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It takes a lot of energy for machines to learn – here's why AI is so power-hungry

  • Written by Kate Saenko, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Boston University
imageData centers like this Google facility in Iowa use copious amounts of electricity.Chad Davis/Flickr, CC BY-SA

This month, Google forced out a prominent AI ethics researcher after she voiced frustration with the company for making her withdraw a research paper. The paper pointed out the risks of language-processing artificial intelligence, the type...

Read more: It takes a lot of energy for machines to learn – here's why AI is so power-hungry

Plastic pipes are polluting drinking water systems after wildfires – it's a risk in urban fires, too

  • Written by Andrew J. Whelton, Associate Professor of Civil, Environmental & Ecological Engineering, Purdue University
imageHeat-damaged plastic pipes can continue to leach chemicals into water over time.Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

When wildfires swept through the hills near Santa Cruz, California, in 2020, they released toxic chemicals into the water supplies of at least two communities. One sample found benzene, a carcinogen, at 40 times the state’s drinking...

Read more: Plastic pipes are polluting drinking water systems after wildfires – it's a risk in urban fires, too

Pardon me? An ethicist's guide to what is proper when it comes to presidential pardons

  • Written by Scott Davidson, Professor of Philosophy, West Virginia University
imageWho else will Trump save from the chop before leaving office?AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Questions surrounding President Trump’s use of the pardon power began almost as soon as he entered office in 2017 and will continue undoubtedly through his final days in power. To date, Trump has issued 29 pardons during his presidency – compared to 212...

Read more: Pardon me? An ethicist's guide to what is proper when it comes to presidential pardons

On the first day of Christmas...teachers got a legal headache over blurring the line between church and state

  • Written by Charles J. Russo, Joseph Panzer Chair in Education in the School of Education and Health Sciences and Research Professor of Law, University of Dayton
imageO Christmas tree, O Christmas tree...do you violate the establishment clause?Jack Riddle/The Denver Post via Getty Images

During a school year disrupted by pandemic-related closures, students across the U.S. will soon be absent for a scheduled reason: the annual Christmas break.

In New York City, the U.S.‘s largest school district, children...

Read more: On the first day of Christmas...teachers got a legal headache over blurring the line between...

Who is doing all those COVID-19 tests? Why you should care about medical laboratory professionals

  • Written by Rodney E. Rohde, Professor of Clinical Laboratory Science, Texas State University
imageA laboratory technician wearing full personal protective equipment handles live samples taken from people tested for the coronavirus.ANDREW MILLIGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Who do you think performs your medical laboratory tests for COVID-19 or any other test? If you answered “my doctor” or “my nurse” or a robot, you would...

Read more: Who is doing all those COVID-19 tests? Why you should care about medical laboratory professionals

A hospital that prescribes free nutritious food to families who need more than medical care

  • Written by Diana Cuy Castellanos, Assistant Professor of Dietetics and Nutrition, University of Dayton
imageEating a healthful diet helps keep people healthy.rustam shaimov/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Being food-insecure – unable to get enough nutritious food to meet your needs – can take a toll on your health. So Dayton Children’s Hospital has begun to screen its patients and their families for this problem and refer them to what...

Read more: A hospital that prescribes free nutritious food to families who need more than medical care

Puerto Rico wants statehood – but only Congress can make it the 51st state in the United States

  • Written by Rashid Carlos Jamil Marcano Rivera, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, Indiana University
imageAs an unincorporated U.S. territory, Puerto Rico has fewer constitutional and political rights than a state.ankmsn/Getty

Puerto Ricans requested statehood on Nov. 3, 2020, with 52.3% of voters asking to change the island’s status from unincorporated territory to U.S. state.

This is the sixth time statehood has been on the ballot since Puerto...

Read more: Puerto Rico wants statehood – but only Congress can make it the 51st state in the United States

Why getting back to 'normal' doesn't have to involve police in schools

  • Written by Stanley S. Litow, Visting Professor of the Pratice, Public Policy, Duke University
imageRoughly half of public schools have a police presence.Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Since COVID-19 forced many of America’s schools to teach kids remotely, parents and elected officials have been rightly concerned about when things will get back to normal.

But there are certain aspects of education where a return to a...

Read more: Why getting back to 'normal' doesn't have to involve police in schools

W.E.B. Du Bois embraced science to fight racism as editor of NAACP's magazine The Crisis

  • Written by Jordan Besek, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University at Buffalo
imageW.E.B. Du Bois in his office at The Crisis in New York City, 1925.W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries, CC BY-ND

The NAACP – the most prominent interracial civil rights organization in American history – published the first issue of The Crisis, its...

Read more: W.E.B. Du Bois embraced science to fight racism as editor of NAACP's magazine The Crisis

Taking fish out of fish feed can make aquaculture a more sustainable food source

  • Written by Pallab Sarker, Associate Research Professor of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
imageFarmed red tilapia, Thai Mueang, Thailand.Kittichai Boonpong / EyeEm via Getty Images

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

The big idea

Aquaculture, or fish farming, is the world’s fastest-growing food production sector. But the key ingredients in commercial fish feed – fishmeal and fish oil – come...

Read more: Taking fish out of fish feed can make aquaculture a more sustainable food source

More Articles ...

  1. Mermaids aren't real – but they've fascinated people around the world for ages
  2. My university will be getting COVID-19 vaccines soon – here's how my team will get doses into arms
  3. Masks and mandates: How individual rights and government regulation are both necessary for a free society
  4. From the White House to ancient Athens: Hypocrisy is no match for partisanship
  5. Biden's chance to revive US tradition of inserting ethics in foreign policy
  6. What is a neural network? A computer scientist explains
  7. Why do so few clergy serve in Congress?
  8. Arecibo telescope's fall is indicative of global divide around funding science infrastructure
  9. The Marshall Islands could be wiped out by climate change – and their colonial history limits their ability to save themselves
  10. Why paying people to get the coronavirus vaccine won't work
  11. Scientists suggest US embassies were hit with high-power microwaves – here's how the weapons work
  12. Why does the Electoral College exist, and how does it work? 5 essential reads
  13. Why shielding businesses from coronavirus liability is a bad idea
  14. 5 years after Paris: How countries’ climate policies match up to their promises, and who's aiming for net zero emissions
  15. Oregon just decriminalized all drugs – here's why voters passed this groundbreaking reform
  16. Why do scientists care about worms?
  17. America's hidden world of handmade pornography
  18. Why we're so bad at counting the calories we eat, drink or burn
  19. Why the Virgin of Guadalupe is more than a religious icon to Catholics in Mexico
  20. Latinos are especially reluctant to get flu shots – how a small clinic in Indiana found ways to overcome that
  21. We discovered a 115,000-year-old iguana nest fossil in the Bahamas
  22. Kids want to learn more about mental illness and how to cope with parents who live with it
  23. Foreign policy is Biden's best bet for bipartisan action, experts say – but GOP is unlikely to join him on climate change
  24. Workers are looking for direction from management – and any map is better than no map
  25. Bitter battles between stinkbugs and carnivorous mice could hold clues for controlling human pain
  26. Fragments of energy – not waves or particles – may be the fundamental building blocks of the universe
  27. The Electoral College system isn't 'one person, one vote'
  28. Daily DIY sniff checks could catch many cases of COVID-19
  29. 4 ways to close the COVID-19 racial health gap
  30. Computer science jobs pay well and are growing fast. Why are they out of reach for so many of America's students?
  31. When can children get the COVID-19 vaccine? 5 questions parents are asking
  32. Can Joe Biden win the transition?
  33. In 'The Queen's Gambit' and beyond, chess holds up a mirror to life
  34. The iconic American inventor is still a white male – and that's an obstacle to race and gender inclusion
  35. Nigerians got their abusive SARS police force abolished – but elation soon turned to frustration
  36. The Taliban are megarich – here's where they get the money they use to wage war in Afghanistan
  37. How remote learning is making educational inequities worse
  38. Peatlands keep a lot of carbon out of Earth's atmosphere, but that could end with warming and development
  39. Genetic engineering transformed stem cells into working mini-livers that extended the life of mice with liver disease
  40. We scanned the DNA of 8,000 people to see how facial features are controlled by genes
  41. From permafrost microbes to survivor songbirds – research projects are also victims of COVID-19 pandemic
  42. Substack isn't a new model for journalism – it’s a very old one
  43. New electoral districts are coming – an old approach can show if they're fair
  44. Racism at the county level associated with increased COVID-19 cases and deaths
  45. How sensors monitor and measure our bodies and the world around us
  46. Donors grow more generous when they support nonprofits facing hostile environments abroad
  47. Brazil's president rejects COVID-19 vaccine, undermining a century of progress toward universal inoculation
  48. The Atlantic: The driving force behind ocean circulation and our taste for cod
  49. Why Biden will find it hard to undo Trump's costly 'America first' trade policy
  50. Intimate partner violence has increased during pandemic, emerging evidence suggests