NewsPronto

 
Times Advertising


.

The Conversation

There is a lot of antisemitic hate speech on social media – and algorithms are partly to blame

  • Written by Sabine von Mering, Director, Center for German and European Studies, Brandeis University
imageSocial media is being used all over the world to express hatred of Jews.Urupong/ iStock / Getty Images Plus

Antisemitic incidents have shown a sharp rise in the United States. The Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based Jewish civil rights group that has been tracking cases since 1979, found that there were 2,717 incidents in 2021. This represents...

Read more: There is a lot of antisemitic hate speech on social media – and algorithms are partly to blame

Russians reportedly building a satellite-blinding laser – an expert explains the technology

  • Written by Iain Boyd, Professor of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder
imageA powerful enough laser beam could blind spy satellites.MuthuKutty/Wikimedia, CC BY-SA

Russia is building a new ground-based laser facility for interfering with satellites orbiting overhead, according to a recent report in The Space Review. The basic idea would be to dazzle the optical sensors of other nations’ spy satellites by flooding them...

Read more: Russians reportedly building a satellite-blinding laser – an expert explains the technology

A brief history of Esperanto, the 135-year-old language of peace hated by Hitler and Stalin alike

  • Written by Joshua Holzer, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Westminster College
imageAn Esperanto teacher instructs a class in a room with a painting of the language's creator on the wall.Janek Skarzynski/AFP via Getty Images

In the late 1800s, the city of Białystok – which was once Polish, then Prussian, then Russian, and is today again part of Poland – was a hub of diversity, with large numbers of Poles, Germans,...

Read more: A brief history of Esperanto, the 135-year-old language of peace hated by Hitler and Stalin alike

Cross-pollination among neuroscience, psychology and AI research yields a foundational understanding of thinking

  • Written by Paul S. Rosenbloom, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of Southern California
imageIf you want to build a true artificial mind, start with a model of human cognition.DrAfter123/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

Progress in artificial intelligence has enabled the creation of AIs that perform tasks previously thought only possible for humans, such as translating languages, driving cars, playing board games at world-champion...

Read more: Cross-pollination among neuroscience, psychology and AI research yields a foundational...

Dispirited homebuyers show why Fed's unprecedented fight against inflation is beginning to succeed

  • Written by Mark Flannery, Professor of Finance, University of Florida
imageHome sales are slowing as the Fed hikes rates. AP Photo/John Raoux

I’ve studied finance and financial markets since the 1970s, and I have never seen the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy get such prominent news coverage as it has this past year.

And with good reason. What the Fed does has profound implications for companies, consumers...

Read more: Dispirited homebuyers show why Fed's unprecedented fight against inflation is beginning to succeed

Astronomers have found an especially sneaky black hole – discovery sheds light on star death, black hole formation and gravitational waves

  • Written by Idan Ginsburg, Academic Faculty in Physics & Astronomy, Georgia State University
imageVFTS 243 is a binary system of a large, hot blue star and a black hole orbiting each other, as seen in this animation.ESO/L.Calçada, CC BY

There is always something new and exciting happening in the field of black hole research.

Albert Einstein first published his book explaining the theory of general relativity – which postulated...

Read more: Astronomers have found an especially sneaky black hole – discovery sheds light on star death,...

Why do hammerhead sharks have hammer-shaped heads?

  • Written by Gavin Naylor, Director of Florida Program for Shark Research, University of Florida
imageA great hammerhead shark's two eyes can be 3 feet apart on opposite sides of its skull.Ken Kiefer 2/Image Source via Getty Imagesimage

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Why do hammerhead sharks have hammer-shaped heads? –...

Read more: Why do hammerhead sharks have hammer-shaped heads?

Overturning Roe is not making laws reflect what people want -- new survey highlights flaws in Supreme Court's reasoning in returning abortion authority to states

  • Written by Matthew A Baum, Marvin Kalb Professor of Global Communications & Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
imageThe Savannah Medical Clinic, which provided abortions for four decades in Savannah, Ga., is closed now. AP Photo/Russ Bynum

Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, multiple states have enacted laws prohibiting or restricting women from obtaining an abortion.

Justice Samuel Alito,...

Read more: Overturning Roe is not making laws reflect what people want -- new survey highlights flaws in...

Alcohol use more likely among Black youths at racially segregated schools

  • Written by Guangyi Wang, Research Specialist, University of California, San Francisco
imageCould structural racism in U.S. schools lead more young African Americans to drink?Jose A. Bernat Bacete / Getty Images

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

Black youths who attend racially segregated schools are more likely to have drinking and behavior problems during childhood than Black youths in less...

Read more: Alcohol use more likely among Black youths at racially segregated schools

More Articles ...

  1. Polio in New York – an infectious disease doctor explains this exceedingly rare occurrence
  2. Sri Lanka's crisis: Can the South Asian economy break from the past and find a route to stability?
  3. Surveillance is pervasive: Yes, you are being watched, even if no one is looking for you
  4. Italy heading to snap election as unity coalition crumbles: Explaining the nation's fragmented party system
  5. How a 1989 poster became a fixture on the front lines in the battle over abortion rights
  6. How to navigate self-managed abortion issues such as access, wait times and complications – a family physician explains
  7. Utah's Pioneer Day celebrates Mormons' trek west – but there's a lot more to the history of Latter-day Saints and migration
  8. Food expiration dates don't have much science behind them – a food safety researcher explains another way to know what's too old to eat
  9. Jan. 6 committee set to examine Trump's connection to Capitol rioters – a militia expert explains this complex relationship
  10. Supreme Court reversed almost 200 years of US law and tradition upholding tribal sovereignty in its latest term
  11. Silent, subtle and unseen: How seizures happen and why they're hard to diagnose
  12. It’s a myth that sunscreen prevents melanoma in people of color – a dermatologist explains
  13. Losing a grandmother can have long-lasting mental health effects for kids and adolescents, a new study finds
  14. Human garbage is a plentiful but dangerous source of food for polar bears finding it harder to hunt seals on dwindling sea ice
  15. Warsaw Ghetto's defiant Jewish doctors secretly documented the medical effects of Nazi starvation policies in a book recently rediscovered on a library shelf
  16. Why are drug names so long and complicated? A pharmacist explains the logic behind the nomenclature
  17. The westward spread of zebra and quagga mussels shows how tiny invaders can cause big problems
  18. Heat risk and young athletes — rising temperatures lead to lawsuits and environmental injustice
  19. Behind the crisis in Sri Lanka – how political and economic mismanagement combined to plunge nation into turmoil
  20. When did the first fish live on Earth – and how do scientists figure out the timing?
  21. Political crowdfunding does more than raise money – it can also rile up opponents
  22. Children are bombarded with violence in the news – here's how to help them cope
  23. Lost touch with someone? Reach out – your friend will likely appreciate it more than you think
  24. Abortion funds may not be able to keep up with rising demands, as more people travel out of state for the procedure
  25. To reduce harmful algal blooms and dead zones, the US needs a national strategy for regulating farm pollution
  26. Shinto religion has long been entangled with Japan's politics – and Shinzo Abe was associated with many of its groups
  27. The Supreme Court's ideological rulings are roiling US politics – just as when Lincoln and his Republicans remade the court to fit their agenda
  28. Is monkeypox a pandemic? An epidemiologist explains why it isn’t likely to become as widespread as COVID-19, but is worth watching
  29. How sustainable manufacturing could help reduce the environmental impact of industry
  30. More young voters could come out to vote in November, sparked by abortion and other hot political issues
  31. Young people in the Middle East struggle to see a promising future
  32. Monsters are everywhere in the Bible – and some are even human
  33. Y chromosome loss through aging can lead to an increased risk of heart failure and death from cardiovascular disease, new research finds
  34. Swelling grocery bills are pummeling the poorest – who spend over a quarter of their incomes on food
  35. Decrying Nazism – even when it's not there – has been Russia's 'Invade country for free' card
  36. Enriching uranium is the key factor in how quickly Iran could produce a nuclear weapon – here's where it stands today
  37. With Trump's role on Jan. 6 becoming clearer, and potentially criminal, GOP voters are starting to look at different options
  38. France reenters medical marijuana industry after more than a half-century hiatus – a cannabis historian explains
  39. Manuscripts and art support archaeological evidence that syphilis was in Europe long before explorers could have brought it home from the Americas
  40. Cannabis prohibition in France over the past 50 years has disproportionately punished its Muslim minority
  41. A case for retreat in the age of fire
  42. James Webb Space Telescope: An astronomer explains the stunning, newly released first images
  43. Former Oath Keeper reveals racist, antisemitic beliefs of white nationalist group – and their plans to start a civil war
  44. US abortion restrictions are unlikely to influence international trends, which are largely becoming more liberal
  45. Gifted-student screenings often miss poor students who should qualify
  46. D.B. Cooper, the changing nature of hijackings and the foundation for today's airport security
  47. June jobs report suggests Fed could avoid a recession – but room for error is minuscule
  48. NASA's head warned that China may try to claim the Moon – two space scholars explain why that's unlikely to happen
  49. Cassidy Hutchinson and Greek tragedy show that courage is rare and cowardice more common
  50. Biopsies confirm a breast cancer diagnosis after an abnormal mammogram – but structural racism may lead to lengthy delays