The Conversation

FDA approval of over-the-counter Narcan is an important step in the effort to combat the US opioid crisis

Written by Lucas Berenbrok, Associate Professor of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh

The use of naloxone administered by nasal spray can be a lifesaving drug with minimal side effects.TG23/iStock via Getty Images Plus

On March 29, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Narcan for over-the-counter sale. Narcan is the 4-milligram nasal spray version of naloxone, a medication that can quickly counteract an opioid...

Nashville attack renews calls for assault weapons ban – data shows there were fewer mass shooting deaths during an earlier 10-year prohibition

Written by Michael J. Klein, Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery, New York University

Gun control activists rally in Nashville, Tenn.Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

The shooting deaths of three children and three adults inside a Nashville school has put further pressure on Congress to look at imposing a ban on so-called assault weapons. Such a prohibition would be designed cover the types of guns that the suspect legally...

Ancient DNA is restoring the origin story of the Swahili people of the East African coast

Written by Chapurukha Kusimba, Professor of Anthropology, University of South Florida

How are people today related to those who lived centuries ago in the Swahili civilization? The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

The legacy of the medieval Swahili civilization is a source of extraordinary pride in East Africa, as reflected in its language being the official tongue of Kenya, Tanzania and even inland...

Extra food assistance cushioned the early pandemic's blow on kids' mental health

Written by Grace Melo, ACES Faculty Fellow, Texas A&M University

The pandemic-era expansion of SNAP benefits ended in all U.S. states by March 2023.aogreatkim/iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

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

The big idea

Despite the heightened poverty and unemployment seen when the COVID-19 pandemic got underway, many low-income U.S. children did not...

Israel's military reservists are joining protests – potentially transforming a political crisis into a security crisis

Written by Dan Arbell, Scholar-in-residence at the Center for Israeli Studies, American University

A member of Israel's military reserves takes part in a protest on March 16, 2023 in Bnei Brak, a city east of Tel Aviv.Photo by Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The judicial overhaul plan of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, introduced in January, has thrown the country into its most severe domesti...

Reaction to bronze sculpture of Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr. in Boston hasn't been good – and that's not bad for art that shatters conventions

Written by Kristin Ann Hass, Professor of American Culture, University of Michigan

The Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr. memorial sculpture at Boston Common is called 'The Embrace.' Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

As an acclaimed photographer and conceptual artist, Hank Willis Thomas has grown accustomed to criticisms of his unconventional art and concepts of identity.

But even Thomas had never experienced anything...

40 years ago 'A Nation at Risk' warned of a 'rising tide of mediocrity' in US schools – has anything changed?

Written by Morgan Polikoff, Associate Professor of Education, University of Southern California

Academic gains made over the past four decades have begun to erode.Troy Aossey/The Image Bank via Getty Images

The National Commission on Excellence in Education’s release of a report titled “A Nation at Risk” in 1983 was a pivotal point in the history of American education. The report used dire language, lamenting that “the...

How do superconductors work? A physicist explains what it means to have resistance-free electricity

Written by Mishkat Bhattacharya, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Rochester Institute of Technology

Magnetic levitation is just one of the interesting attributes that make superconductors so interesting.Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library vie Getty Images

The modern world runs on electricity, and wires are what carry that electricity to every light, television, heating system, cellphone and computer on the planet. Unfortunately, on average, about 5...

Public radio can help solve the local news crisis -- but that would require expanding staff and coverage

Written by Thomas E. Patterson, Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, Harvard Kennedy School

Can public radio fill the hole left by the decline of local news outlets?Talaj/iStock / Getty Images Plus

Since 2005, more than 2,500 local newspapers, most of them weeklies, have closed, with more closures on the way.

Responses to the decline have ranged from luring billionaires to buy local dailies to encouraging digital startups. But the number...

Federal Reserve’s ‘soft landing’ goal has become bumpier with rate hike plan hit by bank turbulence

Written by Ryan Herzog, Associate Professor of Economics, Gonzaga University

A recession-free landing for the Fed may be harder now.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Federal Reserve policymakers have targeted a “soft landing” for the U.S. economy since beginning their effort a year ago to tame runaway inflation by hiking interest rates. That is, they believed they could do so without sending the U.S. into recession.

But the...