Author: TheConversation

By Svetla Ben-Itzhak, Assistant Professor of Space and International Relations, Air University Headlines proclaiming the rise of a new “space race” between the United States and China have become common in news coverage following many of the exciting launches in recent years. Experts have pointed to China’s rapid advancements in space as evidence of an emerging landscape where China is directly competing with the U.S. for supremacy. This idea of a space race between China and the U.S. sounds convincing given the broader narrative of China’s rise, but how accurate is it? As a professor who studies space and...

By Sharif A Wahab, PhD Candidate, Indiana University The number of people forced from their homes, primarily because of conflict or climate change, is on the rise, topping 100 million people in 2022 – more than double the number of displaced people in 2012. About a third of those 100 million people are refugees. Refugees live in a legal limbo that can increasingly stretch for decades. And the number of people remaining refugees for five years or longer more than doubled over the past decade, topping 16 million in 2022. These are people who do not have a clear...

By Jennifer R. Grandis, Distinguished Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of California, San Francisco If you work at a company, university or large organization, you have probably sat through a required training session meant to fight gender and racial discrimination in the workplace. Employers increasingly invest in efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, commonly referred to as DEI policies. Yet research shows these efforts often fail to address the implicit biases that often lead to discrimination. I am a professor and a physician who has been working in university settings for over 30 years. I also...

By Sydney Hartman-Munick, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, UMass Chan Medical School The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with worsening mental health among teens, including increasing numbers of patients with eating disorders. In fact, research indicates that the number of teens with eating disorders at least doubled during the pandemic. This is particularly concerning given that eating disorders are among the most deadly of all mental health diagnoses, and teens with eating disorders are at higher risk for suicide than the general population. While experts do not know exactly why eating disorders develop, studies show that body dissatisfaction and desire...

By Christine Nguyen, 2023 California Health Equity Fellow, University of Southern California In the past two decades, children have become more obese and have developed obesity at a younger age. A 2020 report found that 14.7 million children and adolescents in the United States live with obesity. Because obesity is a known risk factor for serious health problems, its rapid increase during the COVID-19 pandemic raised alarms. Without intervention, many obese adolescents will remain obese as adults. Even before adulthood, some children will have serious health problems beginning in their preteen years. To address these issues, in early 2023,...