The Conversation

Language AIs in 2024: Size, guardrails and steps toward AI agents

Written by John Licato, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Director of AMHR Lab, University of South Florida

2024 saw smaller models and new guardrails for language AIs.pagadesign/E+ via Getty Images

I research the intersection of artificial intelligence, natural language processing and human reasoning as the director of the Advancing Human and Machine Reasoning lab at the University of South Florida. I am also commercializing this research in an AI...

2 populations of dark comets in the solar system could tell researchers where the Earth got its oceans

Written by Darryl Z. Seligman, Postdoctoral Fellow in Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University

Dark comets accelerate through space but don't have a dusty tail like most comets. Adina Feinstein and NASA’s Earth Observatory

The water that makes up the oceans acted as a key ingredient for the development of life on Earth. However, scientists still do not know where the water here on Earth came from in the first place.

One leading idea is...

Detroit’s reparations task force now has until 2025 to make its report, but going slow with this challenging work may not be a bad thing

Written by Kamri Hudgins, Doctoral Candidate in Political Science, University of Michigan

Members of the task force listen at a public meeting.Screenshot/Channel 10

The work of crafting reparations at the municipal level is fierce.

Detroiters know. In November 2021, residents voted to create a reparations committee that would make recommendations for housing and economic development programs to address historical discrimination against...

Climate of fear is driving local officials to quit – new study from California finds threats, abuse rampant

Written by Rachel Locke, Director, Violence, Inequality and Power Lab, Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, University of San Diego

Threats and harassment are pushing some politicians out of office, scaring off some would-be candidates and even compelling some elected officials to change their vote.

Those are some of the conclusions of a new study I led on political violence in Southern California.

Rising threats against public officials is a national problem.

Between 2013 and...

What does the US attorney general actually do? A law professor explains

Written by Jennifer Selin, Associate Professor of Law, Arizona State University

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland during a news conference announcing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple on March 21, 2024. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Shortly after former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration to serve as U.S. attorney general, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would nominate Pam Bondi for the...

3D-printed guns, like the one allegedly used to kill a health care CEO, are a growing threat in the US and around the world

Written by Nir Kshetri, Professor of Management, University of North Carolina – Greensboro

A federal firearms official displays several guns that are either entirely or partially 3D-printed.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Police investigating the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024, have announced that the suspected assailant had used a 3D-printed gun. Several high-profile crimes in recent years have involved...

Colorado now has one of the nation’s most liberal abortion access laws, but ballot measures to restrict abortion have a long history in the state

Written by Anne Whitesell, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Miami University

With the passage of Amendment 79 in November 2024, Colorado voters enshrined the right to abortion in the state constitution. The amendment solidifies the state’s status as one of the most liberal in the country on the issue.

It is a status that has been challenged over and over.

Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling, Coloradans have...

A nation exhausted: The neuroscience of why Americans are tuning out politics

Written by Arash Javanbakht, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University

Many Americans are choosing not to engage with politics, instead sticking their heads in the sand to protect their mental health. iStock/Getty Images Plus

“I am definitely not following the news anymore,” one patient told me when I asked about her political news consumption in the weeks before the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

This...

How should we look to history to make sense of Luigi Mangione’s alleged murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson?

Written by Richard White, Professor of American History, Stanford University

Luigi Mangione has been arrested and charged in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

I’m a Gilded Age historian who has drawn parallels between our current moment and the late 19th century, two periods known for staggering economic inequality and sweeping technological change.

But much of the coverage of t...

The Wanamaker organ has been part of a treasured holiday tradition in Philly for over 100 years − a historian explains its illustrious past and uncertain future

Written by Whitney Martinko, Associate Professor of History, Villanova University

After Macy’s announced in November 2023 its plans to close approximately 150 locations across the United States, some Philadelphians fretted – not so much about the fate of the Center City department store, but about a local treasure housed inside.

What would happen to the 120-year-old Wanamaker organ and annual Christmas light show?

As...