The Conversation

Using captured CO₂ in everyday products could help fight climate change, but will consumers want them?

Written by Lucca Henrion, Research Fellow at the Global CO2 Initiative, University of Michigan

Consumer decisions could play a critical role in dealing with climate change. A study gauging perceptions was published May 13, 2021. FotographiaBasica via Getty Images

Would you drink carbonated beverages made with carbon dioxide captured from the smokestack of a factory or power plant?

How would you feel if that captured carbon dioxide were in...

To navigate the dangers of the web, you need critical thinking – but also critical ignoring

Written by Sam Wineburg, Professor of Education and (by courtesy) History, Stanford University

Kids can be taught to read the web critically. Os Tartarouchos/Moment/Getty Images

The web is a treacherous place.

A website’s author may not be its author. References that confer legitimacy may have little to do with the claims they anchor. Signals of credibility like a dot-org domain can be the artful handiwork of a Washington, D.C., public...

Herd immunity appears unlikely for COVID-19, but CDC says vaccinated people can ditch masks in most settings

Written by William Petri, Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia

A woman walks by a sign in New York City amid the coronavirus pandemic on March 30, 2021.Noam Galai/Getty Images

When COVID-19 first began spreading, public health and medical experts began talking about the need for the U.S. to reach herd immunity to stop the coronavirus from spreading. Experts have estimated that between 60% and 90% of people in...

Microfluidics: The tiny, beautiful tech hidden all around you

Written by Albert Folch, Professor of Bioengineering, University of Washington

Anything that moves or processes tiny amounts of fluid is a microfluidic device. Chris Neils/Albert Folch, CC BY-ND

When you think of micro- or nanotechnology, you likely think of small electronics like your phone, a tiny robot or a microchip. But COVID-19 tests – which have proven to be central to controlling the pandemic – are also a...

Should my child get the COVID-19 vaccine? 7 questions answered by a pediatric infectious disease expert

Written by Debbie-Ann Shirley, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Virginia

Vaccination is one way we can help get kids back to in-person activities.FG Trade/Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration expanded emergency use authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to include adolescents 12 to 15 years of age on May 10, 2021. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention followed with recommendations...

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

Written by Richard S. Warr, Professor of Finance, North Carolina State University

A big increase in use car prices drove the inflation rate higher in April.AP Photo/David Zalubowski

Markets, economists and policymakers have been fretting about inflation for months, worried that the trillions of dollars being spent in recent and future government stimulus programs could overheat the economy and send prices soaring.

On May 12,...

Another dangerous fire season is looming in the Western U.S., and the drought-stricken region is headed for a water crisis

Written by Mojtaba Sadegh, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Boise State University

Just about every indicator of drought is flashing red across the western U.S. after a dry winter and warm early spring. The snowpack is at less than half of normal in much of the region. Reservoirs are being drawn down, river levels are dropping and soils are drying out.

It’s only May, and states are already considering water use restrictions...

Apple threatens to upend podcasting's free, open architecture

Written by John Sullivan, Professor of Media and Communication, Muhlenberg College

Creators will now have the option to require a payment for audiences to access their content on Apple's platform.Ramyr_Dukin/Getty Images

Back in 2005, an ebullient Apple CEO Steven P. Jobs announced the integration of podcasting into Version 4.9 of its desktop iTunes software, calling podcasting “TiVo for radio.”

Sixteen years later,...

Free speech wasn't so free 103 years ago, when 'seditious' and 'unpatriotic' speech was criminalized in the US

Written by Eric P. Robinson, Assistant Professor (media law and ethics), University of South Carolina

Eugene Debs, at center with flowers, who was serving a prison sentence for violating the Espionage Act, on the day he was notified of his nomination for the presidency on the socialist ticket by a delegation of leading socialists.George Rinhard/Corbis Historical/Getty Images

Just over a century ago, the United States government – in the midst...

Refugee camps can wreak enormous environmental damages – should source countries be liable for them?

Written by Leonard Hammer, Director of Outreach and Development, Human Rights Practice Graduate Programs, University of Arizona

Tents in a Rohingya refugee camp cluster on a muddy hillside in Bangladesh.Saleh Ahmed, CC BY-ND

While it may seem that much of the world has been locked down during the past pandemic year, more than 80 million people are currently on the move – unwillingly.

Facing conflict in Syria, human rights violations in Myanmar and violence in Eritrea,...