The Conversation

COVID-19 makes clear that bioethics must confront health disparities

Written by Joseph J. Fins, The E. William Davis Jr, M.D. Professor of Medical Ethics and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell University

The Statue of Liberty.Stock Photo/Getty Images

With some reluctance, I’ve come to the sad realization the COVID-19 pandemic has been a stress test for bioethics, a field of study that intersects medicine, law, the humanities and the social sciences. As both a physician and medical ethicist, I arrived at this conclusion after spending months...

Street vendors make cities livelier, safer and fairer – here's why they belong on the post-COVID-19 urban scene

Written by John Rennie Short, Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Street vending at Eastern Market, Washington, D.C. John Rennie Short, CC BY-ND

Cities around the world are emerging from pandemic shutdowns and gradually allowing activities to resume. National leaders are keen to promote economic recovery, with appropriate public health precautions.

Recently, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced economic growth...

Corporate activism is more than a marketing gimmick

Written by Cory Maks-Solomon, Professorial Lecturer of Political Science, George Washington University

A 'Black Lives Matter' billboard hangs above a Modell's in New York.Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images

In the past month, there’s been an outpouring of support for Black Lives Matter from America’s largest corporations.

You might have noticed Amazon, for example, announcing its support for Black Lives Matter on its homepage. Even...

5 COVID-19 myths politicians have repeated that just aren't true

Written by Geoffrey Joyce, Director of Health Policy, USC Schaeffer Center, and Associate Professor, University of Southern California

The purveyors of these myths aren't doing the country any favors.Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

The number of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has jumped to around 50,000 a day, and the virus has killed more than 130,000 Americans. Yet, I still hear myths about the infection that has created the worst public health crisis in America in a...

Synthetic odors created by activating brain cells help neuroscientists understand how smell works

Written by Edmund Chong, Ph.D. Student in Neuroscience, New York University

When you sniff a particular scent, your brain cells fire in a recognizable pattern.Maskot via Getty Images

When you experience something with your senses, it evokes complex patterns of activity in your brain. One important goal in neuroscience is to decipher how these neural patterns drive the sensory experience.

For example, can the smell of...

Why are scientists trying to manufacture organs in space?

Written by Alysson R. Muotri, Professor of Pediatrics and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California San Diego

This Bioculture System will let biologists learn about how space impacts human health by studying cells grown in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station. NASA/Ames Research Center/Dominic Hart

Gravity can be a real downer when you are trying to grow organs.

That’s why experiments in space are so valuable. They have...

Brazil's Bolsonaro has COVID-19 – and so do thousands of Indigenous people who live days from the nearest hospital

Written by Nadia Rubaii, Co-Director, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, and Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Satere-mawe Indigenous men in face masks paddle the Ariau River, in hard-hit Manaus state, during the coronavirus pandemic, May 5, 2020. Ricardo Oliveira /AFP via Getty Images

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has denied the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and ridiculed social distancing, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on July...

3 things 'ZeroZeroZero' gets right about the cocaine trade

Written by Kendra McSweeney, Professor of Geography, The Ohio State University

'ZeroZeroZero' is a drama based on truth that shows a clear picture of the modern cocaine trade.Amazon

The Amazon Prime Video series “ZeroZeroZero” shows U.S. viewers an accurate picture of the modern cocaine trade that’s rarely seen on screen. It is loosely based on Italian journalist Roberto Saviano’s nonfiction book by...

It takes a long time to vote

Written by Jonathan Coopersmith, Professor of History, Texas A&M University

Voters in Lexington, Kentucky, waited more than 90 minutes to vote on June 23.AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley

The Conversation, CC BY-ND

“No citizen should have to wait more than 30 minutes to vote,” declared a 2014 federal report on how to conduct elections. That report was responding to the long lines in the 2012 presidential election, when...

Supreme Court hands victory to school voucher lobby – will religious minorities, nonbelievers and state autonomy lose out?

Written by Frank S. Ravitch, Professor of Law & Walter H. Stowers Chair of Law and Religion, Michigan State University

Protesters gather as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos visits a school in Maryland.Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The Supreme Court’s recent decision that Montana cannot exclude donations that go to religious schools from a small tax credit program could have consequences felt far beyond the state.

The 5-4 ruling in Espinoza...