The Conversation

Supermoon! Red blood lunar eclipse! It's all happening at once, but what does that mean?

Written by Shannon Schmoll, Director, Abrams Planetarium, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University

A red blood moon is caused by sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere. U.S. Navy/Joshua Valcarcel/WikimediaCommons

The first lunar eclipse of 2021 is going to happen during the early hours of May 26. But this is going to be an especially super lunar event, as it will be a supermoon, a lunar eclipse and a red blood moon all at once. So what...

¿Vuelves a la oficina? La temperatura más fría podría provocar un aumento de peso

Written by Kenneth McLeod, Professor of Systems Science and Director, Clinical Science and Engineering Research Laboratory, Binghamton University, State University of New York

Trabajar en un entorno frío durante periodos prolongados puede reducir la temperatura corporal central. Eso disminuye la tasa metabólica -- la rapidez con la que quemamos calorías.Steelcase.com/Wikipedia, CC BY-NC-SA

Con millones de personas vacunadas contra el COVID-19, muchos trabajadores han trabajado desde casa durante el...

The 2021 World Food Prize recognizes that fish are key for reducing hunger and malnutrition

Written by Ben Belton, Associate Professor of International Development, Michigan State University

Nutrient-rich small fish harvested from a rice field in Bangladesh.Ben Belton, CC BY-ND

Fish and other aquatic foods are integral to diets for more than 1 billion people worldwide. Most of these people live in low- and middle-income countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, close to rivers, lakes or the sea.

In these regions, foods like fresh and...

Pandemic-stricken mass transit would get $85 billion in Biden stimulus plan – a down payment on reviving American cities

Written by Ruth Steiner, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Florida

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority was hit hard by a 79% ridership reduction during the pandemic. It needs an extra $8 billion through 2024 to avoid service cuts and layoffs.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Congress now has control over what kind of commute – good, bad, awful – workers returning to offices in the U.S. will have.

P...

'The Underground Railroad' attempts to upend viewers' notions of what it meant to be enslaved

Written by William Nash, Professor of American Studies and English and American Literatures, Middlebury

Making the series changed Barry Jenkins' views on how his ancestors should be described and depicted.Atsushi Nishijima/Amazon Studios

Speaking on NPR’s Fresh Air, Barry Jenkins, the director of “The Underground Railroad,” noted that “before making this show … I would have said I’m the descendant of enslaved...

Why do we get shots in the arm? It's all about the muscle

Written by Libby Richards, Associate Professor of Nursing, Purdue University

A man receives the COVID-19 vaccine in Lima, Peru.Carlos Garcia Granthon/Fotoholica Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Millions have rolled up their sleeves for the COVID-19 vaccine, but why haven’t they rolled up their pants legs instead? Why do we get most shots in our arms?

As an associate professor of nursing with a background in public...

Sheriffs in more militarized counties reap election rewards

Written by Christos Mavridis, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Middlesex University

When local law enforcement agencies get military surplus equipment, like armored vehicles, local sheriffs are more likely to get reelected.AP Photo/David Goldman

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

The big idea

Sheriffs in counties that get more military surplus equipment from a federal program have a better chance of...

Representative Cheney calls for order

Written by John M. Murphy, Professor of Communication, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Rep. Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, speaks to the press at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on May 12, 2021. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Liz Cheney reveres order. Donald Trump detests it.

Simple, yes, but that sums up the difference between the elected but exiled U.S. congresswoman and the exiled but elected-in-his-own-mind former...

When will the first baby be born in space?

Written by Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona

A permanent Moon colony could become a reality in a few decades.NASA/Dennis Davidson/WikimediaCommons

When the first baby is born off-Earth, it will be a milestone as momentous as humanity’s first steps out of Africa. Such a birth would mark the beginning of a multi–planet civilization for the human species.

For the first half-century of...

Meals on Wheels volunteers help 2.4 million US seniors get enough to eat while staving off loneliness

Written by David R. Buys, Associate Professor and State Health Specialist, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State University

Warm company is just as important as the meals volunteers deliver.AP Photo/David Goldman

CC BY-NC-ND

More than 2.4 million older adults are supported each year by Meals on Wheels, an initiative through which seniors and people with disabilities receive healthy and tasty meals, often for free, from a network of volunteers. These efforts are usually...