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The neuroscience behind why your brain may need time to adjust to 'un-social distancing'

  • Written by Kareem Clark, Postdoctoral Associate in Neuroscience, Virginia Tech
imageMaybe you're not quite feeling ready to get back out there.Grace Cary/Moment via Getty Images

With COVID-19 vaccines working and restrictions lifting across the country, it’s finally time for those now vaccinated who’ve been hunkered down at home to ditch the sweatpants and reemerge from their Netflix caves. But your brain may not be so...

Read more: The neuroscience behind why your brain may need time to adjust to 'un-social distancing'

A pediatric nurse explains the science of sneezing

  • Written by Meg Sorg, Clinical Assistant Professor of Nursing, Purdue University
imageSneezing with your eyes closed is a reflex you can consciously override.Robert Kneschke/EyeEm via Getty Imagesimage

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.

Why do we sneeze? – Naomi, 9, San Francisco, California

Why do people sneeze...

Read more: A pediatric nurse explains the science of sneezing

Fungal infections worldwide are becoming resistant to drugs and more deadly

  • Written by Rodney E. Rohde, Professor of Clinical Laboratory Science, Texas State University
imageMultidrug-resistant _Candida auris_ can cause serious infections among patients in hospitals and other group medical care settings.Science Photo Library via Getty

Say “fungus” and most people in the world would probably visualize a mushroom.

But this fascinating and beautiful group of microbes has offered the world more than just foods...

Read more: Fungal infections worldwide are becoming resistant to drugs and more deadly

College can still be rigorous without a lot of homework

  • Written by KC Culver, Senior Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Southern California
imageCompleting hefty reading and writing assignments can pose an unnecessary burden on students who must work.SDI Productions/E+ via Getty Images

How hard should it be to earn a college degree?

When the book “Academically Adrift” appeared in 2011, it generated widespread concern that college was not effectively educating students and...

Read more: College can still be rigorous without a lot of homework

Controversy over Communion in the Catholic Church goes back some 2,000 years

  • Written by Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
imageWhen Pope John Paul II was beatified, Zimbabwe's ruler, Robert Mugabe, was in attendance and given Communion.Franco Origlia/Getty Images

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently approved drafting a document on receiving Communion in the Catholic Church. It will include a section regarding standards for politicians and public...

Read more: Controversy over Communion in the Catholic Church goes back some 2,000 years

How colonialism's legacy makes it harder for countries to escape poverty and fossil fuels today

  • Written by Patrick Greiner, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Vanderbilt University
imageRenewable energy has increased access to electricity in poor countries, but it generally hasn't displaced fossil fuels.Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

While fossil fuels were powering wealthy nations’ economic growth in the 19th and 20th centuries, many countries across the Global South remained largely impoverished.

Today, all that...

Read more: How colonialism's legacy makes it harder for countries to escape poverty and fossil fuels today

Danish children struggle to learn their vowel-filled language – and this changes how adult Danes interact

  • Written by Morten H. Christiansen, The William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Psychology, Cornell University
imageThe way Danes speak makes it much harder for Danish children to learn the language. Fabio Trecca, CC BY-ND

Denmark is a rich country with an extensive welfare system and strong education. Yet surprisingly, Danish children have trouble learning their mother tongue. Compared to Norwegian children, who are learning a very similar language, Danish kids...

Read more: Danish children struggle to learn their vowel-filled language – and this changes how adult Danes...

Free-speech ruling won't help declining civil discourse

  • Written by Nancy Costello, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Michigan State University
imageA Supreme Court ruling on free speech does nothing about toxic online discourse.Francesco Carta fotografo/Moment via Getty Images

A Supreme Court decision saying a school district could not punish a student for profane complaints made on a weekend and off school grounds will not stem the torrent of crude, disrespectful speech in American society.

In...

Read more: Free-speech ruling won't help declining civil discourse

What are tax havens? The answer explains why the G-7 effort to end them is unlikely to succeed

  • Written by Beverly Moran, Professor Emerita of Law, Vanderbilt University
imageNot all tax havens come with fancy resorts and sun-drenched beaches. Westend61/Getty Images

Close your eyes and imagine a tax haven. Does a Caribbean island come to mind? Sand, surf and thousands of post office boxes housing shell corporations?

Some tax havens, like the Cayman Islands or Bermuda, fit that description. Many others do not.

The key to...

Read more: What are tax havens? The answer explains why the G-7 effort to end them is unlikely to succeed

What today's GOP demonstrates about the dangers of partisan conformity

  • Written by Robert B. Talisse, W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University
imageRep. Liz Cheney talks to reporters after House Republicans voted to remove her as conference chair on May 12, 2021, in Washington, D.C. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Directly following the 2020 election, Republicans seemed to be through with Donald Trump. Party leaders stopped speaking to him and voters began abandoning the GOP, apparently in...

Read more: What today's GOP demonstrates about the dangers of partisan conformity

More Articles ...

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  4. Research that shines light on how cells recover from threats may lead to new insights into Alzheimer's and ALS
  5. Schools must act carefully on students' off-campus speech, Supreme Court rules
  6. Why it's such a big deal that the NFL's Carl Nassib came out as gay
  7. Conversion therapy is discredited and increases risk of suicide -- yet fewer than half of US states have bans in place
  8. The behind-the-scenes people and organizations connecting science and decision-making
  9. Ransomware, data breach, cyberattack: What do they have to do with your personal information, and how worried should you be?
  10. How palm oil became the world's most hated, most used fat source
  11. Why choosing the next dalai lama will be a religious – as well as a political – issue
  12. How the billions MacKenzie Scott is giving to colleges attended by students of color will help everyone in America
  13. Gifted education programs don't benefit Black students like they do white students
  14. 'Wrong number? Let's chat' Maasai herders in East Africa use misdials to make connections
  15. Yellowstone is losing its snow as the climate warms, and that means widespread problems for water and wildlife
  16. Despite outrage, new state voting laws don't spell democracy's end – but there are some threats
  17. How gay neighborhoods used the traumas of HIV to help American cities fight coronavirus
  18. For flood-prone cities, seawalls raise as many questions as they answer
  19. Transgender medicine – what care looks like, who seeks it out and what's still unknown: 3 essential reads
  20. The FDA’s weak drug manufacturing oversight is a potentially deadly problem
  21. Flawed data led to findings of a connection between time spent on devices and mental health problems – new research
  22. How Vladimir Putin uses natural gas to exert Russian influence and punish his enemies
  23. Biden's goal to permanently boost support for families echoes a failed Nixon proposal from 50 years ago – will it take off this time?
  24. I have city kids make comic books to create a buzz about mosquitoes and ecology
  25. What is the religious exemption to Title IX and what's at stake in LGBTQ students' legal challenge
  26. Global herd immunity remains out of reach because of inequitable vaccine distribution – 99% of people in poor countries are unvaccinated
  27. 'Upcycling' promises to turn food waste into your next meal
  28. Explorer Robert Ballard's memoir finds shipwrecks and strange life forms in the ocean's darkest reaches
  29. White Gen X and millennial evangelicals are losing faith in the conservative culture wars
  30. The gas tax's tortured history shows how hard it is to fund new infrastructure
  31. US third parties can rein in the extremism of the two-party system
  32. Critical race theory sparks activism in students
  33. The surface of Venus is cracked and moves like ice floating on the ocean – likely due to tectonic activity
  34. What's behind the rising profile of transgender kids? 3 essential reads
  35. Why gain-of-function research matters
  36. As urban life resumes, can US cities avert gridlock?
  37. What's next for health care reform after the Supreme Court rejects ACA's most recent challenge
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  40. The dip in the US birthrate isn't a crisis, but the fall in immigration may be
  41. 'Managed retreat' done right can reinvent cities so they're better for everyone – and avoid harm from flooding, heat and fires
  42. This tiny minority of Iraqis follows an ancient Gnostic religion – and there's a chance they could be your neighbors too
  43. 4 ways to get more Black and Latino teachers in K-12 public schools
  44. Supreme Court unanimously upholds religious liberty over LGBTQ rights -- and nods to a bigger win for conservatives ahead
  45. Federal policy has failed to protect Indigenous women
  46. How Black writers and journalists have wielded punctuation in their activism
  47. Lighter pavement really does cool cities when it’s done right
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