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Helper bots in online communities diminish human interaction

  • Written by John Lalor, Assistant Professor of IT, Analytics, and Operations, University of Notre Dame
imageBots can be helpful in online communities, but they can also come between people.mathisworks/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images

When bots – automated agents that perform tasks on behalf of humans – become more active in online communities, it has profound effects on how humans interact with each other on those platforms. Bots...

Read more: Helper bots in online communities diminish human interaction

Digital imperialism: How US social media firms are using American law to challenge global tech regulation

  • Written by Yasmin Curzi de Mendonça, Research associate, University of Virginia
imageThe CEOs of Meta, Amazon, Google and X -- Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk -- attend the inauguration of Donald Trump on Jan. 20, 2025.Photo by Ricky Carioti - Pool/Getty Images

Social media platforms tend not to be that bothered by national boundaries.

Take X, for example. Users of what was once called Twitter span the...

Read more: Digital imperialism: How US social media firms are using American law to challenge global tech...

Debate over H-1B visas shines spotlight on US tech worker shortages

  • Written by Moshe Y. Vardi, Professor of Computer Science, Rice University
imageBabson College graduate students from India type on their computers in Wellesley, Mass., on June 30, 2016.AP Photo/Charles Krupa

A heated debate has recently erupted between two groups of supporters of President Donald Trump. The dispute concerns the H-1B visa system, the program that allows U.S. employers to hire skilled foreign workers in...

Read more: Debate over H-1B visas shines spotlight on US tech worker shortages

What causes the powerful winds that fuel dust storms, wildfires and blizzards? A weather scientist explains

  • Written by Chris Nowotarski, Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science, Texas A&M University
imageWhen huge dust storms like this one in the Phoenix suburbs in 2022 hit, it's easy to see the power of the wind.Christopher Harris/iStock Images via Getty Plus

Windstorms can seem like they come out of nowhere, hitting with a sudden blast. They might be hundreds of miles long, stretching over several states, or just in your neighborhood.

But they all...

Read more: What causes the powerful winds that fuel dust storms, wildfires and blizzards? A weather scientist...

Trump administration seeks to starve libraries and museums of funding by shuttering this little-known agency

  • Written by Devon Akmon, Director of the MSU Museum and CoLab Studio, Michigan State University
imageExplorationWorks, a children's museum in Helena, Mont., received $151,946 in 2024 from the IMLS to expand its early childhood programs.Lisa Wareham

On March 14, 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order that called for the dismantling of seven federal agencies “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” They...

Read more: Trump administration seeks to starve libraries and museums of funding by shuttering this...

Tyrannical leader? Why comparisons between Trump and King George III miss the mark on 18th-century British monarchy

  • Written by Carla Gardina Pestana, Professor and Joyce Appleby Endowed Chair of America in the World, University of California, Los Angeles
imageAre there legitimate comparisons between President Donald Trump and King George III?Rebecca Noble/Getty Images; Kean Collection/Getty Images

George III, king of Great Britain and its colonies at the time of the American Revolution, has been maligned unfairly.

During both the first and now the second term of President Donald Trump, commentators in...

Read more: Tyrannical leader? Why comparisons between Trump and King George III miss the mark on 18th-century...

5 years on, true counts of COVID-19 deaths remain elusive − and research is hobbled by lack of data

  • Written by Dylan Thomas Doyle, Ph.D. Candidate in Information Science, University of Colorado Boulder
imageNational COVID-19 memorial wall for the five-year anniversary on March 11, 2025, in London, England.Andrew Aitchison/In Pictures via Getty Images

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers struggled to grasp the rate of the virus’s spread and the number of related deaths. While hospitals tracked cases and deaths within their...

Read more: 5 years on, true counts of COVID-19 deaths remain elusive − and research is hobbled by lack of data

Atlantic sturgeon were fished almost to extinction − ancient DNA reveals how Chesapeake Bay population changed over centuries

  • Written by Natalia Przelomska, Research Associate in Archaeogenomics, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
imageSturgeon can be several hundred pounds each.cezars/E+ via Getty Images

Sturgeons are one of the oldest groups of fishes. Sporting an armor of five rows of bony, modified scales called dermal scutes and a sharklike tail fin, this group of several-hundred-pound beasts has survived for approximately 160 million years. Because their physical appearance...

Read more: Atlantic sturgeon were fished almost to extinction − ancient DNA reveals how Chesapeake Bay...

Insomnia can lead to heart issues − a psychologist recommends changes that can improve sleep

  • Written by Julio Fernandez-Mendoza, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Neuroscience, and Public Health Sciences, Penn State
imageBetter sleep hygiene habits may help with insomnia.Tetra Images via Getty Images

About 10% of Americans say they have chronic insomnia, and millions of others report poor sleep quality. Ongoing research has found that bad sleep could lead to numerous health problems, including heart disease.

Dr. Julio Fernandez-Mendoza is a professor of psychiatry...

Read more: Insomnia can lead to heart issues − a psychologist recommends changes that can improve sleep

How power imbalance, misread signs and strategic blunders clouded Hamas’ judgment over Gaza ceasefire

  • Written by Mkhaimar Abusada, Visiting Scholar of Global Affairs, Northwestern University

In late February 2025, senior Hamas leader and ex-chairman of its politburo, Mousa Abu Marzouk, said he would not have supported Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel had he known how destructive Israel’s response would have been.

That remarkably frank admission takes on renewed relevance now, just weeks later, after the resumption of...

Read more: How power imbalance, misread signs and strategic blunders clouded Hamas’ judgment over Gaza...

More Articles ...

  1. Arrested and stripped of degree: Twin moves to bar Istanbul mayor from ballot suggests Turkey’s Erdogan is really worried this time
  2. Trump’s defiance of a federal court order fuels a constitutional crisis − a legal scholar unpacks the complicated case
  3. US isn’t first country to dismantle its foreign aid office − here’s what happened after the UK killed its version of USAID
  4. Revoking EPA’s endangerment finding – the keystone of US climate policies – won’t be simple and could have unintended consequences
  5. The Gaza ceasefire is dead − Israeli domestic politics killed it
  6. Measles cases are on the rise − here’s how to make sure you’re protected
  7. Humans aren’t the only animals with complex culture − but researchers point to one feature that makes ours unique
  8. Fires, wars and bureaucracy: The tumultuous journey to establish the US National Archives
  9. Can animals make art?
  10. Shaken baby syndrome can cause permanent brain damage, long-term disabilities or death – a pediatrician examines the preventable tragedy
  11. Donald Trump’s nonstop news-making can be exhausting, making it harder for people to scrutinize his presidential actions
  12. The story of the Great Migration often overlooks Black businesses that built Detroit
  13. As mountain glaciers melt, risk of catastrophic flash floods rises for millions − World Day for Glaciers carries a reminder
  14. Social media design is key to protecting kids online
  15. As mountain glaciers melt, risk of catastrophic flash floods rises for millions
  16. High school sports are losing athletes to private clubs, but schools can keep them by focusing on character development
  17. Why history instruction is critical for combating online misinformation
  18. An artist traces her choices under Putin’s Russia – from resistance to retreat to exile – one mural at a time
  19. A brief history of Medicaid and America’s long struggle to establish a health care safety net
  20. People say they prefer stories written by humans over AI-generated works, yet new study suggests that’s not quite true
  21. Plastic pyrolysis − chemists explain a technique attempting to tackle plastic waste by bringing the heat
  22. Social movements constrained Trump in his first term – more than people realize
  23. Water cooperation is essential when countries share lakes and rivers – yet it’s been deteriorating in many places, with serious consequences
  24. Spanish speakers in Philadelphia break traditional rules of formal and informal speech in signs around town
  25. Beatings, overcrowding and food deprivation: US deportees face distressing human rights conditions in El Salvador’s mega-prison
  26. Trump is using the Alien Enemies Act to deport immigrants – but the 18th-century law has been invoked only during times of war
  27. Cells lining your skin and organs can generate electricity when injured − potentially opening new doors to treating wounds
  28. Researchers created sound that can bend itself through space, reaching only your ear in a crowd
  29. Washington Post’s turnaround on its opinion pages is returning journalism to its partisan roots − but without the principles
  30. What is the rules-based order? How this global system has shifted from ‘liberal’ origins − and where it could be heading next
  31. Colorado and other states have expanded access to abortion, but not for adolescents
  32. Fewer deaths, new substances and evolving treatments in Philly’s opioid epidemic − 4 essential reads
  33. Remembering China’s Empress Dowager Ling, a Buddhist who paved the way for future female rulers
  34. From pulpits to protest, the surprising history of the phrase ‘pride and prejudice’
  35. The US military has cared about climate change since the dawn of the Cold War – for good reason
  36. Museums have tons of data, and AI could make it more accessible − but standardizing and organizing it across fields won’t be easy
  37. What was the first thing scientists discovered? A historian makes the case for Babylonian astronomy
  38. Trump’s first term polarized teens’ views on racism and inequality
  39. Why was it hard for the GOP – which controls Congress – to pass its spending bill?
  40. Saudi Arabia’s role as Ukraine war mediator advances Gulf nation’s diplomatic rehabilitation − and boosts its chances of a seat at the table should Iran-US talks resume
  41. See you in the funny papers: How superhero comics tell the story of Jewish America
  42. Radioisotope generators − inside the ‘nuclear batteries’ that power faraway spacecraft
  43. The psychology behind anti-trans legislation: How cognitive biases shape thoughts and policy
  44. Big cuts at the Education Department’s civil rights office will affect vulnerable students for years to come
  45. When algorithms take the field – inside MLB’s robo-umping experiment
  46. Simple strategies can boost vaccination rates for adults over 65 − new study
  47. The push to restore semiconductor manufacturing faces a labor crisis − can the US train enough workers in time?
  48. When humans use AI to earn patents, who is doing the inventing?
  49. Why parents of ‘twice-exceptional’ children choose homeschooling over public school
  50. Environmental protection laws still apply even under Trump’s national energy emergency − here’s why