The Conversation

What’s not being said about why African Americans need to take the COVID-19 vaccine

Written by Debra Furr-Holden, Associate Dean for Public Health Integration, Michigan State University

Latrice Davis, a nurse at Roseland Community Hospital in Chicago, receives the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 18, 2020. Scott Olson via Getty Images

Dr. Anthony Fauci and other national health leaders have said that African Americans need to take the COVID-19 vaccine to protect their health. What Fauci and others have not stated is that if African...

Would you eat indoors at a restaurant? We asked five health experts

Written by Laurie Archbald-Pannone, Associate Professor Medicine, Geriatrics, University of Virginia

Open to eat indoors – but will you?David Mbiyu/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Earlier this fall, many of the nation’s restaurants opened their doors to patrons to eat inside, especially as the weather turned cold in places. Now, as COVID-19 cases surge across the country, some cities and towns have banned indoor dining while...

Magnetic induction cooking can cut your kitchen's carbon footprint

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

Bye-bye, burners.brizmaker/iStock/Getty Images Plus

To curb climate change, many experts have called for a massive shift from fossil fuels to electricity. The goal is to electrify processes like heating homes and powering cars, and then generate the increased electrical power needs using low- or zero-carbon sources like wind, solar and hydropower.

Mo...

Congress lifts long-standing ban on Pell grants to people in prison

Written by Andrea Cantora, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Baltimore

Prison education programs have been shown to improve job prospects.Thinkstock/Getty Images

When Congress decided in 1994 to ban federal student aid for people behind bars, it was part of a wider political agenda to “get tough on crime” – even though crime rates had begun to fall in the 1990s.

The number of people behind bars grew,...

The icy backstory to that 'clink clink' you'll hear when raising a toast to the end of 2020

Written by Tulasi Srinivas, Professor of Anthropology, Religion and Transnational Studies, Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, Emerson College

Ice with a slice of history.Instants/Getty Images

If ever there was a year to toast drawing to an end, it’s 2020. Over the festive period, people around the world will be raising a glass to better times ahead.

Accompanying sighs of relief will likely be the subtle tinkling of ice.

In researching a book on the social, medical and moral history...

Should pregnant women get the COVID-19 vaccine? Will it protect against asymptomatic infections and mutated viruses? An immunologist answers 3 questions

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

I am a physician, and I just got my first shot of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.William Petri, CC BY-SA

This week I was vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Pfizer mRNA vaccine, which brought to mind some frequently asked questions about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

I am a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Virginia, where I...

How curators transferred Sequoia and King's Canyon National Parks' archives to escape wildfires

Written by Emily Lin, Head of Digital Curation and Scholarship, UC Merced, University of California, Merced

The sequoias that live on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in California are the largest trees in the world by volume.Erin Donalson/EyeEm via Getty Images

Editor’s note: As wildfires came dangerously close to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in September 2020, the curator of the archives there worked with Emily Lin, librarian...

How holiday cards help us cope with a not-so-merry year, according to a professor of comedy

Written by Matthew McMahan, Assistant Director, Comedic Arts, Emerson College

A colorful vintage cartoon greeting card depicts a caricature of a soldier receiving a message from the ‘Pigeon Express'.Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The first Christmas card was, perhaps predictably, one of good cheer. The concept is commonly credited to Sir Henry Cole, the founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum...

Can employers require workers to take the COVID-19 vaccine? 6 questions answered

Written by Ana Santos Rutschman, Assistant Professor of Law, Saint Louis University

A patient care director in New York receives the coronavirus vaccine. Eduardo Munoz/Pool via AP

Editor’s note: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency in charge of enforcing laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace, on Dec. 16 said that employers can require employees to get vaccinated before entering the...

Can Joe Biden 'heal' the United States? Political experts disagree

Written by Arie Kruglanski, Professor of Psychology, University of Maryland

A Trump supporter and an anti-Trump demonstrator shout at each other near Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., Nov. 14, 2020.Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

Editor’s note: When Joe Biden becomes president on Jan. 20, 2021, he will lead a fractured nation whose political factions are separated by a chasm. In his victory speech,...