The Conversation

If you want to support the health and wellness of kids, stop focusing on their weight

Written by Nichole Kelly, Evergreen Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology and Prevention Science, University of Oregon

Physical activity, eating habits and emotional support from friends and family are stronger predictors of health than body mass index.Keith Bedford/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Since the pandemic started, people of all ages have gained weight. At the same time, the rate at which youth and young adults are seeking treatment for eating...

Sexual abuse survivors are voting on the Boy Scouts bankruptcy settlement: 5 questions answered

Written by Pamela Foohey, Professor of Law, Cardozo Law School, Yeshiva University

Thousands of men say they were sexually abused as children taking part in the Boy Scouts.AP Photo/LM Otero

The Boy Scouts’ bankruptcy case crossed an important milestone on Sept. 29, 2021, when Judge Laura Selber Silverstein approved the Boy Scouts’ statement that explains its plan to exit bankruptcy. That statement includes a proposal...

How your emotional response to the COVID-19 pandemic changed your behavior and your sense of time

Written by Philip Gable, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Delaware

If you had faith in the development of effective treatments, time tended to pass quickly.tolgart/Getty Images

The COVID-19 pandemic, now in its 19th month, has meant different things to different people. For some, it’s meant stress over new school and work regimes, or anxiety over the prospect of catching COVID-19 and dealing with the...

If the US defaults on debt, expect the dollar to fall – and with it, Americans' standard of living

Written by Michael Humphries, Deputy Chair of Business Administration, Touro College

Would a default mean an end to the dollar's position as the go-to trading currency?AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Congress has seemingly kicked the debt ceiling deadline down the road – but the threat of a future default still exists.

On Oct. 7, 2021, lawmakers in the Senate agreed to extend the government’s ability to borrow until December....

How Columbus Day contributes to the cultural erasure of Italian Americans

Written by Lawrence Torcello, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology

A float featuring Christopher Columbus makes its way down Fifth Avenue during the 75th annual Columbus Day Parade on Oct. 14, 2019, in New York. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Every October, a parade of opinion writers, politicians and Americans of Italian descent celebrate Christopher Columbus as someone who represents Italian Americans.

But...

Nobel Peace Prize for journalists serves as reminder that freedom of the press is under threat from strongmen and social media

Written by Kathy Kiely, Professor and Lee Hills Chair of Free Press Studies, University of Missouri-Columbia

When the reporter becomes the story.AP Photo/Bullit Marquez

Thirty-two years ago next month, I was in Germany reporting on the fall of the Berlin Wall, an event then heralded as a triumph of Western democratic liberalism and even “the end of history.”

But democracy isn’t doing so well across the globe now. Nothing underscores how...

WHO approved a malaria vaccine for children – a global health expert explains why that is a big deal

Written by Dr Miriam K. Laufer, Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, Epidemiology and Public Health at the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine

A helping hand in the fight against malaria.Patrick Meinhardt/Getty Images

The World Health Organization recommended its first malaria vaccine for children on Oct. 6, 2021 – a breakthrough hailed by the U.N. agency as a “historic moment.”

Approval of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine, which goes by the name Mosquirix, provides a...

Biden restores protection for national monuments Trump shrank: 5 essential reads

Written by Jennifer Weeks, Senior Environment + Energy Editor, The Conversation

The twin buttes that give Bears Ears National Monument in Utah its name are sacred places to many Indigenous Tribes and Pueblos.T. Schofield, iStock via Getty Images

On Oct. 7, 2021, the Interior Department announced that President Biden was restoring protection for three U.S. national monuments that the Trump administration sought to shrink...

Yes, the latest jobs data may look disappointing, but leisure and transportation sectors give reason for cheer

Written by Edouard Wemy, Assistant Professor of Economics, Clark University

After recent supply chain difficulties, is there smooth sailing ahead?Spencer Platt/Getty Images

On first glance, October’s jobs report may not be anything to cheer about. Released on Oct. 8, 2021, it shows that just 194,000 jobs were added in the month – well short of the 400,000-plus figure that many economists had predicted.

But when...

'Truth and Healing Commission' could help Native American communities traumatized by government-run boarding schools that tried to destroy Indian culture

Written by David R. M. Beck, Professor of Native American Studies, The University of Montana

A makeshift memorial for the Indigenous children who died more than a century ago while attending a boarding school, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File

The National Day of Remembrance for Native American children honors children who died years ago while attending the United States’ Indian boarding schools each...