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Genomic sequencing: Here's how researchers identify omicron and other COVID-19 variants

  • Written by Andre Hudson, Professor and Head of the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology
imageSequencing the genome of a virus gives researchers information on how mutations can affect its transmissibility and virulence.catalinr/iStock via Getty Images Plus

How do scientists detect new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19? The answer is a process called DNA sequencing.

Researchers sequence DNA to determine the order of the four...

Read more: Genomic sequencing: Here's how researchers identify omicron and other COVID-19 variants

Facebook became Meta – and the company's dangerous behavior came into sharp focus in 2021: 4 essential reads

  • Written by Eric Smalley, Science + Technology Editor
imageFacebook renamed itself Meta in 2021, but the year was more notable for revelations about the company's bad behavior.AP Photo/Tony Avelar

Meta, née Facebook, had a rough year in 2021, in public opinion if not financially. Revelations from whistleblower Frances Haugen, first detailed in a Wall Street Journal investigative series and then...

Read more: Facebook became Meta – and the company's dangerous behavior came into sharp focus in 2021: 4...

To get people the help they need from the government, postcards may be the answer

  • Written by Katerina Linos, Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley
imageCould postcards help reach people who need social services?Image Source/Digital Vision via Getty Images

President Joe Biden’s comprehensive social safety net bill faces a tough road to passage. But if Democrats succeed in getting it through the Senate and Biden signs it, there’s another challenge ahead for the legislation: How to get its...

Read more: To get people the help they need from the government, postcards may be the answer

Family rifts affect millions of Americans – research shows possible paths from estrangement toward reconciliation

  • Written by Karl Pillemer, Hazel E. Reed Human Development Professor and Professor of Gerontology in Medicine, Cornell University
imageEarly research suggests that nearly 1 in 5 Americans, about 68 million people, are in the midst of a family estrangement.baona/iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

Family relationships are on many people’s minds during the holiday season as sounds and images of happy family celebrations dominate the media. Anyone whose experiences...

Read more: Family rifts affect millions of Americans – research shows possible paths from estrangement toward...

Are parents criminally responsible for the actions of their child? In the Oxford shooting case, prosecutors say yes

  • Written by Thaddeus Hoffmeister, Law Professor, University of Dayton
imageJennifer Crumbley, at left, and her husband, James, at far right, sit with their attorneys during a hearing.Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Many were surprised when James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of Ethan Crumbley, the 15-year-old boy accused of killing four classmates at Oxford High School in Oakland County, Michigan, were charged for their...

Read more: Are parents criminally responsible for the actions of their child? In the Oxford shooting case,...

What's the record for how long it's ever rained without stopping?

  • Written by Lynn McMurdie, Research Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington
imageSome places rarely see the sun.Donat Photography / EyeEmimage

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

What is the longest time it has ever rained for? – Wayne

The answer is – it depends. If you live in a dry place, like the...

Read more: What's the record for how long it's ever rained without stopping?

UN fails to agree on 'killer robot' ban as nations pour billions into autonomous weapons research

  • Written by James Dawes, Professor of English, Macalester College
imageHumanitarian groups have been calling for a ban on autonomous weapons.Wolfgang Kumm/picture alliance via Getty Images

Autonomous weapon systems – commonly known as killer robots – may have killed human beings for the first time ever last year, according to a recent United Nations Security Council report on the Libyan civil war. History...

Read more: UN fails to agree on 'killer robot' ban as nations pour billions into autonomous weapons research

People who are bad with numbers often find it harder to make ends meet – even if they are not poor

  • Written by Wändi Bruine de Bruin, Professor of Public Policy, Psychology and Behavioral Science, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
imageEven college-educated adults can still struggle with numbers. Prostock-Studio/iStock via Getty Images

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

The big idea

People who are bad with numbers are more likely to experience financial difficulties than people who are good with numbers. That’s according to our analyses of the...

Read more: People who are bad with numbers often find it harder to make ends meet – even if they are not poor

The magnificent history of the maligned and misunderstood fruitcake

  • Written by Jeffrey Miller, Associate Professor of Hospitality Management, Colorado State University
imageFruitcakes are known for their legendary shelf life.CSA-Printstock via Getty Images

Nothing says Christmas quite like a fruitcake – or, at the very least, a fruitcake joke.

A quip attributed to former “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson has it that “There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to...

Read more: The magnificent history of the maligned and misunderstood fruitcake

Kim Jong Un’s decade in power: Starvation, repression and brutal rule – just like his father and grandfather

  • Written by Sung-Yoon Lee, Professor in Korean Studies, Tufts University
imageRepression running in the genes?Jenni Lim/AFP via Getty Images

By the grim metric of fatalities in the first 10 years of a dictator’s rule, Kim Jong Un has yet to match the records set by his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, or father, Kim Jong Il – the two tyrants who reigned by terror in North Korea before him.

For now, the number of people...

Read more: Kim Jong Un’s decade in power: Starvation, repression and brutal rule – just like his father and...

More Articles ...

  1. bell hooks will never leave us – she lives on through the truth of her words
  2. The US is making plans to replace all of its lead water pipes from coast to coast
  3. A Persian festival, Yalda, celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, with pomegranates, poetry and sacred rituals
  4. Taking out a student loan for your child can hurt your own financial well-being
  5. Convenient but susceptible to fraud: Why it makes sense to regulate charitable crowdfunding
  6. The 'runner's high' may result from molecules called cannabinoids – the body's own version of THC and CBD
  7. How to help those who have lost loved ones to suicide cope with grief during the holidays
  8. Sold-out supplies, serving a public need and other adventures of doing science during a pandemic – 4 researchers share their experiences
  9. 'Twas the night before Christmas' helped make the modern Santa – and led to a literary whodunit
  10. Why spending $2 trillion on child care, health care and fighting climate change won't make inflation any worse than it already is
  11. Mistletoe – famous for stolen holiday kisses – is a parasite that steals water and nutrients from other plants
  12. Surveys of scientists show women and young academics suffered most during pandemic and may face long-term career consequences
  13. It's all in the flag: Bussa's Rebellion and the 200-year fight to end British rule in Barbados
  14. Latest trials confirm the benefits of MDMA – the drug in ecstasy – for treating PTSD
  15. The best way to protect personal biomedical data from hackers could be to treat the problem like a game
  16. Brain wrinkles and folds matter – researchers are studying the mechanics of how they form
  17. Hurricane-force wind gusts in Colorado, dust storms in Kansas, tornadoes in Iowa in December – here's what fueled a day of extreme storms
  18. How effective are vaccines against omicron? An epidemiologist answers 6 questions
  19. What is the Fed taper? An economist explains
  20. What is the Fed taper? An economist explains how the Federal Reserve withdraws stimulus from the economy
  21. COVID-19 vaccines for children: How parents are influenced by misinformation, and how they can counter it
  22. How the Native American population in the US increased 87% says more about whiteness than about demographics
  23. I'm a Black woman and the metaverse scares me – here’s how to make the next iteration of the internet inclusive
  24. Cellphone bans in the workplace are legal and more common among blue-collar jobs – they also might be a safety risk
  25. To tree, or not to tree? How Jewish-Christian families navigate the 'December Dilemma'
  26. How Mrs. Claus embodied 19th-century debates about women's rights
  27. Mourning after mass shootings isn't enough – a sociologist argues that society's messages about masculinity need to change
  28. Pandemic, war and environmental disaster push scientists to deliver quick answers – here's what it takes to do good science under pressure
  29. 2021 Arctic Report Card reveals a (human) story of cascading disruptions, extreme events and global connections
  30. Vast majority of American workers like their jobs – even as a record number quit them
  31. Smoke, heat and stress: A snapshot from Southern California of life in an altered climate
  32. US prep schools held student exchanges with elite Nazi academies
  33. 'Strangers in their own land': Iraqi Yazidis and their plight, 7 years on from genocide
  34. What partnership looks like in Mormon marriages is shifting – slowly
  35. Orthodox Jewish women's leadership is growing – and it's not all about rabbis
  36. Comic book introduces kids to key concepts and careers in cybersecurity
  37. Blocking an immune system molecule in mice may help prevent long-term disabilities after traumatic brain injury
  38. Tornadoes and climate change: What a warming world means for deadly twisters and the type of storms that spawn them
  39. Here's how Southern Baptist women found ways to lead outside the denomination
  40. In polygamous communities, deep roots of distrust shape vaccine hesitancy
  41. The US doesn't have enough faculty to train the next generation of nurses
  42. Why is my poop brown?
  43. Why the southern US is prone to December tornadoes
  44. ¿Pruebas COVID de PCR o antígenos? Conoce cuáles son las diferencias
  45. Why is inflation so high? Is it bad? An economist answers 3 questions about soaring consumer prices
  46. How conspiracy theories in the US became more personal, more cruel and more mainstream after the Sandy Hook shootings
  47. How to keep students safe in school: 5 essential reads on school shootings in America
  48. Understanding the history and politics behind Pakistan's blasphemy laws
  49. 'Zero Day' for California water? Not yet, but unprecedented water restrictions send a sharp warning
  50. Professors’ free speech rights can clash with public universities’ interest in managing their employees as they choose