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Americans witnessed a chaotic presidential debate last night, punctuated by interruptions, insults and incivility. President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden rarely engaged in a substantive discussion over issues, with the moderator struggling to maintain control.
We invited three scholars to watch the debate. In dissecting the back-and-forth over Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, University of Oregon political scientist Alison Gash summed up the overall tenor of the evening and its lack of depth:
“The debate did little to resolve questions about the future of the court – other than to shore up Supreme Court nominations as political bombs with volatile consequences,” she wrote.
Also today:
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President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden at the first debate of the presidential campaign.
AP/Julio Cortez and AP/Patrick Semansky
Alison Gash, University of Oregon; Alexander Cohen, Clarkson University; Rashawn Ray, University of Maryland
They shouted, they interrupted, they insulted – and not entirely in equal measure. But Biden and Trump also touched on the issues occasionally. Our panel of experts analyzed three key exchanges.
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Health
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Irène Mathieu, University of Virginia
A pediatrician answers parents' questions about catching up on missed childhood vaccinations and why that's so important.
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Science + Technology
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Paul Deutchman, Boston College
Unfairness alone is upsetting enough to drive people to punish lucky recipients of unfair outcomes.
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Ethics + Religion
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Jeremy David Engels, Pennsylvania State University
An ancient Indian greeting is replacing the handshake. An expert explains its roots and why it affirms our inter-connectedness with one another.
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Environment + Energy
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Julie Brigham-Grette, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Steve Petsch, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Extreme shrinkage of summer sea ice is just the latest evidence of rapid Arctic warming – and what happens in the Arctic doesn't stay there.
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Politics/Election '20
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John Rothchild, Wayne State University
To overhaul an election redistricting process tainted by gerrymandering, Michigan has adopted a governance mechanism prominent 2,500 years ago in ancient Athens, the birthplace of democracy.
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Education
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Kui Xie, The Ohio State University
Digital educational resources are likely to remain indispensable for modern K-12 classrooms, even after the coronavirus pandemic ends.
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Trending on site
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Pieter Visscher, University of Connecticut; Brendan Paul Burns, UNSW; Kimberley L. Gallagher, Quinnipiac University
How ancient microbes survived in a world without oxygen has been a mystery. Scientists discovered a living microbial mat that uses arsenic instead of oxygen for photosynthesis and respiration.
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Curd Knüpfer, Freie Universität Berlin; Robert Mathew Entman, George Washington University
The conservative cable news channel particularly favors the term when explaining opposition to Donald Trump. This framing of the news can lead Fox viewers to see the world as us versus them.
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James Piazza, Pennsylvania State University
My research shows that when politicians use hate speech, it's not just empty rhetoric or political theater: Domestic terrorism increases, in the US and in other countries.
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