The Conversation

Consensual sex is key to happiness and good health, science says

Written by Shervin Assari, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health, University of Michigan

A couple in bed. Research shows that sex is important to happiness and good health.4 pm production/Shutterstock.com

As we approach Valentine’s Day, it’s nice to celebrate love and, one the best parts about it, sex. As a doctor and epidemiologist who studies sex, I bring good news for Valentine’s Day. It’s not just that sex...

Trump's infrastructure plan rests on some rickety assumptions

Written by Caroline Nowacki, PhD Candidate, Global Projects Center, Stanford University

The new plan is supposed to boost the construction of new roads, bridges and other public works projects.AP Photo/Seth Perlman

Experts greeted the long-awaited details of President Donald Trump’s promise to unleash a US$1.5 trillion wave of new infrastructure spending with skepticism.

There’s widespread concern about whether his plan can...

Making skis strong enough for Olympians to race on

Written by Marc Zupan, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering- Materials and Solid Mechanics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

What's inside Olympians' skis?AP Photo/Luca Bruno

Olympians expect top-notch performance from their minds and bodies, but they get crucial advantages from the very best equipment for their sports and the weather conditions they’re competing in. Skis, for example, must stand up to near-constant changes in stress during races.

The ideal ski...

What the flu does to your body, and why it makes you feel so awful

Written by Laura Haynes, Professor of Immunology, University of Connecticut

A flu patient at ProMedica Toledo Hospital in Toledo, Ohio on Jan. 8, 2018. AP Photo/Tony Dejak

Every year, from 5 to 20 percent of the people in the United States will become infected with influenza virus. An average of 200,000 of these people will require hospitalization and up to 50,000 will die. Older folks over the age of 65 are especially...

Venezuelan refugees inflame Brazil's already simmering migrant crisis

Written by Robert Muggah, Associate Lecturer, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)

Though refugee and migration crises have dominated headlines in recent years, most news stories exclude Brazil. That’s because of the world’s roughly 62.5 million forced migrants, according to the United Nations – just a small proportion are thought to be in Brazil.

New research suggests this omission needs correcting.

According...

New 'Holocaust law' highlights crisis in Polish identity

Written by Geneviève Zubrzycki, Professor of Sociology, Director of the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, University of Michigan

On Jan. 26, the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Polish parliament voted in favor of a bill making it illegal to accuse Poland of complicity in Nazi crimes.

This caused immediate outrage around the world and nowhere more so than in a country that has been, until now, a close ally of Poland: Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin...

When do-good nonprofits are bad at dealing with #MeToo moments

Written by Paul Battaglio, Professor, Economic, Political & Policy Sciences, Co-Editor-in-chief, Public Administration Review, University of Texas at Dallas

Former Humane Society chief Wayne Pacelle, flanked by Senators Richard Blumenthal (left) and Chuck Schumer (right), resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Amy Sussman/AP Images for Humane Society of The United States

Scandals rocking the Humane Society and the Red Cross are the highest-profile examples so far of how the #MeToo movement is...

Stocks hate inflation – here's why

Written by Richard S. Warr, Professor of Finance, North Carolina State University

Inflation may be a bull market's greatest enemy. AP Photo/Richard Drew

Stock markets have been on a wild ride recently, plunging one day and then soaring the next. Since its peak in late January, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has declined more than 10 percent, signaling a market “correction” beyond just a temporary blip.

Pund...

Mark Twain's adventures in love: How a rough-edged aspiring author courted a beautiful heiress

Written by Richard Gunderman, Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University

The wife and daughters of Mark Twain.Albert Bigelow Paine

The year 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of one of the great courtships in American history, the wooing of an unenthusiastic 22-year-old Olivia Langdon by a completely smitten 32-year-old Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain.

As I first learned while visiting Twain’s...

No, opposites do not attract

Written by Matthew D. Johnson, Chair & Professor of Psychology and Director of the Marriage and Family Studies Laboratory, Binghamton University, State University of New York

It's likeness that makes the heart grow fonder.Zediajaab, CC BY-SA

Everyone seems to agree that opposites attract. Young and old people, happy and distressed couples, single folks and married partners – all apparently buy the classic adage about love. Relationship experts have written books based on this assumption. It’s even been...