Notices by The Conversation U.S. (theconversationus@newsie.social), page 2

Have you ever walked into a room and then wondered why you went there?

If you’ve experienced this phenomenon, you’ve had a ‘prospective memory lapse’.

Researchers share tips and tricks that can help you improve your memory functioning in moments like this:
https://theconversation.com/forgetting-appointments-deadlines-and-that-call-to-mom-the-phenomenon-of-prospective-memory-and-how-to-improve-yours-227845
#health #psychology

Erin’s Law requires the teaching of child sexual abuse and exploitation prevention classes from kindergarten through eighth grade. How it got adopted by 34 states is the story of one mother who made a difference:
https://theconversation.com/quick-adoption-in-34-states-of-erins-law-to-prevent-child-abuse-shows-power-of-one-individual-to-make-policy-221854

"Dad, I’m hungry."

"Hi, hungry. I’m Dad."

There's an example of the beloved form of humor: The Dad Joke.

But what makes something a dad joke instead of just a corny joke? We've got two folklorists answering that question and looking at the history of the 'art' form. Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there, funny or not!

Leave a favorite #DadJoke in the replies, so we can all groan together
https://theconversation.com/an-homage-to-the-dad-joke-one-of-the-great-traditions-of-fatherhood-231996
#FathersDay #Dads @folklore

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency announced recently that it plans to ease restrictions on cannabis – reclassifying it from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug, a category which includes products like Tylenol with codeine, testosterone and other anabolic steroids.

This is a historic shift, signaling an acknowledgement of the promising medicinal value of cannabis 🌿
https://theconversation.com/how-cannabis-and-psilocybin-might-help-some-of-the-50-million-americans-who-are-experiencing-chronic-pain-225887

Georgia is in play in 2024.

“I believe that Trump can be placed among a long line of demagogues who possess the skills needed to tap into the fears and anxieties of a group of people that perceives itself as marginalized, at risk and not in control.”

It worked for Democrat Lester Maddox in 1967, and it’s working for Trump this year
https://theconversation.com/preying-on-white-fears-worked-for-georgias-lester-maddox-in-the-60s-and-is-working-there-for-donald-trump-today-227749
#Trump #Election2024 #USPolitics @blackmastodon

We want you to know the name Alice Ball. She was the first woman and first African American to earn a master’s degree in science from the College of Hawaii.

Ball remarkably developed a treatment for leprosy, but she passed away shortly after.

Arthur Dean, chair of the College of Hawaii’s chemistry department, took over the project, and renamed Ball’s method to the “Dean Method,” never crediting Ball for her work.

https://theconversation.com/a-young-black-scientist-discovered-a-pivotal-leprosy-treatment-in-the-1920s-but-an-older-colleague-took-the-credit-224922
#History #BlackMastodon @blackmastodon

70 years after the Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board, one of its most significant side effects − the large-scale loss of Black teachers − continues to affect America’s schools.
Before Brown, Black teachers were 35% to 50% of the teacher workforce in segregated states.
Today, Black people account for just 6.7% of America’s public K-12 teachers.
https://theconversation.com/how-black-teachers-lost-when-civil-rights-won-in-brown-v-board-229687
#History #Histodons @histodons @blackmastodon #BlackMastodon

Parents can be better advocates and avoid common missteps when a child identifies as trans or nonbinary by first recognizing the child’s bravery and explicitly reminding them they’re loved

https://theconversation.com/how-parents-can-support-a-child-who-comes-out-as-trans-by-conquering-their-own-fears-following-their-childs-lead-and-tolerating-ambiguity-158275

#PRIDE 🏳️🌈 #PrideMonth #Parenting

Donald Trump is now the first sitting or former U.S. president to be convicted of a felony.

But in other countries, ex-leaders have been investigated, prosecuted and even jailed – in the interest of protecting the rule of law.

https://theconversation.com/why-many-countries-have-prosecuted-former-leaders-231260

#breakingnews #news #uspolitics #trump

Most Americans, including those enacting 6-week #abortionbans, don’t actually understand how the timing or dating of pregnancy works. Many women don't know yet they are pregnant at 6 weeks.

Scholars explain how research on what Americans understand about #abortion raises “serious questions about whether Americans without medical training – much like those in our state legislatures – have the necessary knowledge needed to regulate abortion access.”

https://theconversation.com/confusion-over-how-pregnancy-dates-are-measured-is-widespread-and-makes-for-uninformed-debate-over-abortion-limits-229167
#abortionrights

Louisiana’s new bill, once signed, would reclassify two #abortion pills (mifepristone and misoprostol) as Schedule IV controlled substances, like valium, and making it a crime to possess them without a valid in-state prescription.

Surgical and medication abortions are already banned in Louisiana, with few exceptions.

An obstetrician and a law professor explain more about the law and the lack of evidence supporting it:
https://theconversation.com/louisiana-set-to-reclassify-abortion-pills-as-controlled-dangerous-substances-heres-what-that-means-230848
#news #breakingnews #health

Black Lives Matter protests often pitted demonstrators against police in 2020 − but not in every city.

Protests in cities with police departments led by Black women tended to be peaceful.

https://theconversation.com/cities-with-black-women-police-chiefs-had-less-street-violence-during-2020s-black-lives-matter-protests-227440
#BLM #Protests @blackmastodon

Mexico claims that U.S. gun-makers engaged in “deliberate efforts to create and maintain an illegal market for their weapons in Mexico.”
Mexico’s lawsuit says:
> The manufacturers intentionally design their weapons to be attractive to criminal organizations in Mexico
> That illegal gun trafficking flows from the industry’s design choices, marketing and distribution practices.
> Feeding demand for illegal weapons is central to the industry’s business model
https://theconversation.com/mexico-is-suing-us-gun-makers-for-arming-its-gangs-and-a-us-court-could-award-billions-in-damages-223598
#News #guns

Many media outlets are paying a lot more attention to arrests than to the actual demands of protesters.

US media largely ignored campus protests until encampments (and police clearing of encampments) got going, fitting in with a general pattern, according to a researcher who studies how journalists cover protest movements:
https://theconversation.com/media-coverage-of-campus-protests-tends-to-focus-on-the-spectacle-rather-than-the-substance-229172
#News #GazaProtests #journalism @academicchatter

Another mRNA #vaccine win:

Scientists have developed a cancer vaccine that can deliver treatments more effectively in people who have brain cancer and teach their immune systems to fight back. They’ve tested it successfully in four people now, and are moving on to more testing.

https://theconversation.com/brain-cancer-in-children-is-notoriously-hard-to-treat-a-new-mrna-cancer-vaccine-triggers-an-attack-from-within-228666
#health #science #vaccine #cancer

In 1942, Japanese Americans were rounded up and sent to internment camps because of hyped up fears of ‘disloyalty’.
In 1944, thousands of young Japanese American men were drafted out of those camps and sent to fight for democracy.
Despite this, they fought gallantly, earning more than 14,000 medals.
Then veterans faced more prejudice when they returned home
https://theconversation.com/japanese-american-soldiers-in-world-war-ii-fought-the-axis-abroad-and-racial-prejudice-at-home-158512
#News #AAPIHeritageMonth #history @histodons

In the late ‘60s, to right-wing activists, communists were over-running #college campuses and #university administrators needed to be subpoenaed and law enforcement sent in to forcibly end protests.

In 2024, to right-wing activists, antisemites are over-running college campuses and university administrators need to be subpoenaed and law enforcement sent in to forcibly end protests.

A historian of the reaction to campus protests lays out the parallels:
https://theconversation.com/college-administrators-are-falling-into-a-tried-and-true-trap-laid-by-the-right-228732 @academicchatter

Let’s walk through how to recognize a seizure in a bystander or loved one, and what to do in those crucial moments after a seizure begins, with guidance from a neurologist:
https://theconversation.com/recognizing-when-someone-is-having-a-seizure-and-how-you-can-help-during-those-first-critical-moments-220748

Comedy can run the risk of merely distracting people from the serious climate challenges before us or trivializing the problems.

But comedy also has – and continued to be – a transformative power to educate and motivate people on very heavy and serious topics like #climatechange
https://theconversation.com/climate-comedy-works-heres-why-and-how-it-can-help-lighten-up-a-politically-heavy-year-in-2024-224457

70 years after Edward R. Murrow’s withering broadcast report about Cold War demagogue Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, it’s time to give more credit to other journalists.

Although the program that has been called television’s “finest half-hour” and is good work, it wasn’t the first of its kind.

It’s a media myth that McCarthy’s power was unchecked until Murrow aired his report, and overlooks the aggressive work of journalists who took on the senator for years before.

https://theconversation.com/though-cbs-legend-edward-r-murrow-is-given-credit-he-wasnt-the-first-muckraking-journalist-to-question-joseph-mccarthys-communist-witch-hunts-222554