NewsPronto

 
Men's Weekly

.

The Conversation

Women used to dominate the beer industry – until the witch accusations started pouring in

  • Written by Laken Brooks, Doctoral Student of English, University of Florida
imageThree women dressed in Middle-Age period garb as alewives.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images

What do witches have to do with your favorite beer?

When I pose this question to students in my American literature and culture classes, I receive stunned silence or nervous laughs. The Sanderson sisters didn’t chug down bottles of Sam...

Read more: Women used to dominate the beer industry – until the witch accusations started pouring in

Going forth with standardized tests may cause more problems than it solves

  • Written by Erin Marie Furtak, Professor of STEM Education and Associate Dean of Faculty, University of Colorado Boulder

Despite the many ways that COVID-19 has disrupted schools, the U.S. Department of Education will not give states a pass on giving standardized tests to students this year as it did in spring 2020. That’s according to new guidance the department issued Feb. 22.

The guidance invites states to request waivers to shorten tests, give the tests in...

Read more: Going forth with standardized tests may cause more problems than it solves

Fungal microbiome: Whether mice get fatter or thinner depends on the fungi that live in their gut

  • Written by Kent Willis, Assistant Professor of Neonatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
imageFungi make up a small but important part of gut microbiomes.Mogana Das Murtey and Patchamuthu Ramasamy via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

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

The big idea

Mice with certain communities of fungi living in their gut gained more weight when eating processed food than mice whose gut microbiomes...

Read more: Fungal microbiome: Whether mice get fatter or thinner depends on the fungi that live in their gut

Why white supremacists and QAnon enthusiasts are obsessed – but very wrong – about the Byzantine Empire

  • Written by Roland Betancourt, Professor, University of California, Irvine
imageInspiration for a mob of angry white men?Getty Images

From Charlottesville to the Capitol, medieval imagery has been repeatedly on show at far-right rallies and riots in recent years.

Displays of Crusader shields and tattoos derived from Norse and Celtic symbols are of little surprise to medieval historians like me who have long documented the...

Read more: Why white supremacists and QAnon enthusiasts are obsessed – but very wrong – about the Byzantine...

The science behind frozen wind turbines – and how to keep them spinning through the winter

  • Written by Hui Hu, Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Iowa State University
imageIce can be a wind turbine's worst enemy.AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

Winter is supposed to be the best season for wind power – the winds are stronger, and since air density increases as the temperature drops, more force is pushing on the blades. But winter also comes with a problem: freezing weather.

Even light icing can produce enough surface...

Read more: The science behind frozen wind turbines – and how to keep them spinning through the winter

January warm spells, March freezes: How plants manage the shift from winter to spring

  • Written by Richard B. Primack, Professor of Biology, Boston University
imageA late snowfall could set back the growth of this budding lilac.oddharmonic/Flickr, CC BY-SA

Weather patterns across the U.S. have felt like a roller coaster ride for the past several months. December and January were significantly warmer than average in many locations, followed by February’s intense cold wave and a dramatic warmup.

If...

Read more: January warm spells, March freezes: How plants manage the shift from winter to spring

Revisiting reparations: Is it time for the US to pay its debt for the legacy of slavery?

  • Written by Anne C. Bailey, Professor of History, Binghamton University, State University of New York
imageU.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is spearheading fresh efforts in Congress to address reparations.Al Drago/Getty Images

Some 156 years after the end of the Civil War and the official abolition of slavery through the 13th Amendment, the idea of reparations is gaining currency in Washington.

On March 1, Cedric Richmond, a senior adviser to President Joe...

Read more: Revisiting reparations: Is it time for the US to pay its debt for the legacy of slavery?

What the policing response to the KKK in the 1960s can teach about dismantling white supremacist groups today

  • Written by David Cunningham, Professor and Chair of Sociology, Washington University in St Louis
imageArchival image from 1967 shows protesters demonstrating while Ku Klux Klan members walk in a parade to support the Vietnam War.Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

During his confirmation hearing in February, Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland pledged that his first order of business would be to “supervise the prosecution of white supremacists...

Read more: What the policing response to the KKK in the 1960s can teach about dismantling white supremacist...

Queer in the country: Why some LGBTQ Americans prefer rural life to urban 'gayborhoods'

  • Written by Christopher T. Conner, Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Missouri-Columbia
imageNot all gay people enjoy big cities, but pop culture has little to say about rural LGBTQ life.Ruaridh Connellan / Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Pop portrayals of LGBTQ Americans tend to feature urban gay life, from Ru Paul’s “Drag Race” and “Queer Eye” and “Pose.”

But not all gay people live in cities....

Read more: Queer in the country: Why some LGBTQ Americans prefer rural life to urban 'gayborhoods'

Motivation is a key factor in whether students cheat

  • Written by Carlton J. Fong, Assistant Professor of Education, Texas State University
imagePutting less emphasis on grades is essential. Sam Edwards/OJO Images via Getty Images

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic caused many U.S. colleges to shift to remote learning in the spring of 2020, student cheating has been a concern for instructors and students alike.

To detect student cheating, considerable resources have been devoted to using...

Read more: Motivation is a key factor in whether students cheat

More Articles ...

  1. Public transit drivers struggle to enforce mask mandates
  2. Even before COVID-19, US nursing homes were filling empty beds with psychiatric patients
  3. Your favorite fishing stream may be at high risk from climate change – here’s how to tell
  4. Why repressive Saudi Arabia remains a US ally
  5. Pope's upcoming visit brings attention to the dwindling population of Christians in Iraq
  6. Colleges are eliminating sports teams – and runners and golfers are paying more of a price than football or basketball players
  7. News organizations that want journalists to engage with their audience may be setting them up for abuse
  8. Forcibly sterilized during Fujimori dictatorship, thousands of Peruvian women demand justice
  9. Scientist at work: Tracking the epic journeys of migratory birds in northwest Mexico
  10. Two gaps to fill for the 2021-2022 winter wave of COVID-19 cases
  11. How some people can end up living at airports for months – even years – at a time
  12. Most US states don't have a filibuster – nor do many democratic countries
  13. Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax would reduce inequality – the problem is it's probably unconstitutional
  14. The Texas blackouts showed how climate extremes threaten energy systems across the US
  15. COVID-19 revealed how sick the US health care delivery system really is
  16. COVID-19 costs could push hospitals to rethink billions of dollars in wasted supplies
  17. Can QAnon survive another 'Great Disappointment' on March 4? History suggests it might
  18. Tobacco killed 500,000 Americans in 2020 – is it time to control cigarette-makers?
  19. What's in a name for a vaccine campaign? Maybe the end of the pandemic
  20. Why using reconciliation to pass Biden's COVID-19 stimulus bill violates the original purpose of the process
  21. Colleges confront their links to slavery and wrestle with how to atone for past sins
  22. As death approaches, our dreams offer comfort, reconciliation
  23. What the mythical figure of Şahmeran in Turkey represents and why activists use it
  24. What's really driving coal power's demise?
  25. 6 COVID-19 treatments helping patients survive
  26. Why do flowers smell?
  27. What the Bible's approach to history can teach us about America's glory and shame
  28. How Black people in the 19th century used photography as a tool for social change
  29. Ensuring the minimum wage keeps up with economic growth would be the best way to help workers and preserve FDR's legacy
  30. Polar bears have captivated artists' imaginations for centuries, but what they've symbolized has changed over time
  31. A less Trumpy version of Trumpism might be the future of the Republican Party
  32. There was a time reparations were actually paid out – just not to formerly enslaved people
  33. What are phthalates, and how do they put children's health at risk?
  34. Meatpacking plants have been deadly COVID-19 hot spots – but policies that encourage workers to show up sick are legal
  35. Can vaccinated people still spread the coronavirus?
  36. Misinformation-spewing cable companies come under scrutiny
  37. How does the Johnson Johnson vaccine compare to other coronavirus vaccines? 4 questions answered
  38. Alexei Navalny leads Russians in a historic battle against arbitrary rule, with words echoing Catherine the Great
  39. Facebook's news blockade in Australia shows how tech giants are swallowing the web
  40. Deported veterans, stranded far from home after years of military service, press Biden to bring them back
  41. What is fascism?
  42. Audio chatrooms like Clubhouse have become the hot new media by tapping into the age-old appeal of the human voice
  43. What public school students are allowed to say on social media may be about to change
  44. Giving while female: Women are more likely to donate to charities than men of equal means
  45. The exercise pill: How exercise keeps your brain healthy and protects it against depression and anxiety
  46. Many Black Americans aren’t rushing to get the COVID-19 vaccine – a long history of medical abuse suggests why
  47. What's behind $15,000 electricity bills in Texas?
  48. In Texas, price gouging during disasters is illegal – it is also on very shaky ethical ground
  49. AI is killing choice and chance – which means changing what it means to be human
  50. Engineered viruses can fight the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria