Disaster risk ratings hit home

+ hawkish Fed telegraphs more rate hikes; Ukraine's Saint Sophia Cathedral threatened US Edition - Today's top story: Flood and wildfire risks: Translating risk ratings into future costs can help homebuyers and renters grasp the odds – and act on them [View in browser]( US Edition | 28 July 2022 [The Conversation]( A powerful storm system triggered flash flooding across the St. Louis area and in the Appalachian Mountains this week, turning creeks into rivers that flooded basements and trashed homes. People living near waterways may have seen flood risk maps or hazard ratings for the area before, but just knowing your home faces a flood risk of 7 on a scale of 10 doesn’t always convey the damage potential. Many real estate websites now offer flood and wildfire risk ratings for each property as disaster risks worsen in many areas. But the ratings aren’t helping enough, a team of emergency management experts in Arizona and Florida writes. The problem isn’t necessarily that homebuyers are ignoring the numbers, “it’s that the way risk information is being presented ignores long-established lessons from behavioral science,” they write. They’re proposing [a different kind of rating that gets closer to something people instinctively relate to: their bank accounts](. Also today: - [Time for term limits for Supreme Court justices?]( - [Mobile homes could help fix housing problems]( - [Refugees are being sent to poorer countries in exchange for money]( Stacy Morford Environment + Climate Editor Repairing storm damage is expensive, and insurance covers less than many people realize. Sean Rayford/Getty Images [Flood and wildfire risks: Translating risk ratings into future costs can help homebuyers and renters grasp the odds – and act on them]( Melanie Gall, Arizona State University; Christopher Emrich, University of Central Florida; Marie Aquilino, Arizona State University Telling people they have a flood risk rating of 10 is less powerful than explaining how much they’re likely to pay to deal with flooding over the next five years. Economy + Business - [A hawkish Fed signals further rate hikes and sees a slowing economy – but not recession]( Arabinda Basistha, West Virginia University The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by an additional three-quarters of a percentage point. An economist explains what this means for the economy. - [‘Rage giving’: Charities can get a boost from current events, such as controversial Supreme Court rulings]( Jennifer A. Taylor, James Madison University ; Katrina Miller-Stevens, Colorado College These donors can experience an emotional release by channeling their feelings into something they consider positive. Ethics + Religion - [Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens a cultural heritage the two countries share, including Saint Sophia Cathedral]( J. Eugene Clay, Arizona State University Saint Sophia Cathedral was built under the reign of Grand Prince Yaroslav, whose father, Volodymyr, converted the region to Christianity. Politics + Society - [Western countries are shipping refugees to poorer nations in exchange for cash]( Tazreena Sajjad, American University School of International Service A UK plan to move asylum seekers on its shores to Rwanda has been met with stiff opposition from human rights organizations. But the UK persists, and Rwanda is all too willing. - [How do grand juries work? Their major role in criminal justice, and why prosecutors are using them to investigate efforts to overturn the 2020 election]( Peter A. Joy, Washington University in St Louis Grand juries are meeting in Georgia and Washington, D.C., as part of investigations into attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. How do they work? - [After Roe’s overturning, Americans are demanding Supreme Court term limits]( Paul M. Collins, Jr., UMass Amherst; Artemus Ward, Northern Illinois University Unlike in most countries, US Supreme Court justices enjoy life tenure. Some legal scholars believe that centuries-old custom, meant to protect judicial independence, no longer serves the public. Environment + Energy - [Debunking stereotypes about mobile homes could make them a new face of affordable housing]( Zachary Lamb, University of California, Berkeley; Jason Spicer, University of Toronto; Linda Shi, Cornell University Manufactured housing – the preferred name for what were once called mobile homes – has changed dramatically in recent decades. Three planning experts call for giving it a new look. Education - [What the US can learn about apartheid-era book bans in South Africa]( Helen Sarah Kapstein, John Jay College of Criminal Justice A scholar of literature sees striking parallels between contemporary book bans in the US and those that took place in South Africa during apartheid. - [Women are better at statistics than they think]( Jonathan B. Santo, University of Nebraska Omaha; Kelly Rhea MacArthur, University of Nebraska Omaha Female statistics students had higher final exam grades than their male peers, even though they had less confidence in their statistics abilities at the start of the semester. Trending on site - [To search for alien life, astronomers will look for clues in the atmospheres of distant planets – and the James Webb Space Telescope just proved it’s possible to do so]( - [Cross-pollination among neuroscience, psychology and AI research yields a foundational understanding of thinking]( - [A brief history of Esperanto, the 135-year-old language of peace hated by Hitler and Stalin alike]( Today's graphic [A line graph with two lines comparing the federal funds rate and the 30-year mortgage rate from 1971 to 2022.]( From the story, [Dispirited homebuyers show why Fed’s unprecedented fight against inflation is beginning to succeed]( - - About The Conversation: We're a nonprofit news organization dedicated to [helping academic experts share ideas with the public](. We can give away our articles thanks to the help of foundations, universities and readers like you. [Donate now to support research-based journalism]( [The Conversation]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation]( 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451 [Forward to a friend]( • [Unsubscribe](