The Conversation - Evaluating 4 ways to regulate AI

What’s the best diet for healthy sleep? A nutritional epidemiologist explains what food choices will help you get more restful z’s

Erica Jansen, University of Michigan

A growing body of research is finding a robust link between diet and sleep quality. But it’s not just the usual suspects like caffeine and alcohol that can get in the way of restful sleep.

Iceland battles a lava flow: Countries have built barriers and tried explosives in the past, but it’s hard to stop molten rock

Loÿc Vanderkluysen, Drexel University

Iceland, Hawaii and Italy have all tried to control lava to save cities in the past. A volcanologist explains the methods.

Connecting researchers and legislators can lead to policies that reflect scientific evidence

Taylor Scott, Penn State

Researchers want real-world impact. Lawmakers want programs that work. The public wants to benefit from taxpayer-funded research. Building a bridge from academia to legislatures is key to all three.

Helium is an essential material for research and medical equipment, but it’s nonrenewable and difficult to recycle

Nicholas Fitzkee, Mississippi State University

With the fourth significant shortage of helium in a decade continuing, companies and researchers are looking for alternative sources.

Iowa was different this time – even if the outcome was as predicted

Timothy Hagle, University of Iowa; Stephen J. Farnsworth, University of Mary Washington

From the ‘static’ polls to Trump’s ‘dissing’ of voters, two political scientists look at the Iowa caucus and see more than just the fact that Trump won it, resoundingly.

DeSantis-linked super PAC broke new ground in pushing campaign finance rules in Iowa in support of a 2nd-place finish

Barbara A. Trish, Grinnell College

In Iowa, the Ron DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down seemed intent on mocking the dividing line federal regulators set between campaigns and the PACs that support them.

Gaza’s oldest mosque, destroyed in an airstrike, was once a temple to Philistine and Roman gods, a Byzantine and Catholic church, and had engravings of Jewish ritual objects

Stephennie Mulder, The University of Texas at Austin

Gaza’s Omari Mosque embodies the history of Gaza – as a site of frequent destruction, but also of renewal, writes a scholar of Islamic architecture and archaeology.

Chef Bill Granger’s inadvertent legacy – the avocado toast meme

Aarushi Bhandari, Davidson College

Granger, who died in December 2023, is credited with making avocado toast fashionable. Little did he know that his lasting legacy would inspire a meme that symbolized generational tension.

Laundry is a top source of microplastic pollution – here’s how to clean your clothes more sustainably

Your body already has a built-in weight loss system that works like Wegovy, Ozempic and Mounjaro – food and your gut microbiome

1 good thing about the Iowa caucuses, and 3 that are really troubling