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AI-induced cultural stagnation is no longer speculation − it’s already happening

  • Written by Ahmed Elgammal, Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Art & AI Lab, Rutgers University
imageWhen generative AI was left to its own devices, its outputs landed on a set of generic images – what researchers called 'visual elevator music.'Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images

Generative AI was trained on centuries of art and writing produced by humans.

But scientistsand critics have wondered what would happen once AI became widely adopted and...

Read more: AI-induced cultural stagnation is no longer speculation − it’s already happening

‘Expertise’ shouldn’t be a bad word – expert consensus guides science and society

  • Written by Micah Altman, Research Scientist, MIT Libraries, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
imageTraining and experience are the foundation for a group of experts to provide solid guidance.Tashi-Delek/E+ via Getty Images

A growing distrust of expertise is reshaping the terrain of science in the United States.

Since the pandemic, the partisan divide over science has widened dramatically. While 77% of Americans have at least a fair amount of...

Read more: ‘Expertise’ shouldn’t be a bad word – expert consensus guides science and society

Trump’s insistence on personal loyalty from ambassadors could crimp US foreign policy

  • Written by David Lindsey, Professor of Political Science, Baruch College, CUNY
imagePresident Trump's mass firing of career ambassadors was unprecedented.AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Just before Christmas, President Donald Trump fired more than two dozen career ambassadors. The action was unprecedented, providing a clear signal that when it comes to diplomacy, Trump values loyalty above all else.

All ambassadors face a persistent tension...

Read more: Trump’s insistence on personal loyalty from ambassadors could crimp US foreign policy

Hacking the grid: How digital sabotage turns infrastructure into a weapon

  • Written by Saman Zonouz, Associate Professor of Cybersecurity and Privacy and Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
imageToday's power grid equipment incorporates internet-connected – and therefore hackable – computers.Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The darkness that swept over the Venezuelan capital in the predawn hours of Jan. 3, 2026, signaled a profound shift in the nature of modern conflict: the convergence of physical and cyber warfare. While U.S. special...

Read more: Hacking the grid: How digital sabotage turns infrastructure into a weapon

Lebanon’s orchards have been burnt, wildlife habitat destroyed by Israeli strikes – raising troubling international law questions

  • Written by Mireille Rebeiz, Chair of Middle East Studies, Dickinson College
imageSmoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanese villages on Sept. 23, 2024. AP Photo / Hussein Malla

More than a year after a ceasefire nominally ended active fighting, much of southern Lebanon bears the ecological scars of war. Avocado orchards are gone and beehives destroyed. So, too, are the livelihoods they supported. Meanwhile, fields...

Read more: Lebanon’s orchards have been burnt, wildlife habitat destroyed by Israeli strikes – raising...

Companies are already using agentic AI to make decisions, but governance is lagging behind

  • Written by Murugan Anandarajan, Professor of Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems, Drexel University

Businesses are acting fast to adopt agentic AI – artificial intelligence systems that work without human guidance – but have been much slower to put governance in place to oversee them, a new survey shows. That mismatch is a major source of risk in AI adoption. In my view, it’s also a business opportunity.

I’m a professor of...

Read more: Companies are already using agentic AI to make decisions, but governance is lagging behind

US turns its back on global efforts for women and children terrorized by violence and conflict

  • Written by Shelley Inglis, Senior Visiting Scholar with the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University
imageSecretary of State Marco Rubio, center, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz listen as President Donald Trump speaks to the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 23, 2025, in New York.AP Photo/Evan Vucci

The Trump administration’s recent announcement that it is withdrawing from 66 international organizations and treaties is another...

Read more: US turns its back on global efforts for women and children terrorized by violence and conflict

A government can choose to investigate the killing of a protester − or choose to blame the victim and pin it all on ‘domestic terrorism’

  • Written by Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin, Frank and Bethine Church Endowed Chair of Public Affairs, Boise State University
imageHas it become perilous to exercise free speech in the U.S.?nadia_bormotova/iStock Getty Images

The question the First Amendment keeps asking, across wars and panics and moral crusades, is whether a democracy can tolerate the possibility of persuasion.

There’s a certain school of thought that says no. Persuasion is too perilous.

I call this way...

Read more: A government can choose to investigate the killing of a protester − or choose to blame the victim...

When it comes to developing policies on AI in K-12, schools are largely on their own

  • Written by Janice Mak, Assistant Director and Clinical Assistant Professor, Arizona State University

Generative artificial intelligence technology is rapidly reshaping education in unprecedented ways. With its potential benefits and risks, K-12 schools are actively trying to adapt teaching and learning.

But as schools seek to navigate into the age of generative AI, there’s a challenge: Schools are operating in a policy vacuum. While a...

Read more: When it comes to developing policies on AI in K-12, schools are largely on their own

Bearing witness after the witnesses are gone: How to bring Holocaust education home for a new generation

  • Written by Chad Gibbs, Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies, College of Charleston
imageJoe Engel, joined here by fellow Holocaust survivors Rose Goldberg and Diny K. Adkins, along with College of Charleston students, dedicated his later years to speaking about his experiences during the Holocaust.Courtesy of the Zucker/Goldberg Center for Holocaust Studies

Joe Engel was and remains an icon in Charleston, South Carolina. Born in...

Read more: Bearing witness after the witnesses are gone: How to bring Holocaust education home for a new...

More Articles ...

  1. From ancient Rome to today, war-makers have talked constantly about peace
  2. Antibiotic resistance could undo a century of medical progress – but four advances are changing the story
  3. Filming ICE is legal but exposes you to digital tracking – here’s how to minimize the risk
  4. Federal immigration enforcement near schools disrupts attendance, traumatizes students and damages their academic performance
  5. America’s next big clean energy resource could come from coal mine pollution – if we can agree on who owns it
  6. Despite its steep environmental costs, AI might also help save the planet
  7. Why ‘unwinding’ with screens may be making us more stressed – here’s what to try instead
  8. America’s next big critical minerals source could be coal mine pollution – if we can agree on who owns it
  9. The only thing limiting Taylor Swift’s popularity is partisan polarization
  10. Trump’s stated reasons for taking Greenland are wrong – but the tactics fit with the plan to limit China’s economic interests
  11. The world is in water bankruptcy, UN scientists report – here’s what that means
  12. AI cannot automate science – a philosopher explains the uniquely human aspects of doing research
  13. What ‘hope’ has represented in Christian history – and what it might mean now
  14. Some hard-earned lessons from Detroit on how to protect the safety net for community partners in research
  15. Iran’s universities have long been a battleground, where protests happen and students fight for the future
  16. Why Philly has so many sinkholes
  17. What air pollution does to the human body
  18. What triumphalist narratives about Brazil’s high court and Bolsonaro imprisonment leave out
  19. What a bear attack in a remote valley in Nepal tells us about the problem of aging rural communities
  20. Opera is not dying – but it needs a second act for the streaming era
  21. Trump’s Greenland ambitions could wreck 20th-century alliances that helped build the modern world order
  22. Are there thunderstorms on Mars? A planetary scientist explains the red planet’s dry, dusty storms
  23. An ultrathin coating for electronics looked like a miracle insulator − but a hidden leak fooled researchers for over a decade
  24. For 80 years, the president’s party has almost always lost House seats in midterm elections, a pattern that makes the 2026 congressional outlook clear
  25. Chavismo has adapted before – but can Venezuela’s leftist ideology become US friendly and survive?
  26. Supreme Court is set to rule on constitutionality of Trump tariffs – but not their wisdom
  27. 12 ways the Trump administration dismantled civil rights law and the foundations of inclusive democracy in its first year
  28. Thecla, the beast fighter: The saint who faced down lions and killer seals is one of many ‘leading ladies’ in early Christian texts
  29. American farmers, who once fed the world, face a volatile global market with diminishing federal backing
  30. Deep reading can boost your critical thinking and help you resist misinformation – here’s how to build the skill
  31. Iran’s latest internet blackout extends to phones and Starlink
  32. New variant of the flu virus is driving surge of cases across the US and Canada
  33. International aid groups are dealing with the pain of slashed USAID funding by cutting staff, localizing and coordinating better
  34. Colorado ranchers and consumers can team up to make beef supply chains more sustainable
  35. Raccoons break into liquor stores, scale skyscrapers and pick locks – studying their clever brains can clarify human intelligence, too
  36. Googoosh, the ‘Voice of Iran,’ has gone quiet – and that’s her point
  37. The Insurrection Act is one of at least 26 legal loopholes in the law banning the use of the US military domestically
  38. Global power struggles over the ocean’s finite resources call for creative diplomacy
  39. China’s new condom tax will prove no effective barrier to country’s declining fertility rate
  40. Refugee families are more likely to become self-reliant if provided with support outside of camp settings
  41. The hidden power of grief rituals
  42. Science is best communicated through identity and culture – how researchers are ensuring STEM serves their communities
  43. How is China viewing US actions in Venezuela – an affront, an opportunity or a blueprint?
  44. One cure for sour feelings about politics − getting people to love their hometowns
  45. Most of the 1 million Venezuelans in the United States arrived within the past decade
  46. How mountain terraces have helped Indigenous peoples live with climate uncertainty
  47. Supreme Court likely to reject limits on concealed carry but uphold bans on gun possession by drug users
  48. New Year’s resolutions usually fall by the wayside, but there is a better approach to making real changes
  49. Before Venezuela’s oil, there were Guatemala’s bananas
  50. Searching reporters’ homes, suing journalists and repressing citizen dissent are well-known steps toward autocracy