The Conversation

Why it matters that the coronavirus is changing – and what this means for vaccine effectiveness

Written by David Kennedy, Assistant Professor of Biology, Penn State

The French government will not accept any passengers arriving from the U.K. amid fears over the new mutant coronavirus strain. Steve Parsons/PA Images via Getty Images

A new variant of SARS-CoV-2 is spreading rapidly in the United Kingdom, with over 1,400 cases since September. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, generally accumulates...

Why should I trust the coronavirus vaccine when it was developed so fast? A doctor answers that and other reader questions

Written by Lana Dbeibo, Assistant professor of clinical medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine

Pharmacist Jessica Sahni prepares a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in New York City. Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images

Editor’s Note: With a coronavirus vaccination effort now underway, you might have questions about what this means for you and your family. If you do, send them to The Conversation, and we will find a physician or researcher to...

How high school sports became the latest battleground over transgender rights

Written by Elizabeth A. Sharrow, Associate Professor of Public Policy and History, University of Massachusetts Amherst

High school athletes, including Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood, both transgender girls, compete in New Haven, Connecticut, in 2019.AP Photo/Pat Eaton-Robb

This year, 20 states proposed to ban transgender girls – meaning those assigned male at birth but who live and identify as girls – from competing on girls interscholastic sports...

The morality of feeling equal empathy for strangers and family alike

Written by Brendan Gaesser, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University at Albany, State University of New York

In a divided nation, a little empathy goes a long way.Brent Stirton/Getty Images

The year 2020 has been no stranger to suffering. In the midst of a global pandemic, widespread financial hardship and violence arising from systemic racism, empathy for others’ suffering has been pushed to the front and center in U.S. society.

As society grapples...

South Africa's inability to honestly confront AIDS shows the dangers of America's COVID-19 denialism

Written by Renee Schatteman, Associate Professor of Postcolonial and World Literature, Georgia State University

A South African woman mourning her husband who died of AIDS covers herself, according to custom, during the burial.Per-Anders Pettersson via Getty Images

At a time when the U.S. is experiencing one of the worst COVID-19 infection rates among wealthy nations, Americans could take some cautionary lessons from South Africa, the nation that fared the...

Thousands of ocean fishing boats could be using forced labor – we used AI and satellite data to find them

Written by Gavin McDonald, Senior Project Researcher, University of California Santa Barbara

Fishing on the high seas is expensive, and the profits are often small. piola666/E+ via Getty Images

Fishing on the high seas is a bit of a mystery, economically speaking. These areas of open ocean beyond the territorial jurisdiction of any nation are generally considered high-effort, low-payoff fishing grounds, yet fishers continue to work in them...

The psychology of fairness: Why some Americans don't believe the election results

Written by David M. Mayer, Professor of Management & Organizations, University of Michigan

Polls show that some three-quarters of Republicans claim the election was rigged.Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis News via Getty Images

The electoral votes have confirmed Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election. The presidential electors gave Biden 306 electoral votes to President Donald Trump’s 232 votes. Biden also recorded a so...

Oppression in the kitchen, delight in the dining room: The story of Caesar, an enslaved chef and chocolatier in Colonial Virginia

Written by Kelley Fanto Deetz, Visiting Scholar, University of California, Berkeley

Stratford Hall in Westmoreland, Virginia, where enslaved cook and chocolatier Caesar lived and worked in the kitchen.Wikipedia, CC BY-SA

The holidays are here, and among the many treats of the season are chocolate and hot cocoa. While these traditions provide a hefty dose of sugar, there’s a bittersweet side to chocolate’s history, too.

T...

Obama book offers key insight about how laws really get made

Written by David Webber, Associate Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Missouri-Columbia

In a photo from 2004, Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama, right, speaks with a fellow legislator on the floor of the state Senate chamber.AP photo/Randy Squires

Amid all the attention on former President Barack Obama’s new book, what may not have shown up in the reviews is mention of a two-page summary that, for legislative scholars like me,...

Secular 'values voters' are becoming an electoral force in the US – just look closely at 2020's results

Written by Phil Zuckerman, Professor of Sociology and Secular Studies, Pitzer College

Being counted -- secular voters are a growing forceMario Tama/Getty Images

The voting patterns of religious groups in the U.S. have been scrutinized since the presidential election for evidence of shifting allegiances among the faithful. Many have wondered if a boost in Catholic support was behind Biden’s win or if a dip in support among...