AI companies' holy grail: Government data

Anger is a flow of emotion like water through a hose − at work, it helps to know when to turn it up or down and how to direct it

Laura Rees, Oregon State University; Ray Friedman, Vanderbilt University

By thinking of the flow of anger, you can unpack its key dimensions: its path and intensity. Is the stream pointed effectively? Is its strength appropriate?

As tuberculosis cases rise in the US and worldwide, health officials puzzle over the resurgence of a disease once in decline

Karen Dobos, Colorado State University; Marcela Henao-Tamayo, Colorado State University

Reports of TB date back to the time of Hippocrates, but the Kansas outbreak shows that the ancient disease is very much a modern-day scourge.

Carolina wildfires followed months of weather whiplash, from drought to hurricane-fueled floods and back to drought

Lauren Lowman, Wake Forest University; Nick Corak, Wake Forest University

Fires are a natural part of the landscape and essential for many species. But scores of fires at once were more than anyone bargained for.

The US energy market has its troubles, though it may not be a ‘national emergency’

Seth Blumsack, Penn State

The US produces more oil today than any other country, and there is no clear emergency on the scale of the energy crises of the 1970s. But there are some causes for concern.

Why Muslim American nonprofits are taking steps to build trust with donors during Ramadan

Shariq Siddiqui, Indiana University

Zakat is an obligatory charitable practice for which donations are traditionally made through institutions.

How 18F transformed government technology − and why its elimination matters

Kayla Schwoerer, University at Albany, State University of New York

18F was the US government’s in-house technology consultancy, lauded for saving taxpayer money and improving services. Here’s what it did − and what’s now lost.

What’s that microplastic? Advances in machine learning are making identifying plastics in the environment more reliable

Ambuj Tewari, University of Michigan

To deal with microplastic pollution, it helps agencies to know what kind of plastic they’ve got on their hands.

Philly’s street fentanyl contains an industrial chemical called BTMPS that’s an ingredient in plastic

Karli Hochstatter, Columbia University; Fernando Montero, Columbia University

More than half of the street fentanyl samples collected in November 2024 contained BTMPS, and many contained more BTMPS than fentanyl.

Death by firing squad set to resume in the US – but no matter the method, all means of execution come with a troubling history

Austin Sarat, Amherst College

A death row inmate in South Carolina chose firing squad over lethal injection and the electric chair.

Taung child: the controversial story of the fossil discovery that proved humanity’s common origins in Africa

Gemma Ware, The Conversation

Historian Christa Kuljian and paleoanthropologist Dipuo Kgotleng talk to The Conversation Weekly podcast about the complicated legacy of the Taung child skull, 100 years since its discovery.

Trump is the kinglike president many feared when arguing over the US Constitution in 1789 – and his address to Congress showed it

Decluttering can be stressful − a clinical psychologist explains how personal values can make it easier

Out-of-balance bacteria is linked to multiple sclerosis − the ratio can predict severity of disease