Understanding Islam – past and present

+ lifesaving gene therapies will be expensive – here's how to pay for them US Edition - Today's top story: Understanding Islam - a brief introduction to its past and present in the United States [View in browser]( US Edition | 31 August 2021 [The Conversation]( I grew up in India, where cultural and religious exchanges with my Muslim neighbors were part of my day-to-day life. We shared food, participated in one another’s religious festivities and even visited the same Sufi shrines. But there are over 200 million Muslims in India, comprising about 10% of the country’s population. Here in the U.S., with some 3.4 million Muslims, the opportunities for such interactions are far fewer. At the same time, Islam in the U.S. is unique – it brings together the richness of practices from many cultures and ethnicities that can hardly be found elsewhere. These observations led The Conversation to create a special Islam newsletter series that we are launching today. [Starting with an introduction to Islam](, I’ve written [six emails]( that draw on the work of contributors to our religion desk to explain the basic tenets of the faith, its seminal contributions to Western cultures and differing interpretations of Islamic law. [You can sign up here]( to join us on this journey of discovery and exploration with a new newsletter arriving in your inbox every two days – and a quiz at the end to test what you learned. And on Thursday, Sept. 2, The Conversation, the Associated Press and Religion News Service will host a webinar on the Muslim experience in America, exploring how it evolved from the aftermath of 9/11 to today. [Register here]( to take part in a discussion among academics, journalists and religious leaders. Also today: - [Autonomous drones may soon find disaster victims in seconds]( - [The American Revolution had refugees too]( - [‘Mature minors’ have the right to get vaccinated in some states]( Kalpana Jain Senior Religion + Ethics Editor Historians believe Muslims first arrived in the U.S. in the 17th century. Julie Jacobson/AP Photo [Understanding Islam - a brief introduction to its past and present in the United States]( Kalpana Jain, The Conversation Fewer than half of Americans report knowing someone who is Muslim. Here we explain Islam, its diversity and its long history in the United States. Health - [Do US teens have the right to be vaccinated against their parents’ will? It depends on where they live]( Brian Dean Abramson, Florida International University Some states have a legal framework allowing “mature minors” to make their own health care decisions – but they apply it in different ways, and some don’t have it at all. - [Bilingual people with language loss due to stroke can pose a treatment challenge – computational modeling may help clinicians treat them]( Claudia Peñaloza, Boston University Computational modeling can predict language therapy response in bilingual people with aphasia. In the future, this could help clinicians identify the best language for treatment. Environment + Energy - [Autonomous drones could speed up search and rescue after flash floods, hurricanes and other disasters]( Vijayan Asari, University of Dayton By mimicking the human brain, autonomous drones could locate victims in hard-to-reach places and alert responders to their location within seconds. Education - [Lessons about 9/11 often provoke harassment of Muslim students]( Amaarah DeCuir, American University Comments made during class discussions about 9/11 often put Muslim students on edge, according to a researcher who interviewed 55 Muslim students in and around the nation’s capital. Economy + Business - [New gene therapies may soon treat dozens of rare diseases, but million-dollar price tags will put them out of reach for many]( Kevin Doxzen, Arizona State University New payment models may mean more of the people who need these treatments can get them. - [Microeconomics explains why people can never have enough of what they want and how that influences policies]( Amitrajeet A. Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology Microeconomics analyzes how individuals and businesses behave as they try to get the most they can for as little money as possible. Politics + Society - [Refugees after the American Revolution needed money, homes and acceptance]( G. Patrick O'Brien, Kennesaw State University When people fled the new United States in the 18th century, they were taken in by the British Empire but became disillusioned by unfulfilled British promises. From our International Editions - [COVID-19 variants: we spoke to the experts designing a single vaccine to defeat them all]( Lara Marks, University of Cambridge; Ankur Mutreja, University of Cambridge A universal vaccine has been described as the ‘holy grail’ – but how close are we to getting one? - [Joséphine Baker: artist, activist, resistance fighter and now honored in France’s Panthéon]( Clare Church, Aberystwyth University Baker will be the sixth woman, first entertainer and first Black woman to enter after a successful petition from her family and fans. - [A quarter of Sun-like stars eat their own planets, according to new research]( Lorenzo Spina, Monash University By studying the chemical makeup of binary stars, astronomers found many planetary systems are far less peaceful than ours. [The Conversation]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation]( 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451 [Forward to a friend]( • [Unsubscribe](