Author: TheConversation

By Michele Gilman, Venable Professor of Law, University of Baltimore A leaked draft suggests the Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that gave women the right to terminate a pregnancy. But reproductive health is not just about abortion, despite all the attention the procedure gets. It’s also about access to family planning services, contraception, sex education and much else – all of which have also come under threat in recent years. Such access lets women control the timing and size of their families so they have children when they are financially secure and emotionally...

By Yingxiao Zhang, Ph.D. Student in Atmospheric Science, University of Michigan; and Allison L. Steiner, Professor of Atmospheric Science, University of Michigan Allergy sufferers should be prepared this year, as new research shows pollen season is going to get a lot longer and more intense with climate change. Our latest study finds that the U.S. will face up to a 200% increase in total pollen this century if the world continues producing carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, power plants and other sources at a high rate. Pollen season in general will start up to 40 days earlier in the...

By Alessandro Ossola, Assistant Professor, University of California, Davis As lockdowns went into effect in the spring of 2020 to slow the spread of the coronavirus, reports emerged of a global gardening boom, with plants, flowers, vegetables and herbs sprouting in backyards and on balconies around the world. The data backs up the narrative: An analysis of Google Trends and infection statistics found that during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic, country-by-country interest in gardening, from Italy to India, tended to peak just as infections peaked. Why did so many people find themselves being pulled toward the...

By Mitchell G. Klingenberg, Postdoctoral Fellow and Instructor of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations, United States Army War College It is doubtful the tragic devastation of the Russia-Ukraine War would surprise William Sherman were he alive today. The iconic U.S. Army soldier was a student of war at home and abroad. Sherman, who lived from 1820 to 1891, concluded that war – what the Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz defined as “an act of force to compel [an] enemy to do [one’s] will” – is a fixture of human nature. “Neither you nor any set of men have...