The Conversation

Two gaps to fill for the 2021-2022 winter wave of COVID-19 cases

Written by Maciej F. Boni, Associate Professor of Biology, Penn State

A sign in County Kildare, Ireland. in March 2020. Epidemiologists around the world worked hard to try to stop big parties in the face of rising caseloads of what would come to be called COVID-19. Niall Carson/PA Images via Getty Images

Epidemiologists – like oncologists and climate scientists – hate to be proven right. A year ago this...

How some people can end up living at airports for months – even years – at a time

Written by Janet Bednarek, Professor of History, University of Dayton

Mehran Karimi Nasseri sits among his belongings in a 2004 photograph taken at Charles de Gaulle Airport, where he lived for nearly 18 years.Eric Fougere/VIP Images/Corbis via Getty Images

In January, local authorities arrested a 36-year-old man named Aditya Singh after he had spent three months living at Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport....

Most US states don't have a filibuster – nor do many democratic countries

Written by Joshua Holzer, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Westminster College

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, launches a filibuster in 2016.Senate Television via AP

As the U.S. Senate proceeds with its business, split 50-50 between Republicans on one side and Democrats and independents on the other, lawmakers and the public at large are concerned about the future of the filibuster.

Under the rules of the U.S....

Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax would reduce inequality – the problem is it's probably unconstitutional

Written by Beverly Moran, Professor of Law and Sociology, Vanderbilt University

Sen. Elizabeth Warren argues that her plan is constitutional.AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Sen. Elizabeth Warren says it’s time to tax wealth.

The Massachusetts senator on March 1 introduced a bill to tax households worth over US$50 million and up to $1 billion at a rate of 2%, and anything over that at 3%. She first proposed the idea of a wealth tax d...

The Texas blackouts showed how climate extremes threaten energy systems across the US

Written by Roshanak (Roshi) Nateghi, Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University

Electric service trucks line up after a snow storm in Fort Worth, Texas, on Feb. 16, 2021.Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

Pundits and politicians have been quick to point fingers over the debacle in Texas that left millions without power or clean water during February’s deep freeze. Many have blamed the state’s deregulated electricity market,...

COVID-19 revealed how sick the US health care delivery system really is

Written by Elizabeth A. Regan, Dept. Chair Integrated Information Technology and Professor of Health Informatics, University of South Carolina

Many U.S. hospitals and clinics are behind when it comes to sharing information.Teera Konakan/Moment via Getty Images

If you got the COVID-19 shot, you likely received a little paper card that shows you’ve been vaccinated. Make sure you keep that card in a safe place. There is no coordinated way to share information about who has been...

COVID-19 costs could push hospitals to rethink billions of dollars in wasted supplies

Written by Anand Nair, Eli Broad Endowed Professor, Department of Supply Chain Management, Michigan State University

The pandemic's supply crunch led to more reuse and decontamination techniques that can save money and reduce waste.SDI Productions via Getty Images

The United States spends more on health care than any other nation. What many people don’t realize is that a large portion of this spending goes to waste.

Every year, an estimated US$760 billion to...

Can QAnon survive another 'Great Disappointment' on March 4? History suggests it might

Written by Richard Amesbury, Professor of Religious Studies and of Philosophy and Director of the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Arizona State University

The big question looming over QAnon: What happens after March 4?Rick Loomis/Getty Images

Thursday could be a big day. On March 4, Donald Trump will be triumphantly returned to power to help save the world from a shadowy syndicate of Satan-worshipping pedophiles – or at least that is what a small fraction of American citizens believe.

But...

Tobacco killed 500,000 Americans in 2020 – is it time to control cigarette-makers?

Written by Joshua M. Pearce, Wite Professor of Materials Science & Engineering, and Electrical & Computer Engineering, Michigan Technological University

Four Americans die every year for every one person employed in the U.S. tobacco industry.Julien Fourniol/Baloulumix via Getty Images

Tobacco use killed an estimated 500,000 Americans in 2020, about the same number the pandemic killed in one year. Although education efforts by government and nonprofits have helped to curb tobacco use, 14% of...

What's in a name for a vaccine campaign? Maybe the end of the pandemic

Written by Katherine A. Foss, Professor of Media Studies, Middle Tennessee State University

An unidentified doctor talks with a boy who holds a lollipop reward after participating in a measles vaccine research program in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, in 1963. NASA/PhotoQuest/Getty Images

Nearly 50 million people in the U.S. had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine by March 1, and millions of others have spent hours online...