The Conversation

Diaper need emerges as health indicator during pandemic

Written by Emily Belarmino, Assistant Professor of Public Health Nutrition, University of Vermont

Thirty-six percent of surveyed families with young children said they did not have enough diapers during the pandemic.Tony Arruzza/Corbis Documentary via Getty Images

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

The big idea

During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than a third of Massachusetts households with a...

What is Paxlovid and how will it help the fight against coronavirus? An infectious diseases physician answers questions on the COVID-19 pill

Written by Patrick Jackson, Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases, University of Virginia

Paxlovid may help prevent severe illness in patients at highest risk for COVID-19 complications.picture alliance/picture alliance via Getty Images

The Biden administration announced plans on April 26, 2022, to increase the availability of the COVID-19 drug Paxlovid, vowing to get more of the treatment pills into the hands of Americans.

An oral...

Ukraine invasion threatens international collaboration in space and shows how power structures are changing – podcast

Written by Daniel Merino, Assistant Science Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation

Russia threatened to withdraw from the International Space Station over sanctions imposed on the country following its invasion of Ukraine. 3Dsculptor via Shutterstock

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is challenging the structures of international collaboration in space. In this episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast, we talk to two experts...

4 things to know about Moldova and Transnistria – and why Russia's war may spread beyond Ukraine to reach them soon

Written by Tatsiana Kulakevich, Assistant Professor of Instruction at School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies, Affiliate Professor at the Institute on Russia, University of South Florida

Ukraine destroyed a railway, shown on April 2, 2022, to prevent passage from Transnistria to Ukraine.Andrea Mancini/NurPhoto via Getty Images

There is growing concern that Moldova and Transnistria could be dragged into Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Both Transnistria and Moldova are directly west of Ukraine. Transnistria, a small, breakaway...

'Nobody wants to run from the war' – a voice from Ukraine's displaced millions describes the conflicting pulls of home, family and safety

Written by Karen Jacobsen, Henry J. Leir Chair in Global Migration, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University

Many Ukrainians returned home after fleeing the Russian invasion, including this family that arrived on April 12, 2022, in Lviv, Ukraine, from refuge in Poland.Dominika Zarzycka/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

More than 5 million people left Ukraine as refugees between Feb. 24 and April 24, 2022, mostly to neighboring countries Poland,...

Elon Musk and the oligarchs of the 'Second Gilded Age' can not only sway the public -- they can exploit their data, too

Written by Nolan Higdon, Lecturer of History and Media Studies, California State University, East Bay

A new Gilded Age of media barons?Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

During the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, and the early decades of the 20th century, U.S. captains of industry such as William Randolph Hearst and Jay Gould used their massive wealth to dominate facets of the economy, including the news media. They were, in many ways, prototype...

War in Ukraine is pushing global acute hunger to the highest level in this century

Written by Daniel Maxwell, Henry J. Leir Professor in Food Security, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University

Distributing flour rations and other food supplies in southern Yemen on March 29, 2022.Saleh Al-Obeidi/AFP via Getty Images

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has produced a terrible humanitarian crisis in eastern Europe. It also is worsening conditions for other countries, many of them thousands of miles away.

Together, Russia and Ukraine account...

Caste doesn't just exist in India or in Hinduism – it is pervasive across many religions in South Asia and the diaspora

Written by Aseem Hasnain, Associate Professor of Sociology, Bridgewater State University

Nuns from a group of Dalit Christians, or India's lowest caste who converted to Christianity, protest in New Delhi.AP Photo/Gurinder Osan

The California State University system, America’s largest public higher education system, recently added caste, a birth-based social hierarchy system, to its anti-discrimination policy, allowing students,...

Revisiting Will Smith's slap and what it means to protect a loved one

Written by Neil Roberts, Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science, Williams College

Will Smith accepts an Oscar during the 94th Annual Academy Awards.Neilson Barnard/Getty Images

It took less than a nanosecond before The Slap was seen around the world. It took a little longer – about two weeks – before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to ban Will Smith from appearing at another Oscar awards...

'Great resignation' appears to be hastening the exodus of US and other Western companies from Russia

Written by Steven Kreft, Clinical Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, Indiana University

McDonald's said it is losing $50 million a month by keeping its Russian locations closed. AP Photo

Companies across the globe are fleeing Russia in an unprecedented display of corporate solidarity with their governments, appalled over the invasion of Ukraine. Over 750 multinational businesses so far have said they’re curtailing, suspending or...