How the color of St. Patrick’s Day went from blue to green

| Insights & Views

St. Patricks Day usually conjures images of partying, Catholicism, Irish nationalism and, perhaps most famously, the color green: green clothes, green shamrocks, green beer and green rivers. So my students are often...

What is a SLAPP suit? Legal experts explain how these lawsuits suppress free speech

| Insights & Views

Strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP suits, are civil claims brought against people or organizations who voice opinions publicly. These lawsuits are intended to intimidate opponents and suppress...

How Trump’s foreign aid and diplomatic cuts will make it harder for the US to wield soft power to maintain its friendships and win new ones

| Insights & Views

The Trump administration has proposed shuttering USAID and cutting some of the State Departments critical diplomatic programs; it has also announced tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China. As scholar Borja Santos...

Mission possible − parastronaut programs can make space travel more inclusive and attainable for all

| Insights & Views

Humans will likely set foot on the Moon again in the coming decade. While many stories in this new chapter of lunar exploration will be reminiscent of the Apollo missions 50 years ago, others may look quite different. For...

From TB to HIV/AIDS to cancer, disease tracking has always had a political dimension, but it’s the foundation of public health

| Insights & Views

Federal datasets began disappearing from public view on Jan. 31, 2025, in response to executive orders from President Donald Trump. Among those were the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Youth Risk Behavior...

End-of-life planning can be hampered by misconceptions − but the process is easier than you might think

| Insights & Views

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people unexpectedly needed critical care such as ventilators but were unable to communicate their end-of-life wishes to their loved ones. Researchers like me, who study death and dying,...

5 years of COVID-19 underscore value of coordinated efforts to manage disease – while CDC, NIH and WHO face threats to their ability to respond to a crisis

| Insights & Views

Five years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a global pandemic. The novel coronavirus, dubbed SARS-CoV-2, began as a cluster of severe pneumonia cases of unknown cause...