Edition: US - Today's top story: The Victorian origins of the Mannequin Challenge [Click here to view this message in your web-browser].
Edition: US
10 December 2016
[[The Conversation]Academic rigor, journalistic flair]
Editor's note
When a group of Florida teenagers created the first Mannequin Challenge video back in October, they probably had no idea it would become an internet sensation. But as Penn Stateâs Ellen Stockstill explains, the [Mannequin Challenge had a 19th-century predecessor:] a popular parlor game called âtableaux vivants.â
And if youâve missed out on our (real) coverage of fake news, check out our recent articles on why weâve become such [gullible news consumers], how [lies and conspiracies spread], and the importance of [teaching metaliteracy to students.]
Nick Lehr
Editor, Arts and Culture
Top story
Even without iPhones, people in the 19th century liked to see how long they could strike a pose and stay frozen. Wikimedia Commons
[The Victorian origins of the Mannequin Challenge]
Ellen J. Stockstill, Pennsylvania State University
Long before smartphones filmed the stiffened appendages of people seeking internet fame, striking a pose was a popular form of entertainment in Victorian England.
Economy + Business
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[Why President-elect Trump doesn't think he has a conflict of interest problem]
Elizabeth C. Tippett, University of Oregon
The president-elect doesn't think his extensive business and other conflicts will be a problem when he's president. Research suggests it's because of a behavioral bias that affects us all.
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[How the Fed joined the fight against climate change]
Carolin Schellhorn, St. Joseph's University
Ultra-low interest rates have made low-carbon projects like windmill farms more attractive than coal power plants. That will begin to change as the central bank lifts rates, hurting the green economy.
Politics + Society
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[America's role in the world 75 years after Pearl Harbor]
Peter Harris, Colorado State University
The Japanese attack on a US naval base on Dec. 7, 1941 set in motion a series of events that transformed the United States into a global superpower. Will Donald Trump bring that era to an end?
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[Will Trump victory make Angela Merkel leader of the free world?]
Johanna Schuster-Craig, Michigan State University
In reelection bid, Merkel's not just up against a xenophobic, nationalist party in Germany. In the wake of Trumpâs election, liberal democracies around the world hope she'll defend them, too.
Education
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[How Standing Rock became a site of pilgrimage]
Rosalyn R. LaPier, Harvard University
Thousands of people, both those within Native American communities and their non-Native allies, felt called to go to Standing Rock. What was the motivation?
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[How can we learn to reject fake news in the digital world?]
Thomas P. Mackey, SUNY Empire State College; Trudi Jacobson, University at Albany, State University of New York
Researchers have found that today's students, despite being 'digital natives,' have a hard time distinguishing what is real and what is fake online. Metaliteracy might provide the answers.
Arts + Culture
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[Why do we fall for fake news?]
S. Shyam Sundar, Pennsylvania State University
Researcher who has studied online news for 20 years says people fall for fake news because they don't value journalistic sources and consider themselves and their friends as credible news sources.
Science + Technology
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[Forensic evidence largely not supported by sound science â now what?]
Jessica Gabel Cino, Georgia State University
Is forensic science an oxymoron? A new White House report suggests there are major issues with many of the forensic disciplines used to convict defendants of crimes in the U.S.
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[Catching lightning in a fossil â and calculating how much energy a strike contains]
Matthew Pasek, University of South Florida
Lightning strikes are powerful â but we haven't had solid estimates of their energy until now. Researchers turned to the hollow stone tubes they create by vaporizing sand for more precise calculations.
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[Protect your privacy during turbulent times: A hackerâs guide to being cyber-safe]
Timothy Summers, University of Maryland
People who think like hackers have some really good ideas about how to protect digital privacy during turbulent times. We can learn from them.
Environment + Energy
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[In Puerto Rico, environmental injustice and racism inflame protests over coal ash]
Hilda Lloréns, University of Rhode Island
Low-income residents in Puerto Rico are fighting disposal of toxic coal ash in their communities. They're also campaigning to shift from coal energy â the source of the problem â to solar power.
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[Will a weakened EPA set environmental justice back?]
David Konisky, Indiana University, Bloomington
The hostility of Scott Pruitt, Trump's nominee to head the EPA, toward climate change rules is well-known. But his anti-regulatory stance could easily set back years of work on environmental justice.
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[For China, climate change is no hoax â it's a business and political opportunity]
Matthew Kahn, University of Southern California â Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Although Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax invented by China, Chinese leaders believe cutting carbon emissions will generate economic and political payoffs at home and abroad.
Health + Medicine
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[What women with breast cancer should know about estrogens]
Jeffrey D. Blaustein, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Estrogens also have many positive effects on mental health, cognitive function, libido and protection of the brain, possibly even slowing the onset of Alzheimerâs disease.
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[Why it's wrong to blame Obamacare for health care ills]
Aravind Chandrasekaran, The Ohio State University; Daniel Martin, The Ohio State University
The Affordable Care Act gets blamed for many health care ills, but here's one condition that it should not be blamed for.
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[The MDMA being used to treat trauma is different from the street drug Ecstasy]
Joseph Palamar, New York University Langone Medical Center
Researchers are finding medical uses for some molecules in certain street drugs, but it's important to call the drugs by their real names. Hereâs why that's important.
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