Asking about sex: Census Bureau navigates public opinion on gender identity as it plans for 2030 count
The U.S. Census Bureau is thinking about how to ask about sex. People have opinions. Dozens of health officials, civil rights groups, individuals, and businesses have weighed in about how the statistical agency should ask about sexual orientation and gender identity...
Self-test kits for HIV were designed to empower those at risk but may not lead to actual HIV treatment
By Oluwafemi Atanda Adeagbo, Assistant Professor of Public Health, University of Iowa; Engelbert Bain Luchuo, Senior Research Associate, University of Johannesburg; and Oluwaseun Abdulganiyu Badru, Ph.D. Candidate in Community and Behavioral Health, University of Iowa...
Protective policies: Why Trans youth in Wisconsin feel less safe at school than their LGBTQ+ peers
Transgender and LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to report unsafe school climates and mental health concerns than their cisgender, heterosexual peers, according to research by graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Only 66 percent of Wisconsin’s trans...
Hoarding of wealth: The necessity of America transitioning from a “Me Society” to a “We Society”
There are basically two models for social organization, regardless of all the names. They are “me societies” and “we societies.” Russia, for example, is today a classic example of a “me society.” The nation is run by a small cabal of “me-me-me” oligarchs, who own or...
Technofeudalism: The economic revolution that Yanis Varoufakis believes has brought an end to Capitalism
By Christopher Pollard, Tutor in Sociology and Philosophy, Deakin University Yanis Varoufakis grew up during the Greek dictatorship of 1967-1974. He later became an economics professor and was briefly Greek finance minister in 2015. His late father, a chemical...
Wisconsin among states adding Native American translations to road signs promoting awareness
A few years back, Sage Brook Carbone was attending a powwow at the Mashantucket Western Pequot reservation in Connecticut when she noticed signs in the Pequot language. Carbone, a citizen of the Northern Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island, thought back to...
A “God’s-Eye” view: Aboard secretive surveillance flights keeping watch on Russian forces in Ukraine
Off in the distance, Ukraine is fighting for its survival. Seen from up here, in the cockpit of a French Air Force surveillance plane flying over neighboring Romania, the snow-dusted landscapes look deceptively peaceful. The dead from Russia’s war, the shattered...
Vigilante justice: Why enemy collaboration in occupied Ukraine evokes painful memories in Europe
By Ronald Niezen, Professor of Practice in Sociology and Political Science/International Relations, University of San Diego Collaboration with the enemy is a common and often painful part of armed conflict. It is also an issue in which I have both a professional and...
Cult of the drone: How UAVs have changed the face of warfare in Ukraine but not the outcome
By Paul Lushenko, Assistant Professor and Director of Special Operations, US Army War College Unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, have been central to the war in Ukraine. Some analysts claim that drones have reshaped war, yielding not just tactical-level effects, but...
Freedom from fossil fuels: Clean energies like wind and solar grew in 2023 despite economic challenges
Led by new solar power, the world added renewable energy at breakneck speed in 2023, a trend that if amplified will help Earth turn away from fossil fuels and prevent severe warming and its effects. Clean energy is often now the least expensive, explaining some of the...
Competing technologies: How the ubiquitous UPC barcode almost ended up being a circled bullseye
By Jordan Frith, Pearce Professor of Professional Communication, Clemson University Few objects in the world are more immediately recognizable than the bar code. After all, bar codes are all around us. They’re on the books we buy and the packages that land on our...
An Unequal Society: Why the richest democracy in the developed world abandons its poor
Every now and then we all get those moments of shocking clarity and insight that give us a new perspective on reality. Mine came over the weekend when I was watching the political shows on cable TV. This one had to do with the stunned realization of how we’ve...