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How to use statistics to prepare for the next pandemic

  • Written by R. Alexander Bentley, Professor of Anthropology, University of Tennessee
imageSocioeconomic and cultural data can help governments predict and slow the spread of the next pandemic.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

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

The big idea

Publicly available statistics about population demographics and culture can help governments prepare for the next pandemic. We have found that...

Read more: How to use statistics to prepare for the next pandemic

Engineers and economists prize efficiency, but nature favors resilience – lessons from Texas, COVID-19 and the 737 Max

  • Written by Moshe Y. Vardi, Professor of Computer Science, Rice University
imageThe power grid in Texas provides a stark lesson in the balance between efficiency and resilience.AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Takeaways:

  • The damage from Winter Storm Uri, the economic devastation from the COVID-19 pandemic and the fatal Boeing 737 Max accidents show the price society pays for a relentless pursuit of efficiency.

  • Modern society has...

Read more: Engineers and economists prize efficiency, but nature favors resilience – lessons from Texas,...

Muslim women are using Sharia to push for gender equality

  • Written by Mark Fathi Massoud, Professor of Politics and Legal Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
imageMuslim women in India protesting against the use of Sharia as a tool for oppression.anjay Purkait/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

Sharia is often portrayed as barbaric and particularly regressive in terms of women’s rights. Citing Sharia, lawmakers in some Muslim-majority countries have punished theft with amputation, and sex...

Read more: Muslim women are using Sharia to push for gender equality

The typical child care worker in the US earns less than $12 an hour

  • Written by Melissa M. Jozwiak, Associate Professor of Early Childhood, Texas A&M-San Antonio
imageTaking care of little ones is physically demanding work.Matt Roth for The Washington Post via Getty ImagesimageCC BY-NC-ND

The American Families Plan, announced by President Joe Biden in April 2021, aims to make child care more affordable for parents. Importantly, it also seeks to ensure caregivers are paid a living wage – enough to meet basic...

Read more: The typical child care worker in the US earns less than $12 an hour

Antarctica is headed for a climate tipping point by 2060, with catastrophic melting if carbon emissions aren't cut quickly

  • Written by Julie Brigham-Grette, Professor of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst
imageThe big wildcard for sea level rise is Antarctica.James Eades/Unsplash

While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken draws attention to climate change in the Arctic at meetings with other national officials this week in Iceland, an even greater threat looms on the other side of the planet.

New research shows it is Antarctica that may force a...

Read more: Antarctica is headed for a climate tipping point by 2060, with catastrophic melting if carbon...

HIV/AIDS vaccine: Why don't we have one after 37 years, when we have several for COVID-19 after a few months?

  • Written by Ronald C. Desrosiers, Professor of Pathology, Vice-chair for Research, University of Miami
imageA lab worker extracts DNA from samples for further tests at the AIDS Vaccine Design and Development Laboratory Dec. 1, 2008 in New York City. Chris Hondros/Getty Images

Smallpox has been eradicated from the face of the Earth following a highly effective, worldwide vaccination campaign. Paralytic poliomyelitis is no longer a problem in the U.S....

Read more: HIV/AIDS vaccine: Why don't we have one after 37 years, when we have several for COVID-19 after a...

Beer, doughnuts and a $1 million lottery – how vaccine incentives and other behavioral tools can help the US reach herd immunity

  • Written by Isabelle Brocas, Professor of Economics, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
imageKrispy Kreme is giving away doughnuts to people who got vaccinated. Loren Wohl/AP Images for Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

A growing number of states, cities and companies are offering incentives to encourage people to get vaccinated. And the sweeteners keep getting bigger and better.

New Jersey, for example, is picking up the tab for a free beer for...

Read more: Beer, doughnuts and a $1 million lottery – how vaccine incentives and other behavioral tools can...

'What's Going On' at 50 – Marvin Gaye's Motown classic is as relevant today as it was in 1971

  • Written by Tyina Steptoe, Associate Professor of History, University of Arizona
image'What's Going On' was a turning point in Marvin Gaye's career.Jim Britt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Motown wasn’t really known for its politically conscious music. Then came “What’s Going On.”

Released on May 21, 1971, at the height of the Vietnam War, Marvin Gaye’s album became a monster, spawning three hit...

Read more: 'What's Going On' at 50 – Marvin Gaye's Motown classic is as relevant today as it was in 1971

Why I use the NRA as a case study for how nonprofits shouldn't operate

  • Written by Elizabeth Schmidt, Professor of Practice, Nonprofit Organizations; Social & Environmental Enterprises, University of Massachusetts Amherst
imageEvidence of the gun group's mismanagement under Wayne LaPierre's leadership is mounting.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

The National Rifle Association keeps getting itself into trouble by flouting the best practices all nonprofits should follow.

As I often explain to college and graduate students who are learning the basics of nonprofit management,...

Read more: Why I use the NRA as a case study for how nonprofits shouldn't operate

Sex work, part of the online gig economy, is a lifeline for marginalized workers

  • Written by Angela Jones, Associate Professor of Sociology, Farmingdale State College
imageSupporters of sex workers' rights marched in Las Vegas in 2019.AP Photo/John Locher

More people are getting involved in more types of sex work, especially with the help of the internet, despite criminalization of their occupations and activist opposition, some of which threatens people’s lives. My researchinterviewing a wide range of sex...

Read more: Sex work, part of the online gig economy, is a lifeline for marginalized workers

More Articles ...

  1. Lack of sleep is harming health care workers – and their patients
  2. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women are bucking the patriarchal, authoritarian stereotype of their community
  3. Why do we hate the sound of our own voices?
  4. How student-designed video games made me rethink how I teach history
  5. How much energy can people create at one time without losing control?
  6. If a satellite falls on your house, space law protects you – but there are no legal penalties for leaving junk in orbit
  7. As the Palestinian minority takes to the streets, Israel is having its own Black Lives Matter moment
  8. Halston: The glittering rise – and spectacular fall – of a fashion icon
  9. Why genocide survivors can offer a way to heal from the trauma of the pandemic year
  10. New teachers face complex cultural challenges – the stories of 3 Latina teachers in their toughest moments
  11. Using captured CO₂ in everyday products could help fight climate change, but will consumers want them?
  12. To navigate the dangers of the web, you need critical thinking – but also critical ignoring
  13. Herd immunity appears unlikely for COVID-19, but CDC says vaccinated people can ditch masks in most settings
  14. Microfluidics: The tiny, beautiful tech hidden all around you
  15. Should my child get the COVID-19 vaccine? 7 questions answered by a pediatric infectious disease expert
  16. Why the inflation rate doesn’t tell the whole story – all it takes is a spike in a category like used cars to cause consumer prices to soar
  17. Another dangerous fire season is looming in the Western U.S., and the drought-stricken region is headed for a water crisis
  18. Apple threatens to upend podcasting's free, open architecture
  19. Free speech wasn't so free 103 years ago, when 'seditious' and 'unpatriotic' speech was criminalized in the US
  20. Refugee camps can wreak enormous environmental damages – should source countries be liable for them?
  21. Scientists at work: Helping endangered sea turtles, one emergency surgery at a time
  22. Why is the FDA funded in part by the companies it regulates?
  23. Protests by Palestinian citizens in Israel signal growing sense of a common struggle
  24. Faith in numbers: Is church attendance linked to higher rates of coronavirus?
  25. Here’s how much your personal information is worth to cybercriminals – and what they do with it
  26. Why the Al-Aqsa Mosque has often been a site of conflict
  27. Judge rejects NRA's bankruptcy bid, allowing New York's lawsuit against the gun group to proceed: 5 questions answered
  28. Teeth of fallen soldiers hold evidence that foreigners fought alongside ancient Greeks, challenging millennia of military history
  29. What American farmers could gain by rejoining the Asia-Pacific trade deal that Trump spurned
  30. Pregnant women's brains show troubling signs of stress – but feeling strong social support can break those patterns
  31. President Biden's plan for free universal preschool – 5 questions answered
  32. Agnolotti, bucatini and the innovative new 'cascatelli' – a brief history of pasta shapes
  33. How America’s partisan divide over pandemic responses played out in the states
  34. Domestic violence isn't about just physical violence – and state laws are beginning to recognize that
  35. Myanmar's anti-coup protesters defy rigid gender roles – and subvert stereotypes about women to their advantage
  36. US approves its first big offshore wind farm, near Martha's Vineyard – it’s a breakthrough for the industry
  37. I spent a year and a half at a 'no-excuses' charter school – this is what I saw
  38. How do I talk to my child about violence? 4 essential reads
  39. How the Texas Top 10% Plan failed to attract more students to the state's flagship colleges
  40. Robert Owen, born 250 years ago, tried to use his wealth to perfect humanity in a radically equal society
  41. Putting a dollar value on nature will give governments and businesses more reasons to protect it
  42. Family farms are struggling with two hidden challenges: health insurance and child care
  43. US parents pay nearly double the 'affordable' cost for child care and preschool
  44. Doctors treating trans youth grapple with uncertainty, lack of training
  45. Can schools require COVID-19 vaccines for students now that Pfizer's shot is authorized for kids 12 and up?
  46. COVID-19 upended Americans' sense of individualism and invited us to embrace interconnectedness – an idea from Greek philosopher Epicurus
  47. The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack and the SolarWinds hack were all but inevitable – why national cyber defense is a 'wicked' problem
  48. US support for waiving COVID-19 vaccine patent rights puts pressure on drugmakers – but what would a waiver actually look like?
  49. Women-dominated child and home care work is critical infrastructure that has long been devalued
  50. How much sleep do you really need?