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Edition: US
4 February 2020
[The Conversation](
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
[Aviva Rutkin]
A note from...
Aviva Rutkin
Data Editor
In a few weeks, Americans around the country will start receiving letters from the U.S. Census Bureau, inviting them to participate in the national survey that only occurs once every decade.
It will be months before the official counts come out, but the results of the 2020 census have already been hotly contested in federal lawsuits. “The results of the census shift political power and money,” explains University of Michigan demographer Ren Farley. Today, [Farley takes readers back to the census from 100 years ago](. The 1920 census sparked such bitter fights that Congress ended up ignoring its results altogether. It’s a fascinating story from history – with a few troubling parallels to present day.
Also today:
- [Viruses that hop from animals to humans](
- [An exercise in empathy with immigrants](
- [A $2 trillion tab for war](
Top story
A “very small section’ of the Census Bureau, sometime between 1910 and 1930. Library of Congress
[100 years ago, Congress threw out results of the census](
Walter Reynolds Farley, University of Michigan
The results of the 1920 census kicked off a bitter, decadelong political squabble. Could the same happen again in 2020?
Economy + Business
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[US workplaces are nowhere near ready to contain a coronavirus outbreak](
Karen Scott, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Americans tend to work even when they're sick, in part because of a lack of paid sick leave.
Environment + Energy
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[The Trump administration is cutting back protection for migratory birds](
Amanda D. Rodewald, Cornell University
The Interior Department is narrowing protection for migratory birds to cover only deliberate harm such as hunting, but not threats like development or pollution that kill millions of birds yearly.
Health + Medicine
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[A clue to stopping coronavirus: Knowing how viruses adapt from animals to humans](
Frederick Cohan, Wesleyan University; Kathleen Sagarin, Wesleyan University; Kelly Mei, Wesleyan University
Some of the world's worst diseases have come from animals. Bats, cows, camels and horses have all contributed. Now, scientists are working to know which animal introduced the new coronavirus.
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[Cancer deaths decline in US, with advances in prevention, detection and treatment](
Jonathan M. Gerber, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Cancer mortality has dropped in the US, due largely to lower smoking rates, as well as early detection and better treatments. These advances often do not extend to people in developing nations.
Education
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[At-risk colleges should do what’s best for students, alumni, donors, employees – and local communities](
Genevieve Shaker, IUPUI; William Plater, IUPUI
It helps when school leaders are open about their financial struggles before it's too late to forge a good plan.
Politics + Society
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[The Iraq War has cost the US nearly $2 trillion](
Neta C. Crawford, Boston University
The Pentagon has spent more than $800 billion on military operations in Iraq. But that doesn't include money needed to care for veterans, rebuild the country or pay interest on war debt.
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[Learn to trust immigrants by role-playing in their shoes](
Brandon Bouchillon, University of Arkansas
Simulating some experiences of immigrant life can help nonimmigrants learn to understand, and even trust, people from other countries more.
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[Is hiring more black officers the key to reducing police violence?](
Jennifer Cobbina, Michigan State University
Diversity among officers lags behind the general population. But is police culture a greater problem when it comes to combating excessive force?
From our International Editions
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[How Kurdish diaspora groups are pushing for unity over their divided homeland](
Veysi Dag, SOAS, University of London
Different ideologies and agendas among Kurdish political groups means they don't push a single narrative about the Kurdish homeland. Diaspora groups are trying to change that.
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[Warp factor: we’ve observed a spinning star that drags the very fabric of space and time](
Matthew Bailes, Swinburne University of Technology; Vivek Venkatraman Krishnan, Max Planck Institute
One of Einstein's weirder predictions is that massive, spinning objects exert a drag on space-time itself. Now an orbiting pair of unusual stars has revealed this effect in action.
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[Why Ethiopia is in deep trouble, and how it got here](
Mulugeta G Berhe (PhD), Tufts University
Abiy's administration should stop talking about reform and liberalisation and focus instead on stopping the country from sliding into disarray
Today’s quote
[“Denialist phenomena are many and varied, but the story behind them is, ultimately, quite simple. Human cognition is inseparable from the unconscious emotional responses that go with it.”](
[Humans are hardwired to dismiss facts that don't fit their worldview](
Adrian Bardon
Wake Forest University
[Adrian Bardon]
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