The Conversation

Support for Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package may not be as broad as it seems – it's all a matter of perspective

Written by Aaron Saiewitz, Associate Professor of Accounting, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Government spending bills that cost billions or trillions of dollars can seem abstract.Siri Stafford/DigitalVision via Getty Images

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Congress is on the verge of spending US$1.9 trillion to provide additional coronavirus relief to Americans, including $1,400 direct payments and extended unemployment benefits. Opinion polls show the bill...

Women used to dominate the beer industry – until the witch accusations started pouring in

Written by Laken Brooks, Doctoral Student of English, University of Florida

Three women dressed in Middle-Age period garb as alewives.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images

What do witches have to do with your favorite beer?

When I pose this question to students in my American literature and culture classes, I receive stunned silence or nervous laughs. The Sanderson sisters didn’t chug down bottles of Sam...

Going forth with standardized tests may cause more problems than it solves

Written by Erin Marie Furtak, Professor of STEM Education and Associate Dean of Faculty, University of Colorado Boulder

Despite the many ways that COVID-19 has disrupted schools, the U.S. Department of Education will not give states a pass on giving standardized tests to students this year as it did in spring 2020. That’s according to new guidance the department issued Feb. 22.

The guidance invites states to request waivers to shorten tests, give the tests in...

Fungal microbiome: Whether mice get fatter or thinner depends on the fungi that live in their gut

Written by Kent Willis, Assistant Professor of Neonatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Fungi make up a small but important part of gut microbiomes.Mogana Das Murtey and Patchamuthu Ramasamy via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

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

The big idea

Mice with certain communities of fungi living in their gut gained more weight when eating processed food than mice whose gut microbiomes...

Why white supremacists and QAnon enthusiasts are obsessed – but very wrong – about the Byzantine Empire

Written by Roland Betancourt, Professor, University of California, Irvine

Inspiration for a mob of angry white men?Getty Images

From Charlottesville to the Capitol, medieval imagery has been repeatedly on show at far-right rallies and riots in recent years.

Displays of Crusader shields and tattoos derived from Norse and Celtic symbols are of little surprise to medieval historians like me who have long documented the...

The science behind frozen wind turbines – and how to keep them spinning through the winter

Written by Hui Hu, Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Iowa State University

Ice can be a wind turbine's worst enemy.AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

Winter is supposed to be the best season for wind power – the winds are stronger, and since air density increases as the temperature drops, more force is pushing on the blades. But winter also comes with a problem: freezing weather.

Even light icing can produce enough surface...

January warm spells, March freezes: How plants manage the shift from winter to spring

Written by Richard B. Primack, Professor of Biology, Boston University

A late snowfall could set back the growth of this budding lilac.oddharmonic/Flickr, CC BY-SA

Weather patterns across the U.S. have felt like a roller coaster ride for the past several months. December and January were significantly warmer than average in many locations, followed by February’s intense cold wave and a dramatic warmup.

If...

Revisiting reparations: Is it time for the US to pay its debt for the legacy of slavery?

Written by Anne C. Bailey, Professor of History, Binghamton University, State University of New York

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is spearheading fresh efforts in Congress to address reparations.Al Drago/Getty Images

Some 156 years after the end of the Civil War and the official abolition of slavery through the 13th Amendment, the idea of reparations is gaining currency in Washington.

On March 1, Cedric Richmond, a senior adviser to President Joe...

What the policing response to the KKK in the 1960s can teach about dismantling white supremacist groups today

Written by David Cunningham, Professor and Chair of Sociology, Washington University in St Louis

Archival image from 1967 shows protesters demonstrating while Ku Klux Klan members walk in a parade to support the Vietnam War.Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

During his confirmation hearing in February, Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland pledged that his first order of business would be to “supervise the prosecution of white supremacists...

Queer in the country: Why some LGBTQ Americans prefer rural life to urban 'gayborhoods'

Written by Christopher T. Conner, Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Missouri-Columbia

Not all gay people enjoy big cities, but pop culture has little to say about rural LGBTQ life.Ruaridh Connellan / Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Pop portrayals of LGBTQ Americans tend to feature urban gay life, from Ru Paul’s “Drag Race” and “Queer Eye” and “Pose.”

But not all gay people live in cities....