Serena Williams forced sports journalists to get out of the ‘toy box’ – and cover tennis as more than a game
Erin Whiteside – Associate Professor of Journalism and Electronic Media, University of Tennessee Of the many outstanding components of her game, Serena Williams may best be known for her commanding serve. Those serves, unleashed over the course of a 27-year professional career, arguably heightened the power and intensity of the women’s game, forcing her opponents to…
Yes, Black patients do want to help with medical research – here are ways to overcome the barriers that keep clinical trials from recruiting diverse populations
Julia Liu – Professor of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine and RaKetra Snipes Physician Assistant in Gastroenterology, Morehouse School of Medicine Clinical trial participants are predominantly white. Despite Black and Hispanic people respectively making up 12% and 16% of the U.S. population in 2011, together they made up only 6% of clinical trial participants overall that year. Clinical…
Excelling as a musician takes practice and requires opportunities – not just lucky genes
Bryan Nichols – Associate Professor of Music, Penn State What makes talented musicians so good at what they do? There’s plenty of evidence that people can be born that way. Research findings suggest that about half of musical ability is inherited. Even if that’s true, it doesn’t mean you must have musical talent in your genes…
Roe v. rap: Hip-hop artists have long wrestled with reproductive rights
A.D. Carson – Assistant Professor of Hip-Hop, University of Virginia Hip-hop culture is often recognized as being born on Aug. 11, 1973. That was about seven months after Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that protected the right to choose to have an abortion. Accordingly, reproductive rights have long been part of the discourse in rap music,…
It’s a myth that sunscreen prevents melanoma in people of color – a dermatologist explains
Melanoma is a potentially deadly form of skin cancer that effects people of every racial and ethnic group. The risk factor most closely linked to developing melanoma is exposure to ultraviolet, or UV, rays from the sun. In fact, sunburns have been associated with doubling one’s risk of melanoma. Sunscreen can block UV rays and therefore…
Schools are the ‘hubs and hearts’ of neighborhoods – here’s how they can strengthen the communities around them
Alisha Butler – Provost’s Equity Fellow, Wesleyan University Food deserts. Poor housing conditions. Lack of community investment. These challenges may not always come to mind when people think about how to improve America’s public schools. But when my colleagues and I studied the 21st Century School Buildings Program, a US$1.1 billion school building and renovation initiative in Baltimore, these…
‘Ethiopia’s other conflict’: what’s driving the violence in Oromia?
In November 2020 an outbreak of violence in Ethiopia’s Tigray region captured worldwide attention. The conflict was between Tigrayan forces and the forces of the Ethiopian government and its allies. Since then, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been under increasing global pressure to negotiate with Tigrayan officials to stop the carnage in the region. Even before fighting broke out…
South Africa’s hunger problem is turning into a major health crisis
One in ten South Africans go hungry every day. As a result malnutrition levels are high. Malnutrition has three simultaneous dimensions: undernourishment, micronutrient deficiencies and over-nutrition. These can manifest in stunting – being short for one’s age because of long-term undernutrition. In 2016 it was estimated to be 27% among South African children. This is high. Africa is…
Spirit of Ntu: South African piano maestro Nduduzo Makhathini on his 10th album
Phuti Sepuru – Lecturer in Jazz, University of Pretoria Nduduzo Makhathini is a prolific South African pianist, improviser, healer, educator, scholar and storyteller. He possesses a gift that enables him to articulate a distinct and rich identity and genealogy. His sound signifies a deep rootedness in his ethnic identity in the Zulu culture, and an internationalism embodying it. In…
Bad news for the 2022 hurricane season: The Loop Current, a fueler of monster storms, is looking a lot like it did in 2005, the year of Katrina
Nick Shay – Professor of Oceanography, University of Miami The Atlantic hurricane season starts on June 1, and the Gulf of Mexico is already warmer than average. Even more worrying is a current of warm tropical water that is looping unusually far into the Gulf for this time of year, with the power to turn tropical…
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