The approach of the first winter storm usually raises a number of issues and problems that are of keen interest to scientists and social scientists. While snowfall accumulation often is the focus of breaking-news coverage, there are many other data-driven ways to look at storms and the challenges that cold weather present.

Marianne English is a freelance health and science writer whose articles for Discovery News often focus on academic research. While pursuing a master’s degree in journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she continues to publish pieces on a wide variety of subjects — everything from baseball and education to sharks and HIV.

From the Scholars Strategy Network, written by Matthew G. Springer of Vanderbilt University’s National Center on Performance Incentives. This piece has been edited for Journalist’s Resource.

Across the country, public restrooms have become the subject of heated debate as school district officials, state legislators, federal authorities and business leaders argue over the appropriateness of unisex bathrooms and whether transgender individuals should be able to use facilities that match the gender with which they identify.