The Conversation

Independent commissions can ditch partisanship and make redistricting fairer to voters

Written by Jon X. Eguia, Professor of Economics, Michigan State University

People wait in line to get their ballot to vote in the 2020 general election in Detroit, Michigan. Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images

States across the U.S. are drawing new electoral districts for the next decade in a process called redistricting. In some states, districts are drawn by the state legislature; in others, by an independent...

Aaron Rodgers dropped the ball on critical thinking – with a little practice you can do better

Written by Joe Árvai, Dana and David Dornsife Professor of Psychology and Director of the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

However Rodgers came to his decision to remain unvaccinated, he did not follow the tenets of critical thinking.Patrick McDermott/Getty Images Sport via Getty Images

It was hard to miss the news about Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers testing positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 3. Like the vast majority of people currently catching...

Small-group learning can mitigate the effects of school closures – but only if teachers use it well

Written by Mark J. Van Ryzin, Research Associate Professor in Education, University of Oregon

For peer learning to be effective, each child should have a specific task or role.Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/DigitalVision Collection via Getty Images

Schools aren’t just where kids go to learn reading, math, science and history. The social skills they learn – like how to build and maintain relationships with peers – are also critical....

HIV prevention pill PrEP is now free under most insurance plans – but the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act puts this benefit at risk

Written by Paul Shafer, Assistant Professor of Health Law, Policy and Management, Boston University

The FDA approved the first PrEP drug, Truvada, in 2012.AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Since the start of the HIV epidemic in 1981, over 700,000 Americans have lost their lives to AIDS. Being infected used to be a death sentence. But now, 40 years later, the U.S. is on the precipice of eradicating HIV.

The U.S. Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative provides a road...

Biden brings a menorah lighting back to the White House, rededicating a Hanukkah tradition from the 20th century

Written by Jonathan D. Sarna, University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University

The lighting of the National Menorah in Washington, D.C. in 2012.AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

President Joe Biden’s staff has dispatched invitations to a “Menorah Lighting to be held at the White House” on Dec. 1, the evening when the fourth candle of the eight-day festival of Hanukkah will be lit. The event promises to be quite...

This Hanukkah, learn about the holiday's forgotten heroes: Women

Written by Alan Avery-Peck, Kraft-Hiatt Professor in Judaic Studies, College of the Holy Cross

A Jewish woman lights a candle for the festival of Hanukkah at the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem.Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images

The eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukkah commemorates ancient Jews’ victory over the powerful Seleucid empire, which ruled much of the Middle East from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D.

On the...

Who's in? Who's out? The ethics of COVID-19 travel rules

Written by Nancy S. Jecker, Professor of Bioethics and Humanities, School of Medicine, University of Washington

People wait at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa on Nov. 26, 2021, as many nations moved to stop air travel from the country. AP Photo/Jerome Delay

Omicron, the latest COVID-19 variant dubbed a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization, has prompted new travel restrictions in many nations....

What the public doesn't get: Anti-CRT lawmakers are passing pro-CRT laws

Written by Jonathan Feingold, Associate Professor of Law, Boston University

An even mix of proponents and opponents to teaching critical race theory attend a Placentia-Yorba Linda school board meeting in California.Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Since the final months of the Trump administration, the Republican Party has waged a sustained assault on critical race theory. Otherwise known as...

Quitting your job or thinking about joining the ‘great resignation’? Here's what an employment lawyer advises

Written by Elizabeth C. Tippett, Associate Professor of Law, University of Oregon

A record number of Americans are telling their managers, 'I quit.' labsas/iStock via Getty Images

Record numbers of Americans have quit their jobs in recent months, with more than 4.4 million submitting their resignation in September alone. Millions more may be preparing to follow them to the exits – one survey found that around a third of...

Will omicron – the new coronavirus variant of concern – be more contagious than delta? A virus evolution expert explains what researchers know and what they don't

Written by Suresh V. Kuchipudi, Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Penn State

The omicron variant possesses numerous mutations in the spike protein, the knob-like protrusions (in red) that allow the virus to invade other cells.Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

A new variant named omicron (B.1.1.529) was reported by researchers in South Africa on Nov. 24, 2021, and designated a “variant of...