The Conversation

To reduce world hunger, governments need to think beyond making food cheap

Written by Michael Fakhri, Associate Professor of International Law, University of Oregon

Iraqis buy produce at a street market in Baghdad during the COVID-19 pandemic, July 14, 2020.Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP via Getty Images

According to a new United Nations report, global rates of hunger and malnutrition are on the rise. The report estimates that in 2019, 690 million people – 8.9% of the world’s population – were...

Video: An infectious disease expert explains the results from Moderna's latest vaccine trials

Written by Sanjay Mishra, Project Coordinator & Staff Scientist, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt University

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, discloses the results from phase 1 of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine trials.YurolaitsAlbert / Getty Images

Biotech company Moderna, one of many organizations developing a vaccine for COVID-19, published results from an early-stage test of its experimental mRNA vaccine in the New England...

Why Congress can't curb Trump's power to commute Stone's sentence and pardon others

Written by Stanley M. Brand, Distinguished Fellow in Law and Government, Pennsylvania State University

President Donald Trump has commuted the prison sentence of his friend and ally Roger Stone.Joe Raedle/Getty Images

President Donald Trump recently commuted the sentence of his friend and political ally Roger Stone, meaning Stone remains convicted but does not have to serve prison time.

Article II, section 2 of the Constitution grants the president...

Confederate flags fly worldwide, igniting social tensions and inflaming historic traumas

Written by Jordan Brasher, Assistant Professor of Geography, Columbus State University

Brazil's 'Festa Confederada.' Organizers say the annual event celebrates their Southern American heritage, but some Black Brazilians disagree.Jordan Brasher, CC BY-SA

The United States isn’t the only country debating Confederate symbols.

The Confederate flag can be seen flying in Ireland, Germany, Brazil and beyond. Sometimes, the...

Pro-choice movement's big win at Supreme Court might really have been a loss

Written by Mary Ziegler, Stearns Weaver Miller Professor, College of Law, Florida State University

Anti-abortion demonstrators pray outside the Supreme Court building on July 8, 2020, while they wait for a ruling.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

When the Supreme Court handed down its ruling striking down a Louisiana law that would have limited abortion access in that state, progressives celebrated. Their reasoning on June 29 was simple: By joining...

How the coronavirus pandemic became Florida's perfect storm

Written by Tiffany A. Radcliff, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Health Policy and Management, Texas A&M University

Florida cities like Miami have resorted to issuing their own protective rules as coronavirus case numbers climb.Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images

If there’s one state in the U.S. where you don’t want a pandemic, it’s Florida. Florida is an international crossroads, a magnet for tourists and retirees, and its population is older, sicker...

Ending the pandemic will take global access to COVID-19 treatment and vaccines – which means putting ethics before profits

Written by Nicole Hassoun, Professor of Philosophy, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Indian health workers doing health checks in Mumbai, June 17, 2020.AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File

As COVID-19 surges in the United States and worldwide, even the richest and best insured Americans understand, possibly for the first time, what it’s like not to have the medicines they need to survive if they get sick. There is no coronavirus...

Until teachers feel safe, widespread in-person K-12 schooling may prove impossible in US

Written by Michael Addonizio, Professor of educational leadership and policy studies, Wayne State University

Few first days the new school year will look like this in 2020.Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images

Safely resuming in-person instruction at U.S. public schools is important for the academic, physical, emotional and social well-being of children and their families. It’s also a key factor for the...

Contact tracing's long, turbulent history holds lessons for COVID-19

Written by Amy Lauren Fairchild, Dean and Professor, College of Public Health, The Ohio State University

Technology is raising a new wave of privacy concerns around contact tracing.Leo Patrizi via Getty Images

To get the COVID-19 pandemic under control and keep it from flaring up again, contact tracing is critical, but persuading everyone who tests positive to share where they’ve been and with whom relies on trust and cooperation.

Contact...

Research on voting by mail says it's safe – from fraud and disease

Written by Edie Goldenberg, Professor of Public Policy; Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan

A Pennsylvania election worker processes mailed-in ballots for the state's primary election in May 2020.AP Photo/Matt Rourke

As millions of Americans prepare to vote in November – and in many cases, primaries and state and local elections through the summer as well – lots of people are talking about voting by mail. It is a way to protect...