How the blaring horns of semitrucks distort democracy

What drives sea level rise? US report warns of 1-foot rise within three decades and more frequent flooding

Jianjun Yin, University of Arizona

A sea level scientist explains the two main ways climate change is threatening the coasts.

Why $73 million Sandy Hook settlement is unlikely to unleash a flood of lawsuits against gun-makers

Timothy D. Lytton, Georgia State University

While it’s a victory for the families of the victims, the settlement leaves a key legal question about the gun industry’s liability shield unanswered.

African wild dogs cope with human development using skills they rely on to compete with other carnivores

Scott Creel, Montana State University

African wild dogs are used to evading hyenas and lions. Genetic research suggests they are using the same strengths to get around human development as well.

Super Bowl ads turn up the volume on cryptocurrency buzz: 6 essential reads about digital money and the promise of blockchain

Eric Smalley, The Conversation

Whether the cryptocurrency hype makes you crypto curious or crypto skeptical, there are many ways your life could be affected by crypto’s underlying technology, blockchain.

For bullied teens, online school offered a safe haven

Hannah L. Schacter, Wayne State University

Bullied teens reported heightened anxiety when they were attending in-person school, but not when they were attending online school.

Appeal in Sarah Palin’s libel loss could set up Supreme Court test of decades-old media freedom rule

Bill Kovarik, Radford University

Under the Sullivan standard, a public official has to prove that there was ‘actual malice’ in defamation cases. That could be challenged in the Supreme Court.

Despite its disastrous effects, COVID-19 offers some gifts to medicine – an immunology expert explains what it can teach us about autoimmune disease

Dario Ghersi, University of Nebraska Omaha

COVID-19 has taken away so much. An immunology researcher describes the good it may leave behind.

Does scaring people work when it comes to health messaging? A communication researcher explains how it’s gone wrong during the COVID-19 pandemic

James Dillard, Penn State

Whether about a comet hitting the Earth or a virus infecting the world, fear-based messages often do not succeed at changing people’s behaviors.

The Ancient Greeks also lived through a plague, and they too blamed their leaders for their suffering

Joel Christensen, Brandeis University

A scholar of ancient Greek literature goes back to the account of Greek historian Thucydides on the spread of plague and finds parallels in the American response to the health crisis today.

Does outer space end – or go on forever?

The ‘real’ St. Valentine was no patron of love

Physics and psychology of cats – an (improbable) conversation