Author: TheConversation

By Alec Stubbs, Postdoctoral Fellow of Philosophy, UMass Boston First it was the “Great Resignation.” Then it was “nobody wants to work anymore.” Now it is “quiet quitting.” Yet it seems like no one wants to talk about what I see as the root cause of America’s economic malaise – work under contemporary capitalism is fundamentally flawed. As a political philosopher studying the effects of contemporary capitalism on the future of work, I believe that the inability to dictate and meaningfully control one’s own working life is the problem. Democratizing work is the solution. The problem of work What...

By Manfred Laubichler, Global Futures Professor and President’s Professor of Theoretical Biology and History of Biology, Arizona State University At first glance, the connections between the world’s growing population and climate change seem obvious. The more people we have on this planet, the larger their collective impact on the climate. However, a closer look with a longer time horizon reveals relationships between population size and climate change that can help us better understand both humanity’s predicament as the global population hits 8 billion people – a milestone the United Nations marked on November 15, 2022. Looking back to the...

By Robin Bartram, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Tulane University Yolanda owns a home in the predominantly Black 7th Ward neighborhood in New Orleans at the age of 61. To fix her leaking roof in 2020, she had to borrow money. “It’s one of them credit card loans,” she said. “Like interest of 30% and all that, you know. I was kind of backed up against the wall, so I just went on and made the loan, a high-interest loan.” As a sociologist who has spent the past 10 years studying housing conditions in the U.S., I led a research...

By Clara G. Zundel, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University People who breathe polluted air experience changes within the brain regions that control emotions, and as a result, they may be more likely to develop anxiety and depression than those who breathe cleaner air. These are the key findings of a systematic review that my colleagues and I recently published in the journal NeuroToxicology. Our interdisciplinary team reviewed more than 100 research articles from both animal and human studies that focused on the effects of outdoor air pollution on mental health and regions of...

By Jolanta Burke; Senior Lecturer, Centre for Positive Psychology and Health, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences; and Annie Curtis, Senior Lecturer, School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences (PBS), RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences Many of us tend to feel sad or not like our usual self as autumn and winter approach. But for some, these feelings persist until spring arrives. Known as seasonal affective disorder (or Sad), it’s a type of depression that occurs only during specific seasons. Alongside persistent low mood, some people may find they feel more lethargic than usual, have difficulty getting...