The Conversation

Meditation holds the potential to help treat children suffering from traumas, difficult diagnoses or other stressors – a behavioral neuroscientist explains

Written by Hilary A. Marusak, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University

Meditation and mindfulness techiques are becoming increasingly common in school settings.Alexander Egizarov/EyeEm

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

The big idea

Children actively meditating experience lower activity in parts of the brain involved in rumination, mind-wandering and depression, our team found in the...

Yes, Black patients do want to help with medical research – here are ways to overcome the barriers that keep clinical trials from recruiting diverse populations

Written by Julia Liu, Professor of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine

Creating a safe space for patients to ask questions and provide fully informed consent could help increase clinical trial recruitment.FatCamera/E+ via Getty Images

Clinical trial participants are predominantly white. Despite Black and Hispanic people respectively making up 12% and 16% of the U.S. population in 2011, together they made up only 6% of...

Building something better: How community organizing helps people thrive in challenging times

Written by Stephanie Malin, Associate Professor of Sociology; Co-Founder, Center for Environmental Justice at CSU, Colorado State University

Members of the Forward Marching Band perform at a HONK! Festival in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Oct. 7, 2017. Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Americans don’t agree on much these days, but many feel that the U.S. is on the wrong track and the future is bleak. In a time of unprecedented division, rising inequality and...

Ghost islands of the Arctic: The world’s ‘northern-most island’ isn’t the first to be erased from the map

Written by Kevin Hamilton, Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Hawaii

These 'islands' are on the move.Martin Nissen

In 2021, an expedition off the icy northern Greenland coast spotted what appeared to be a previously uncharted island. It was small and gravelly, and it was declared a contender for the title of the most northerly known land mass in the world. The discoverers named it Qeqertaq Avannarleq –...

Intense heat and flooding are wreaking havoc on power and water systems as climate change batters America’s aging infrastructure

Written by Paul Chinowsky, Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder

Volunteers distributed bottled water after Jackson, Mississippi's water treatment plant failed during flooding in August 2022.Brad Vest/Getty Images

The 1960s and 1970s were a golden age of infrastructure development in the U.S., with the expansion of the interstate system and widespread construction of new water treatment, wastewater and flood...

Fears of a polio resurgence in the US have health officials on high alert – a virologist explains the history of this dreaded disease

Written by Rosemary Rochford, Professor of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Critical-care patients in the emergency polio ward at Haynes Memorial Hospital in Boston in August 1955. Associated Press photo

Fears of polio gripped the U.S. in the mid-20th century. Parents were afraid to send their children to birthday parties, public pools or any place where children mingled. Children in wheelchairs served as a stark reminder...

Human skin stood up better to the sun before there were sunscreens and parasols – an anthropologist explains why

Written by Nina G. Jablonski, Evan Pugh University Professor of Anthropology, Penn State

The sun’s rays often feel good on your skin, but can cause serious damage.Maksim Chernyshev/EyeEm via Getty Images

Human beings have a conflicted relationship with the sun. People love sunshine, but then get hot. Sweat gets in your eyes. Then there are all the protective rituals: the sunscreen, the hats, the sunglasses. If you stay out too...

Purpose and gratitude boost academic engagement

Written by Mariya Yukhymenko, Associate Professor of Research and Statistics, California State University, Fresno

Students who are career-driven tend to do better academically.Morsa Images via Getty Images

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

The big idea

When it comes to academic success for college students, having a sense of purpose and gratitude makes a significant difference. That’s what I found in a peer-reviewed study p...

Supreme Court’s selective reading of US history ignored 19th-century women’s support for ‘voluntary motherhood’

Written by Lauren Thompson, Assistant Professor of History and Interdisciplinary Studies, Kennesaw State University

Members of the National American Woman Suffrage Association participate in a 1910 parade in Washington, D.C. Paul Thompson/FPG/Archive Photos/Hulton Archive via Getty Images

The history of abortion in the U.S. guided some of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s arguments in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision....

Christian nationalism is getting written out of the story of January 6

Written by Joyce Dalsheim, Professor, Department of Global Studies, University of North Carolina – Charlotte

Shirts for sale on Jan. 6, 2021, combined loyalty to Jesus and to Donald Trump.Joyce Dalsheim, CC BY-ND

When they entered the Senate chamber on Jan. 6, 2021, a group of insurgents stopped and bowed their heads in prayer to consecrate the building and their cause to Jesus. When the Senate reconvened later, its chaplain, retired Navy Adm. Barry...