The Conversation

People are getting sick from coronavirus spreading through the air – and that's a big challenge for reopening

Written by Douglas Reed, Associate Professor of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh

Coughing, sneezing, talking and even just breathing can produce airborne particles that can spread SARS-CoV-2. Stanislaw Pytel/Digital Vision via Getty Images

I am a scientist that studies infectious diseases and I specialize in severe respiratory infections, but I also serve as a member of my church’s safety team.

Over the past few weeks as...

Why are sitcom dads still so inept?

Written by Erica Scharrer, Professor of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst

From 'Father Knows Best' to 'D'oh!'Scott Vandehey/flickr, CC BY-NC-SA

From Homer Simpson to Phil Dunphy, sitcom dads have long been known for being bumbling and inept.

But it wasn’t always this way. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, sitcom dads tended to be serious, calm and wise, if a bit detached. In a shift that media scholars have documented,...

Herd immunity won’t solve our COVID-19 problem

Written by Joanna Wares, Associate Professor of Mathematics, University of Richmond

Without a vaccine, getting to herd immunity would mean many more illnesses and deaths.Andreus K via Getty Images

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, use of the term “herd immunity” has spread almost as fast as the virus. But its use is fraught with misconceptions.

In the U.K., officials briefly considered a herd immunity strategy...

'Normal' human body temperature is a range around 98.6 F – a physiologist explains why

Written by JohnEric Smith, Associate Professor of Exercise Physiology, Mississippi State University

A salon owner scans a customer for fever before performing a service.Bruce Bennett/Getty Images News via Getty Images

Fever is common in the symptomatic stage of COVID-19, and as workplaces and child care spaces reopen, temperature checks are one way officials are trying to identify those sick with the coronavirus. To maintain no-contact conditions,...

Meteorites from Mars contain clues about the red planet's geology

Written by Arya Udry, Assistant Professor of Igneous Petrology, Planetary Science, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Artist's rendition of NASA's 2020 Mars rover collecting rocks with its robotic arm.NASA

Despite the pandemic, NASA is on track to launch its Mars rover, Perseverance, this July from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its central mission will be to search for evidence of previous life on Mars.

An exciting component of the rover will be a specialized drill...

'Telepresence' can help bring advanced courses to schools that don't offer them

Written by Jennifer Darling-Aduana, Assistant Professor of Learning Technologies, Vanderbilt University

Remote learning can be used for more than just education at home.Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

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

The big idea

In schools where students want to take an advanced course that the school doesn’t offer, the telepresence model, which enables students in one school to...

3 lessons from how schools responded to the 1918 pandemic worth heeding today

Written by Mary Battenfeld, Clinical Professor of American and New England Studies, Boston University

These kids learned about staying healthy in schools around the time of the 1918 pandemic.Cornell University Library

Much like what has happened in 2020, most U.S. schools closed during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Their doors were shut for up to four months, with some exceptions, to curb the spread of the disease.

As a professor who teaches and...

COVID-19 will turn the state pension problem into a fiscal crisis

Written by Raymond Scheppach, Professor of Public Policy, University of Virginia

Most states struggle to meet pension funding needs -- and the pandemic will make it worse. hudiemm/Getty

You may be wondering why, over the last few months, the state pension problem – normally not a subject of widespread discussion – has been in the news.

In fact, you may be wondering just what the state pension problem is.

The problem...

What Buddhism and science can teach each other – and us – about the universe

Written by Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona

The Dalai Lama speaks about quantum effects with Chinese scientists at the Main Tibetan Temple, Nov. 1, 2018, in Dharamshala, India. Shyam Sharma/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

These are trying times. A global recession sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, and widespread civil unrest, have created a combustible mix of angst – stressors that...

A pragmatist philosopher's view of the US response to the coronavirus pandemic

Written by Johnathan Flowers, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Worcester State University

American thinker John Dewey in 1946.JHU Sheridan Libraries/Gado/Getty Images

Though many in the U.S. are disoriented and disheartened by the lack of an effective federal response to the coronavirus pandemic, John Dewey, an American philosopher, psychologist and educator, would not have been surprised.

Dewey presented a nuanced analysis of democracy,...