Written by Kia Lilly Caldwell, Professor, African, African American, and Diaspora Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Protesters in São Paulo declare 'Black Lives Matter' at a June 7 protest spurred by both U.S. anti-racist protests and the coronavirus's heavy toll on black Brazilians. Marcello Zambrana/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The United States and Brazil have much in common when it comes to the coronavirus.

Both are among the world’s hardest-h...

How the Federal Reserve literally makes money

Written by William J. Luther, Assistant Professor of Economics, Florida Atlantic University

The Fed is 'making' a lot of money. Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Federal Reserve has vowed to provide up to US$2.3 trillion in lending to support households, employers, financial markets and state and local governments struggling as a result of the coronavirus and corresponding stay-at-home orders.

Let that number sink in: $2,300,000,000,000.

I have...

Why some nursing homes are better than others at protecting residents and staff from COVID-19

Written by Anna Amirkhanyan, Associate Professor of Public Administration and Policy, American University School of Public Affairs

Life Care Center in Washington state was at the center of the U.S. outbreak back in early March. AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, CC BY

The coronavirus pandemic has posed a serious threat to the U.S. long-term care industry. A third of all deaths have been nursing home residents or workers – in some states it’s more than half.

Yet some long-term...

Want to stop the COVID-19 stress meltdown? Train your brain

Written by Laurel Mellin, Associate Professor Emeritus of Family & Community Medicine and Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco

Today's high-stress environment is an opportunity to reset how our brains deal with stressful situations.CasarsaGuru/iStock

Let’s face it: We’re all under stress right now. The uncertainty and constant health threats surrounding the coronavirus pandemic have upended our lives.

We may need two vaccines: one to protect us from the...

Could pressure for COVID-19 drugs lead the FDA to lower its standards?

Written by Leigh Turner, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics, School of Public Health, & College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota

Laboratories around the world are working round the clock to find treatments or a vaccine for COVID-19.Getty Images / Kena Betancur

Given the death, suffering, social disruption and economic devastation caused by COVID-19, there is an urgent need to quickly develop therapies to treat this disease and prevent the spread of the virus.

But the Food and...

The stay-at-home slowdown – how the pandemic upended our perception of time

Written by Philip Gable, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Delaware

Time is fixed. Our grasp of it? Not so much.bestdesigns via Getty Images

Think back to life before stay-at-home orders. Does it feel like just yesterday? Or does it seem like ages ago – like some distant era?

Of course, time is precise. It takes 23.9 hours for the Earth to make one rotation on its axis. But that’s not how we experience...

Cuba's clean rivers show the benefits of reducing nutrient pollution

Written by Paul Bierman, Professor of Geology and Natural Resources and Fellow of the Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont

Aniel Arruebarenna, a team member from the Centro de Estudios Ambientales de Cienfuegos, prepares to collect flow measurements.Joshua Brown/University of Vermont, CC BY-ND

For most of the past 60 years, the United States and Cuba have had very limited diplomatic ties. President Barack Obama started the process of normalizing U.S.-Cuba relations,...