Perspectives

As a professor of medieval Europe, I’ve taught the bubonic plague, and how it contributed to the English Peasant Revolt of 1381. Now that America is experiencing widespread unrest in the midst of its own pandemic, I see some interesting similarities to the 14th-century uprising. The death of George Floyd has sparked protests fueled by...

In a way, you could say we’ve been holding our breath this whole time, until now. What you’re witnessing is Black America exhaling and breathing fire all over the country. We calculate, in horror, the awful symmetry of the killings of Eric Garner in 2014 in Staten Island and George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020....

Viral. Virus. Two words that sum up our world in 2020. People in nearly every corner of the globe are dealing, either directly or indirectly, with the impact of the novel Coronavirus; and of course media outlets are reporting, analyzing, and pontificating with relish on the topic. In the United States so many other news...

As people binge watch TV shows and movies during this period of physical distancing, they may find themselves eerily drawn to fictional villains, from Voldemort and Vader to Maleficent and Moriarty. Rather than being seduced by the so-called dark side, the allure of evil characters has a reassuringly scientific explanation. According to new research published...

The coronavirus pandemic has been unprecedented in its impact, leaving no aspect of life unaffected from its arrival in late 2019. From day-to-day impacts on work, school, social gatherings, and travel, to larger shockwaves to the world’s economy and health care systems, COVID-19 is a once-in-a-lifetime crisis on the global stage. And with such a...

When faced with a decision, people may know which choice gives them the best chance of success, but still take the other option, a new study suggests. People may choose based on a “gut feeling”, a habit, or what worked for them last time, rather than on what they have learned will work most often,...

New research shows that a visitor’s garden designed and built by Iowa State University students and incarcerated individuals at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women is helping to strengthen connections between the women and their children. Researchers interviewed incarcerated women and their visitors in the visitor’s garden at the institution in Mitchellville. Ninety percent of...

At its core, the United States Declaration of Independence argues that all human beings have “unalienable rights.” These include right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” These rights apply to all human beings, and cannot be given away. What is more, the Declaration says that “to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among...