The Conversation

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,...

How the US government sold the Peace Corps to the American public

Written by Wendy Melillo, Associate Professor, American University School of Communication

President John F. Kennnedy personally bid the first Peace Corps volunteers farewell.AP Photo/William J. Smith

The Peace Corps, a service organization run by the U.S. government that dispatches volunteers to foreign countries, is on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic. For the first time in its nearly 60-year history, none of its volunteers is...

Indian philosophy helps us see clearly, act wisely in an interconnected world

Written by Matthew MacKenzie, Professor of Philosophy and Department Chair, Colorado State University

Krishna the charioteer guiding Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra.Godong/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

To say the world today is interconnected is a cliché.

Never before have so many people been linked by their activities and consequences. But knowing how to think and act as a citizen of this small world is no easy matter.

As...

Are religious communities reviving the revival? In the US, outdoor worship has a long tradition

Written by Jeffrey Wheatley, Instructor, of Philosophy & Religious Studies, Iowa State University

A pastor leads a prayer at an outdoor Easter service.AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

Religious communities have been forced to find alternative ways to worship together during the coronavirus pandemic. For some that has meant going online, but others have turned to a distinctly non-digital practice steeped in this history of the American religious...