In this August 2020 essay, Barbara J. King, a biological anthropologist and professor emerita at the College of William and Mary, shares the story of her child Sarah, who is nonbinary and agender. King pulls from her perspective as both a biological anthropologist and a mother to explore the cultural and linguistic resistance to nonbinary …
Continue reading Disrupting the gender binary: Barbara J. King on gender fluidity and queer rights
Ever notice when a film’s audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is way off from the critics’ reviews? What’s driving that? Lisa R. Pruitt, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis, digs into the negative critical reviews of the 2020 Netflix film Hillbilly Elegy in this December 3, 2020 essay. Pruitt argues …
Fueled by new biomedical technologies and unprecedented collaboration, pharmaceutical companies are rapidly developing and testing vaccines for SARS CoV-2 coronavirus. However, this swift pace of vaccine development might lead to “a potentially risky lack of diversity in clinical trials,” according to Belén Garijo, a healthcare executive and former doctor. Her October 9, 2020 essay in …
From fitness trackers to internet-connected insulin pumps, more companies are marketing “smart” devices that gather, track, and store digital data on a person’s health metrics, body functions, location, and movement. Together, these devices comprise what is now called the “Internet of Bodies” (IoB). In this October 29, 2020 article from the RAND Corporation, Maria Gardner …
The evidence is clear: the world’s waterways and landfills are clogged and crammed with plastic waste. Scientists, governments, and producers are looking for ways to curtail plastic pollution, which is largely driven by the disposal of single-use plastic packaging and items. One possible solution is using bioplastics instead of traditional plastics. However, as writer Jim …
Is our online life—our Twitter debates, our Facebook relationship status, our Snapchat streaks, our Zoom classes—real? And why does this question matter? Jordan Frith, the Pearce Professor of Professional Communication at Clemson University, argues in his July 2020 article that our digital life is very much real, despite common metaphors used in popular culture. The …
Continue reading In real life: Jordan Frith on the metaphors we use to talk about online life
Voting is a civic duty, an essential right in a democracy. However, as Santucci explains in her July 26, 2020 essay, people with disabilities face barriers to voting, even decades after the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed. As you read, consider both Santucci’s immediate argument, about the pressing issues faced by people with …
Continue reading Get out the vote: Jeanine Santucci about accessibility in the voting booth
Sometimes the next big thing begins with a casual invitation to “talk more over smoothies.” In his July 13, 2020 essay, Steve LeVine explains how this kind of unscripted, casual, in-person networking drove the development of Silicon Valley companies like Facebook and Google. LeVine asks, though, if this reliance on spontaneity, jeopardized now by work-from-home …
Even under the stresses of quarantine, Hispanic American communities seem to be finding strategies for coping with the pandemic’s economic and social effects. Why is that? In this June 7, 2020 essay, Nicholas Kristof describes this “Hispanic paradox,” arguing that these communities are uniquely prepared to withstand hardship because of their robust, communal support networks. …
What if oceans hold the answers to the complex questions surrounding the climate crisis we are facing? Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist, maintains that they do, and explains how the ocean’s vast “healing power” should be the cornerstone of climate policies in this June 8, 2020 Scientific American op-ed. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, "To Save …
Continue reading A blue wave: Ayana Elizabeth Johnson on oceans and their role in climate solutions
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