While debate rages over glyphosate-based herbicides, farmers are spraying them all over the world

Roundup may be taking a beating in the US, where three juries have concluded that it gave plaintiffs cancer, but it's still widely used around the globe.

Ryan Galt, Professor of Geography, University of California, Davis • conversation
July 2, 2021 ~10 min

Florida condo collapse – searching for answers about what went wrong in Surfside can improve building regulation

Investigators are searching for what caused the tall apartment building near Miami to suddenly fail. What they find could lead to changes in building codes.

Norb Delatte, M.R. Lohmann Professor of Engineering and the Head of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Oklahoma State University • conversation
June 28, 2021 ~7 min


WhatsApp's controversial privacy update may be banned in the EU – but the app's sights are fixed on India

Accessing India's digital consumers is seen as the key to future growth for big tech companies like Facebook.

Lipika Kamra, Associate Professor in Politics and Anthropology, O.P. Jindal Global University • conversation
May 13, 2021 ~9 min

Trump's Facebook ban upheld – but the future of the oversight board is in doubt

Trump will not be returning to Facebook or Instagram before November 2021.

Elaine Fahey, Professor of Law and Jean Monnet Chair of Law & Transatlantic Relations, City Law School, City, University of London • conversation
May 6, 2021 ~6 min

How cleaning up coolants can cool the climate – why HFCs are getting phased out from refrigerators and air conditioners

HFCs keep refrigerators cool, but when these short-lived climate pollutants leak, they warm the planet. The US EPA has a plan to phase them out, but what will replace them?

Scott Denning, Professor of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University • conversation
May 4, 2021 ~8 min

FTC warns the AI industry: Don't discriminate, or else

The Federal Trade Commission is rattling its saber at the technology industry over growing public concern about biased AI algorithms. Can the agency back up its threats?

Ryan Calo, Professor of Law, University of Washington • conversation
April 27, 2021 ~6 min

EU is cracking down on AI, but leaves a loophole for mass surveillance

The strong new laws will ban AI applications believed to violate EU citizens' fundamental rights.

Bernd Carsten Stahl, Professor of Critical Research in Technology, De Montfort University • conversation
April 21, 2021 ~8 min

The US just set ambitious offshore wind power targets – what will it take to meet them?

To increase renewable energy use, the Biden administration wants the US to go from seven offshore wind turbines today to enough to power 10 million homes within a decade.

Matthew Lackner, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Amherst • conversation
March 31, 2021 ~8 min


Trump is building a social media platform – but keeping it online will be a challenge

If it hosts the same violent rhetoric that saw Parler forced offline, Trump's platform may be a short-lived adventure.

Simon Thorne, Senior Lecturer in Computing and ​Information Systems, Cardiff Metropolitan University • conversation
March 24, 2021 ~6 min

10 years after Fukushima, safety is still nuclear power's greatest challenge

On the 10th anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, two experts explain why human choices are more important to nuclear safety than technology, and why the job is far from finished.

Najmedin Meshkati, Professor of Engineering and International Relations, University of Southern California • conversation
March 5, 2021 ~12 min

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