tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/essential-reads-31287/articlesEssential Reads – The Conversation2024-03-18T12:31:28Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2200362024-03-18T12:31:28Z2024-03-18T12:31:28ZAI vs. elections: 4 essential reads about the threat of high-tech deception in politics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582204/original/file-20240315-28-p5czjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4977%2C6250&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Like it or not, AI is already playing a role in the 2024 presidential election.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/android-celebrating-4th-july-royalty-free-image/499467267?phrase=Robot+Uncle+Sam">kirstypargeter/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s official. Joe Biden and Donald Trump have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/13/few-voters-decide-trump-biden-nominations/">secured the necessary delegates</a> to be their parties’ nominees for president in the 2024 election. Barring unforeseen events, the two will be formally nominated at the party conventions this summer and face off at the ballot box on Nov. 5. </p>
<p>It’s a safe bet that, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-tech-firms-have-tried-to-stop-disinformation-and-voter-intimidation-and-come-up-short-148771">in recent elections</a>, this one will play out largely online and feature a potent blend of news and disinformation delivered over social media. New this year are powerful generative artificial intelligence tools such as <a href="https://openai.com/chatgpt">ChatGPT</a> and <a href="https://openai.com/sora">Sora</a> that make it easier to “<a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=4040800">flood the zone</a>” with propaganda and disinformation and produce convincing deepfakes: words coming from the mouths of politicians that they did not actually say and events replaying before our eyes that did not actually happen.</p>
<p>The result is an increased likelihood of voters being deceived and, perhaps as worrisome, a growing sense that <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378236203_Profiling_the_Dynamics_of_Trust_Distrust_in_Social_Media_A_Survey_Study">you can’t trust anything you see online</a>. Trump is already taking advantage of the so-called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055423001454">liar’s dividend</a>, the opportunity to discount your actual words and deeds as deepfakes. Trump implied on his Truth Social platform on March 12, 2024, that real videos of him shown by Democratic House members were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/13/trump-video-ai-truth-social/">produced or altered using artificial intelligence</a>.</p>
<p>The Conversation has been covering the latest developments in artificial intelligence that have the potential to undermine democracy. The following is a roundup of some of those articles from our archive. </p>
<h2>1. Fake events</h2>
<p>The ability to use AI to make convincing fakes is particularly troublesome for producing false evidence of events that never happened. Rochester Institute of Technology computer security researcher <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=UxGWcUYAAAAJ&hl=en">Christopher Schwartz</a> has dubbed these <a href="https://theconversation.com/events-that-never-happened-could-influence-the-2024-presidential-election-a-cybersecurity-researcher-explains-situation-deepfakes-206034">situation deepfakes</a>.</p>
<p>“The basic idea and technology of a situation deepfake are the same as with any other deepfake, but with a bolder ambition: to manipulate a real event or invent one from thin air,” he wrote.</p>
<p>Situation deepfakes could be used to boost or undermine a candidate or suppress voter turnout. If you encounter reports on social media of events that are surprising or extraordinary, try to learn more about them from reliable sources, such as fact-checked news reports, peer-reviewed academic articles or interviews with credentialed experts, Schwartz said. Also, recognize that deepfakes can take advantage of what you are inclined to believe.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/events-that-never-happened-could-influence-the-2024-presidential-election-a-cybersecurity-researcher-explains-situation-deepfakes-206034">Events that never happened could influence the 2024 presidential election – a cybersecurity researcher explains situation deepfakes</a>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">How AI puts disinformation on steroids.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>2. Russia, China and Iran take aim</h2>
<p>From the question of what AI-generated disinformation can do follows the question of who has been wielding it. Today’s AI tools put the capacity to produce disinformation in reach for most people, but of particular concern are <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-disinformation-is-a-threat-to-elections-learning-to-spot-russian-chinese-and-iranian-meddling-in-other-countries-can-help-the-us-prepare-for-2024-214358">nations that are adversaries</a> of the United States and other democracies. In particular, Russia, China and Iran have extensive experience with disinformation campaigns and technology.</p>
<p>“There’s a lot more to running a disinformation campaign than generating content,” wrote security expert and Harvard Kennedy School lecturer <a href="https://www.schneier.com/">Bruce Schneier</a>. “The hard part is distribution. A propagandist needs a series of fake accounts on which to post, and others to boost it into the mainstream where it can go viral.”</p>
<p>Russia and China have a history of testing disinformation campaigns on smaller countries, according to Schneier. “Countering new disinformation campaigns requires being able to recognize them, and recognizing them requires looking for and cataloging them now,” he wrote.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-disinformation-is-a-threat-to-elections-learning-to-spot-russian-chinese-and-iranian-meddling-in-other-countries-can-help-the-us-prepare-for-2024-214358">AI disinformation is a threat to elections − learning to spot Russian, Chinese and Iranian meddling in other countries can help the US prepare for 2024</a>
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<h2>3. Healthy skepticism</h2>
<p>But it doesn’t require the resources of shadowy intelligence services in powerful nations to make headlines, as the New Hampshire <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-robocall-biden-new-hampshire-primary-2024-f94aa2d7f835ccc3cc254a90cd481a99">fake Biden robocall</a> produced and disseminated by two individuals and aimed at dissuading some voters illustrates. That episode prompted the Federal Communications Commission to <a href="https://theconversation.com/fcc-bans-robocalls-using-deepfake-voice-clones-but-ai-generated-disinformation-still-looms-over-elections-223160">ban robocalls that use voices generated</a> by artificial intelligence. </p>
<p>AI-powered disinformation campaigns are difficult to counter because they can be delivered over different channels, including robocalls, social media, email, text message and websites, which complicates the digital forensics of tracking down the sources of the disinformation, wrote <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=yu4Ew7gAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">Joan Donovan</a>, a media and disinformation scholar at Boston University.</p>
<p>“In many ways, AI-enhanced disinformation such as the New Hampshire robocall poses the same problems as every other form of disinformation,” Donovan wrote. “People who use AI to disrupt elections are likely to do what they can to hide their tracks, which is why it’s necessary for the public to remain skeptical about claims that do not come from verified sources, such as local TV news or social media accounts of reputable news organizations.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/fcc-bans-robocalls-using-deepfake-voice-clones-but-ai-generated-disinformation-still-looms-over-elections-223160">FCC bans robocalls using deepfake voice clones − but AI-generated disinformation still looms over elections</a>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">How to spot AI-generated images.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>4. A new kind of political machine</h2>
<p>AI-powered disinformation campaigns are also difficult to counter because they can include bots – automated social media accounts that pose as real people – and can include <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ai-could-take-over-elections-and-undermine-democracy-206051">online interactions tailored to individuals</a>, potentially over the course of an election and potentially with millions of people.</p>
<p>Harvard political scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3Bl9cn8AAAAJ&hl=en">Archon Fung</a> and legal scholar <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LxG5YWcAAAAJ&hl=en">Lawrence Lessig</a> described these capabilities and laid out a hypothetical scenario of national political campaigns wielding these powerful tools.</p>
<p>Attempts to block these machines could run afoul of the free speech protections of the First Amendment, according to Fung and Lessig. “One constitutionally safer, if smaller, step, already adopted in part by European internet regulators and in California, is to prohibit bots from passing themselves off as people,” they wrote. “For example, regulation might require that campaign messages come with disclaimers when the content they contain is generated by machines rather than humans.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ai-could-take-over-elections-and-undermine-democracy-206051">How AI could take over elections – and undermine democracy</a>
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<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p>
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/election-2024-disinformation-151606">This article is part of Disinformation 2024:</a></strong> a series examining the science, technology and politics of deception in elections.</em></p>
<p><em>You may also be interested in:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/disinformation-is-rampant-on-social-media-a-social-psychologist-explains-the-tactics-used-against-you-216598">Disinformation is rampant on social media – a social psychologist explains the tactics used against you</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/misinformation-disinformation-and-hoaxes-whats-the-difference-158491">Misinformation, disinformation and hoaxes: What’s the difference?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/disinformation-campaigns-are-murky-blends-of-truth-lies-and-sincere-beliefs-lessons-from-the-pandemic-140677">Disinformation campaigns are murky blends of truth, lies and sincere beliefs – lessons from the pandemic</a></p>
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Using disinformation to sway elections is nothing new. Powerful new AI tools, however, threaten to give the deceptions unprecedented reach.Eric Smalley, Science + Technology EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2235002024-03-08T22:16:27Z2024-03-08T22:16:27ZThe failures of ‘Oppenheimer’ and the ascent of the foreign film – 6 essential reads for the Oscars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580764/original/file-20240308-24-8d2882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C4%2C2968%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Oscars will be handed out to winners across 24 categories, ranging from best picture to best costume design.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/oscars-are-displayed-at-meet-the-oscars-an-exhibit-news-photo/56822072?adppopup=true">Kevin Winter/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Because movies are so subjective, with views on the same performances and direction veering wildly from one critic to the next, determining the best of anything – whether it’s acting, direction or sound design – can be fraught. </p>
<p>But that controversy also makes for good drama and suspense – fitting for a ceremony celebrating the ways in which actors, directors and cinematographers captivate, move and thrill audiences.</p>
<p>So before you tune into Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, here are five recent stories – and one betting tip – about the films, fashion and actors who will be featured at this year’s show.</p>
<h2>1. Can you want an Oscar too much?</h2>
<p>As Michael Schulman, author of “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/oscar-wars-michael-schulman?variant=41063519387682">Oscar Wars</a>,” has written, the Academy Awards are not exactly a “barometer of artistic merit or worth.” </p>
<p>For that reason, in the months leading up to the Oscars, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes politicking as studios and producers make the case for why their writers, directors, cinematographers, costume designers and actors should win the top prize.</p>
<p>Sometimes the actors will make the case themselves. In recent years, more and more will promote the extent to which they prepared for their roles. </p>
<p>You may have heard that Cillian Murphy lost 20 pounds and took up smoking (fake) cigarettes to play nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, or that Bradley Cooper spent six years training in the art of conducting in order to film a key scene as Leonard Bernstein in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5535276/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_4_nm_3_q_maestro">Maestro</a>.”</p>
<p>The anecdotes are supposed to burnish their Oscar credentials. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/bradley-cooper-cillian-murphy-and-the-myths-of-method-acting-224340">Should they?</a></p>
<p>“Yes, the media loves these kinds of stories, and they can demonstrate a certain type of commitment,” writes Holy Cross theater professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/scott-malia-1468175">Scott Malia</a>. “But they can also paint actors as pampered and pretentious ‘artistes’ whose process is self-indulgent. A working actor struggling to pay the bills doesn’t have the luxury of, say, insisting that everyone address them by their character’s name.”</p>
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<h2>2. The anti-‘Oppenheimer’ crowd</h2>
<p>Christopher Nolan’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15398776/">Oppenheimer</a>” is the runaway favorite to be named best picture, <a href="https://www.vegasinsider.com/awards/odds/oscars/">according to Vegas Insider</a>. </p>
<p>But if The Conversation’s coverage of the film is any indication, it doesn’t deserve the win.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/charles-thorpe-1453180">Charles Thorpe</a> – a sociologist at the University of California, San Diego – explores why J. Robert Oppenheimer, in particular, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-american-culture-fixates-on-the-tragic-image-of-j-robert-oppenheimer-the-most-famous-man-behind-the-atomic-bomb-209365">has become the focus of so much writing on the bomb</a>.</p>
<p>On the one hand, it’s a lot easier to digest the complexities of science, politics and human suffering through an individual – “a human-scaled way to talk about an otherwise overwhelming topic,” as Thorpe puts it.</p>
<p>But on the other hand, Thorpe argues that American culture’s “fascination with the man behind the bomb often seems to eclipse the horrific reality of nuclear weapons themselves.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-american-culture-fixates-on-the-tragic-image-of-j-robert-oppenheimer-the-most-famous-man-behind-the-atomic-bomb-209365">Why American culture fixates on the tragic image of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the most famous man behind the atomic bomb</a>
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<h2>3. Few new insights</h2>
<p>Michigan State University historian <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/naoko-wake-1508370">Naoko Wake</a> also takes issue with what she calls the “inward-looking” nature of “Oppenheimer.”</p>
<p>Like so many other films about the bomb, Nolan applies a distinctly Western lens that, in Wake’s view, <a href="https://theconversation.com/oppenheimer-is-a-disappointment-and-a-lost-opportunity-222591">has become cloudy and cracked from overuse</a>. </p>
<p>In the end, the film’s tension hinges on decisions made by Americans, for Americans, offering “few, if any, new insights about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their repercussions.” </p>
<p>“Even if this film is seen purely through the lens of entertainment,” Wake adds, “Nolan could have chosen to recognize why the bombs are such a galvanizing subject to begin with: They have done much, much more than make white, middle-class Americans feel anxious or guilty.”</p>
<p>“Their blasts reverberated across the globe,” she continues, “tearing apart not only America’s wartime enemies but also colonized peoples and racial minorities.” </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-its-big-night-at-the-oscars-oppenheimer-is-a-disappointment-and-a-lost-opportunity-222591">Despite its big night at the Oscars, 'Oppenheimer' is a disappointment and a lost opportunity</a>
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<h2>4. Foreign films take center stage</h2>
<p>But for all the concern about American perspectives dominating interpretations of history, there’s been a striking shift in the film industry, which has taken a decidedly international turn over the past decade.</p>
<p>This year, three non-English language films – “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Past Lives” and “The Zone of Interest” – have been nominated for best picture. </p>
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<span class="caption">Korean-Canadian filmmaker Celine Song wrote and directed ‘Past Lives,’ which is one of three non-English language films nominated for Best Picture at the 2024 Academy Awards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/writer-and-director-celine-song-of-the-film-past-lives-news-photo/1489366618?adppopup=true">Mat Hayward/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Miami University film studies scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kerry-hegarty-1508053">Kerry Hegarty</a> tells the story of how non-English cinema has been gradually folded in the ceremonies – boxed out at first, eventually given its own category and finally winning best picture in 2020, when “Parasite” won.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-non-english-language-cinema-is-reshaping-the-oscars-landscape-222484">Hegarty explains how this didn’t happen naturally</a>; it took work. State-sponsored programs supporting filmmakers in foreign countries played a big role, as did changes in the demographic makeup of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.</p>
<p>“Streaming distribution has also democratized access to non-English language cinema,” she adds, “which was previously limited only to niche audiences in art house theaters in large cities.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-non-english-language-cinema-is-reshaping-the-oscars-landscape-222484">How non-English language cinema is reshaping the Oscars landscape</a>
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<h2>5. The guardians of glamour</h2>
<p>In the early years of the Academy Awards, what people wore to the event received little attention. In fact, even after televisions landed in millions of living rooms across the U.S., movie fans couldn’t watch the Oscars on TV: The film industry resisted broadcasting the event on the medium it saw as its top competition.</p>
<p>That all changed once Hollywood ran into some financial trouble in the late 1940s and needed television networks to help pay for the annual event. All of a sudden, how movie stars appeared at the event mattered – <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-academy-awards-became-the-biggest-international-fashion-show-free-for-all-221477">and studios decided that this eccentric coterie needed some corralling</a>.</p>
<p>Enter Edith Head, guardian of glamour.</p>
<p>University of Southern California fashion scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizabeth-castaldo-lunden-1482727">Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén</a> tells the story of how Head – and, later, Fred Hayman – maintained boundaries of decorum, while also encouraging stars to showcase the latest luxury trends and attire, turning the event into a dazzling fashion spectacle.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-academy-awards-became-the-biggest-international-fashion-show-free-for-all-221477">How the Academy Awards became 'the biggest international fashion show free-for-all'</a>
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<h2>6. 92 years old, 54 nominations</h2>
<p>When 92-year-old composer John Williams strolls up to Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, he’ll be looking to secure his sixth gold statuette.</p>
<p>It’s been a while since Williams’ last win – exactly 30 years, when he won best original score for “Schindler’s List” in 1994. Nonetheless, Williams holds the record for most nominations for a living person, with 54. </p>
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<img alt="Elderly bald man with white beard conducts a concert." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Composer John Williams will be looking to take home his sixth Academy Award. Williams holds the record for most nominations for a living person, with 54.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/composer-john-williams-conducts-the-concert-celebrating-the-news-photo/1549425746?adppopup=true">Shannon Finney/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Rice University music professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/arthur-gottschalk-1508701">Arthur Gottschalk</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-jaws-to-schindlers-list-john-williams-has-infused-movie-scores-with-adventure-and-emotion-222694">looks back on Williams’ illustrious career</a> and explains how the composer’s suite for “E.T.” burnished his reputation.</p>
<p>Not only was it Williams’ first score to be embraced by concert orchestras, but it also changed the way director Steven Spielberg edited the film, “inverting the normal relationship between director and composer,” Gottschalk writes.</p>
<p>“The scoring of the finale,” he continues, “in which protagonist Elliott and his friends help the alien escape captivity, is so effective that Spielberg re-cut the end of the film to match Williams’ music.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-jaws-to-schindlers-list-john-williams-has-infused-movie-scores-with-adventure-and-emotion-222694">From 'Jaws' to 'Schindler's List,' John Williams has infused movie scores with adventure and emotion</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223500/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Before you tune into Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, check out our coverage of the stars of this year’s show.Nick Lehr, Arts + Culture EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2234262024-03-04T15:38:32Z2024-03-04T15:38:32ZSupreme Court says only Congress can bar a candidate, like Trump, from the presidency for insurrection − 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579609/original/file-20240304-20-77h9ij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C49%2C8130%2C5408&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Journalists set up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building on Feb. 8, 2024.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-the-press-stake-out-outside-the-supreme-court-in-news-photo/1991622087">Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, in a unanimous decision, that the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-719_19m2.pdf">state of Colorado cannot bar former President Donald Trump</a> from appearing on Colorado’s presidential ballot under the provisions of <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-14/#amendment-14-section-3">Section 3 of the 14th Amendment</a> to the U.S. Constitution.</p>
<p>The text of <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-14/">Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states</a>, in full:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The ruling said states may decide who is eligible to hold state offices, but <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-719_19m2.pdf">only Congress may decide</a> who is eligible to hold federal offices.</p>
<p>Writing for The Conversation U.S. as far back as 2021, several scholars have explained aspects of this part of the Constitution, how it was intended, and the legal and political considerations surrounding its function. They give context to the court’s ruling and what it means for the country now.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380248/original/file-20210122-17-ad7bzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Pelosi signs a document with four people standing behind her, and American flags" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380248/original/file-20210122-17-ad7bzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380248/original/file-20210122-17-ad7bzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380248/original/file-20210122-17-ad7bzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380248/original/file-20210122-17-ad7bzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380248/original/file-20210122-17-ad7bzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380248/original/file-20210122-17-ad7bzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/380248/original/file-20210122-17-ad7bzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi signs an article of impeachment against then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 13, 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/speaker-of-the-house-nancy-pelosi-signs-an-article-of-impeachment-picture-id1230572656?k=6&m=1230572656&s=612x612&w=0&h=V-BDhqZJ7pEUiqqfWq25M5pz4SND4vIJiq3wpFu6O7Q=">Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1. A relatively recent development</h2>
<p>In early 2021, <a href="https://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/faculty-staff/profile-WCMS.cfm?Id=40">Gerard Magliocca</a>, a law professor at Indiana University, pointed out that up until that time, “<a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-could-use-an-arcane-section-of-the-14th-amendment-to-hold-trump-accountable-for-capitol-attack-153344">Section 3 of the 14th Amendment</a> was an obscure part of the U.S. Constitution.”</p>
<p>But this provision had an important purpose, he wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It prohibits current or former military officers, along with many current and former federal and state public officials, <a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-could-use-an-arcane-section-of-the-14th-amendment-to-hold-trump-accountable-for-capitol-attack-153344">from serving in a variety of government offices</a> if they ‘shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion’ against the United States Constitution.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Supreme Court’s ruling did not decide whether Trump had or had not engaged in insurrection.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-could-use-an-arcane-section-of-the-14th-amendment-to-hold-trump-accountable-for-capitol-attack-153344">Congress could use an arcane section of the 14th Amendment to hold Trump accountable for Capitol attack</a>
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</p>
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<h2>2. Justices focused on potential for national disarray</h2>
<p>During oral arguments on Feb. 8, 2024, several members of the Supreme Court focused on the fact that this case was about a Colorado decision to bar Trump from the ballot, which suggested that other states might come to their own conclusions if the court didn’t deliver a clear message that would apply nationwide.</p>
<p>As Notre Dame election law scholar <a href="https://law.nd.edu/directory/derek-muller/">Derek Muller</a> observed: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-skeptical-that-colorado-or-any-state-should-decide-for-whole-nation-whether-trump-is-eligible-for-presidency-223063">States are the ones who have the primary responsibility</a> of running presidential elections. And Colorado was leaning very heavily into this authority they have over which candidates to list on the ballot and how that can vary from state to state. The pushback from the Supreme Court in this case was to say, in essence, you’re not dealing with local or state interests, you’re not dealing with these state-specific procedures for how you list candidates on the ballot. You are interpreting a provision of the U.S. Constitution, and then you are applying it in your own state in a way that could affect what happens in other states.”</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-skeptical-that-colorado-or-any-state-should-decide-for-whole-nation-whether-trump-is-eligible-for-presidency-223063">Supreme Court skeptical that Colorado − or any state − should decide for whole nation whether Trump is eligible for presidency</a>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574469/original/file-20240208-20-2e10qo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=86%2C0%2C5131%2C3472&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A police officer standing behind a barricade and in front of a large, white columned building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574469/original/file-20240208-20-2e10qo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=86%2C0%2C5131%2C3472&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574469/original/file-20240208-20-2e10qo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574469/original/file-20240208-20-2e10qo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574469/original/file-20240208-20-2e10qo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574469/original/file-20240208-20-2e10qo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574469/original/file-20240208-20-2e10qo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574469/original/file-20240208-20-2e10qo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Police place a fence at the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 8, 2024, before justices heard arguments over whether Donald Trump is ineligible for the 2024 ballot.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2024TrumpInsurrectionAmendment/05e2c7bc3615410b8088714a425193c9/photo?Query=trump%20supreme%20court&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=5319&currentItemNo=15">AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. The importance of consensus</h2>
<p>The court appears to have taken pains to get to a unanimous decision. Muller anticipated such a move. He said it was likely because of the potential effect on elections:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/us-supreme-court-decision-on-trump-colorado-ballot-case-monumental-for-democracy-itself-not-just-2024-presidential-election-220643">This is a binary choice</a> that either empowers the Republican candidate or prevents voters from choosing him. So when you have a choice in such stark, political and partisan terms, whatever the Supreme Court is doing is often going to be viewed through that lens by many voters. … (T)here will be as much effort as possible internally on the court to reach a consensus view to avoid that appearance of partisanship on the court, that appearance of division on the court. If there’s consensus, it’s harder for the public to … point the finger at one side or another.”</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/us-supreme-court-decision-on-trump-colorado-ballot-case-monumental-for-democracy-itself-not-just-2024-presidential-election-220643">US Supreme Court decision on Trump-Colorado ballot case 'monumental' for democracy itself, not just 2024 presidential election</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223426/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Experts explain the context behind the Supreme Court’s ruling on Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on presidential ballots.Jeff Inglis, Politics + Society Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245862024-02-27T20:00:16Z2024-02-27T20:00:16ZUS temporarily avoids government shutdown but threat remains: 4 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578384/original/file-20240227-24-l6d3lt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=129%2C931%2C8497%2C4811&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Biden and Vice President Harris met on Feb. 27, 2024, with congressional leaders to find a way to avoid a shutdown.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Biden/ff2a1de2d69744cf80a497414c3edd8f/photo?Query=biden&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=124199&currentItemNo=7">AP Photo/Evan Vucci</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Congress <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-29/house-passes-short-term-spending-to-avert-us-government-shutdown?srnd=homepage-americas&sref=Hjm5biAW">temporarily averted</a> a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-26/government-shutdown-q-a-will-it-shut-down-and-what-you-should-know">partial government shutdown</a> that would have taken effect on March 2, 2024, by passing a very short-term funding extension.</p>
<p>The measure – which gives Congress more time to finalize spending packages for the current fiscal year – keeps funds flowing to government agencies until March 8 for some departments and until March 22 for the others. A short-term spending deal <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/federal-government-shutdown-funding-11-14-23/index.html">reached just a little over three months ago</a>, which helped prevent the last threatened shutdown, had given Congress two deadlines: March 1 and March 8, 2024, with different departments closing down if funding wasn’t passed by each date. </p>
<p>Democrats and Republicans have been far apart on funding the government, as a group of hard-right lawmakers <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/world/europe/republicans-spending-shutdown.html">demands spending cuts and conservative policies</a> such as new restrictions on abortion access, as part of any agreement. </p>
<p>If following U.S. politics feels a little like “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107048/">Groundhog Day</a>,” you’re not alone. The Conversation has been covering the increasingly frequent shutdown close calls in recent years by asking experts in politics, economics and other fields to provide context and explain the consequences of a government shutdown. The following is a roundup of some of those articles from our archive. </p>
<h2>1. A shutdown is the wrong way to negotiate a budget</h2>
<p>The small band of conservatives who keep staging these showdown standoffs often use fiscal discipline as a rallying cry. The government is spending too much money, they say, and it’s up to them to put a stop to it. </p>
<p>On the goal of reducing the high U.S. budget deficit – currently about $1.6 trillion – <a href="https://theconversation.com/gop-shutdown-threat-is-the-wrong-way-to-win-a-budget-war-history-shows-a-better-strategy-for-reducing-the-deficit-213938">you won’t get an argument</a> from <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/raymond-scheppach-19b98536">Raymond Scheppach</a>, former deputy director of the Congressional Budget Office and retired professor of public policy at the University of Virginia. </p>
<p>But trying to cut the deficit by holding the government hostage is the wrong way to do it, he wrote. </p>
<p>“First of all, shutdowns don’t get results,” Scheppach explained. “The U.S. has had 21 shutdowns over the past five decades, three of which have been major. These have all caused real harm to the U.S. economy, but they haven’t led to the spending levels Republicans wanted.”</p>
<p>If today’s conservatives are serious about cutting the swelling budget deficit, Scheppach suggested they take a different tack – genuine negotiation – which has generally yielded just the results they sought. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gop-shutdown-threat-is-the-wrong-way-to-win-a-budget-war-history-shows-a-better-strategy-for-reducing-the-deficit-213938">GOP shutdown threat is the wrong way to win a budget war − history shows a better strategy for reducing the deficit</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Why political brinkmanship keeps getting worse</h2>
<p>One big problem with negotiation is that many lawmakers in both political parties are encouraged by increasing levels of hyperpartisanship to dig in their heels and refuse to compromise. And compromise is a key part of any reasonable negotiation.</p>
<p>That’s the assessment of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cfH3-8sAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Laurel Harbridge-Yong</a>, a Northwestern University political scientist and a specialist in partisan conflict. <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-government-funding-running-out-soon-expect-more-brinkmanship-despite-public-dismay-at-political-gridlock-217252">She doesn’t expect this to change anytime soon</a> – even though the public wants it to.</p>
<p>“So you now have many Republicans who are more willing to fight quite hard against the Democrats because they don’t want to give a win to Biden,” Harbridge-Yong wrote. “However, even if individual members think they’re representing their constituents, representation at the aggregate level can be poor. What the public as a whole – which tends to be more moderate – wants is compromise and resolution.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-government-funding-running-out-soon-expect-more-brinkmanship-despite-public-dismay-at-political-gridlock-217252">With government funding running out soon, expect more brinkmanship despite public dismay at political gridlock</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Shutdowns have long-lasting costs</h2>
<p>The group of Americans most directly affected by a shutdown are federal workers. When a shutdown happens, most are furloughed without pay, while others whose work is deemed essential – such as many in national defense – must still work, but also without getting a paycheck. </p>
<p>When the shutdown ends and the government is funded again, paychecks resume and workers get back pay for however long it lasted. But shutdowns <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-shutdowns-hurt-federal-worker-morale-long-after-paychecks-resume-especially-for-those-considered-nonessential-214431">can have lingering effects on worker morale and retention rates</a>. That drives up the price tag of shutting down the government and can cause long-term damage, wrote <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AJLW1HwAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Susannah Bruns Ali</a>, an assistant professor of public policy and administration at Florida International University. </p>
<p>“Shutdowns lead to more people being more likely to leave government employment – and higher workloads and lower motivation for those who remain,” she explained. “These conditions may feed Republican political goals, but they harm the millions of Americans who depend on competent, timely assistance from the public servants on the government payroll. This ultimately leads to lower work performance and employee retention problems.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/government-shutdowns-hurt-federal-worker-morale-long-after-paychecks-resume-especially-for-those-considered-nonessential-214431">Government shutdowns hurt federal worker morale, long after paychecks resume − especially for those considered 'nonessential'</a>
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<h2>4. Shutdowns are uniquely American</h2>
<p>Many other countries also seem to have a great deal of political partisanship, so you might expect fights over government shutdowns to be relatively common. </p>
<p>If you thought that, <a href="https://theconversation.com/shutdowns-are-a-uniquely-american-drama-in-the-uk-its-just-not-parliaments-cup-of-tea-213928">you’d be wrong</a>, according to <a href="https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/garretm.cfm">Garret Martin</a>, who studies transatlantic relations at the American University School of International Service. </p>
<p>“Other Western democracies experience polarization and political turmoil, too, yet do not experience this problem,” he explained. Take the British system, famous for its raucous Parliamentary sessions: “Government shutdowns just don’t happen – in fact, there has never been one and likely never will be.”</p>
<p>The reason for the difference comes down to four factors, Martin explained: legislative power, ease of passing a budget, political stakes and appropriation rules.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/shutdowns-are-a-uniquely-american-drama-in-the-uk-its-just-not-parliaments-cup-of-tea-213928">Shutdowns are a uniquely American drama − in the UK, it's just not Parliament's cup of tea</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p><em>This article was updated on March 1, 2024, to reflect a new short-term funding deal.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224586/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Congress is again on the brink of a government shutdown less than four months after the last close call.Bryan Keogh, Managing EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2234192024-02-16T13:18:39Z2024-02-16T13:18:39ZCandidates’ aging brains are factors in the presidential race − 4 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575373/original/file-20240213-24-9ifh6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C0%2C4247%2C2971&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joe Biden and Donald Trump are two of the three oldest people ever to serve as president.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2024ChinaUnitedStates/46152c599dd14340abc0595fca447682/photo">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The leading contenders in the 2024 presidential election are two of the three oldest people ever to serve as president. President <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/11/27/how-old-is-joe-biden/71479875007/">Joe Biden is 81</a>. Former President <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/11/27/how-old-is-joe-biden/71479875007/">Donald Trump is 77</a>. Ronald <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/arts-culture/3744771-here-are-the-oldest-us-presidents-to-ever-hold-office/">Reagan took office at 69</a> and left it at age 77.</p>
<p>Both Biden and Trump have faced criticism about what can appear to be obvious signs of aging, including <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/02/10/memory-lapses-brain-biden-trump/">questions about their memory</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/age-mental-capacity-dominates-presidential-campaign-trail-after-report-questions-2024-02-10/">cognitive abilities</a>.</p>
<p>Scholars writing for The Conversation U.S. have discussed various aspects of how aging affects people’s brains. Here we spotlight four articles that collectively explain why there is cause for concern, why there is no clear statement to be made about any specific person’s cognitive power as they age, and ways people can preserve their brain power into their golden years. </p>
<h2>1. Decline in thinking can come with age</h2>
<p>Brandeis psychology professor <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KL6sulQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Angela Gutchess</a>, who studies brain activity to understand human thought, said there is a body of work documenting a cognitive decline in aging people:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/aging-brains-arent-necessarily-declining-brains-33574">Past behavioral data</a> largely pointed to loss in cognitive – that is, thinking – abilities with age, including poorer memory and greater distractibility.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But her work has also found that “aging brains can reorganize and change, and not necessarily for the worse.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aging-brains-arent-necessarily-declining-brains-33574">Aging brains aren't necessarily declining brains</a>
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<h2>2. Some people age faster than others</h2>
<p>Aging is an individual experience, explained <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tqI8C_UAAAAJ&hl=en">Aditi Gurkar</a>, a geriatric medicine scholar at the University of Pittsburgh:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-you-a-rapid-ager-biological-age-is-a-better-health-indicator-than-the-number-of-years-youve-lived-but-its-tricky-to-measure-198849">Although age is the principal risk factor</a> for several chronic diseases, it is an unreliable indicator of how quickly your body will decline or how susceptible you are to age-related disease. This is because there is a difference between your chronological age, or the number of years you’ve been alive, and your biological age – your physical and functional ability.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Gurkar’s work has been focused on the latter, noting that some people with the same chronological ages can have very different cognitive and physical abilities. Key factors include the strength of a person’s social connections, as well as their sleeping habits, water consumption, exercise and diet.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-you-a-rapid-ager-biological-age-is-a-better-health-indicator-than-the-number-of-years-youve-lived-but-its-tricky-to-measure-198849">Are you a rapid ager? Biological age is a better health indicator than the number of years you've lived, but it's tricky to measure</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9eOofp64IYI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">As University of Pittsburgh geriatric scholar Aditi Gurkar notes in her TED Talk, aging is not just a number.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Even cells age differently inside the body</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DDc-okgAAAAJ&hl=en">Ellen Quarles</a>, who teaches cellular and molecular biology of aging at the University of Michigan, explained that aging is so individualized that it varies even at the cellular level:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/aging-is-complicated-a-biologist-explains-why-no-two-people-or-cells-age-the-same-way-and-what-this-means-for-anti-aging-interventions-202096">There is no single cause of aging</a>. No two people age the same way, and indeed, neither do any two cells. There are countless ways for your basic biology to go wrong over time, and these add up to create a unique network of aging-related factors for each person that make finding a one-size-fits-all anti-aging treatment extremely challenging.”</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aging-is-complicated-a-biologist-explains-why-no-two-people-or-cells-age-the-same-way-and-what-this-means-for-anti-aging-interventions-202096">Aging is complicated – a biologist explains why no two people or cells age the same way, and what this means for anti-aging interventions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. There is a way to preserve abilities</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brian-ho-1466332">Brian Ho</a> and
<a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kFenpZ4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Ronald Cohen</a>, University of Florida scholars who study brain health in aging people, have found that physical activity makes a real difference in cognition:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/aerobic-and-strength-training-exercise-combined-can-be-an-elixir-for-better-brain-health-in-your-80s-and-90s-new-study-finds-212433">People in the oldest stage of life</a> who regularly engage in aerobic activities and strength training exercises perform better on cognitive tests than those who are either sedentary or participate only in aerobic exercise.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Specifically, they found:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“(T)hose who incorporated both aerobic exercises, such as swimming and cycling, and strength exercises like weightlifting into their routines – regardless of intensity and duration – had better mental agility, quicker thinking and greater ability to shift or adapt their thinking.”</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aerobic-and-strength-training-exercise-combined-can-be-an-elixir-for-better-brain-health-in-your-80s-and-90s-new-study-finds-212433">Aerobic and strength training exercise combined can be an elixir for better brain health in your 80s and 90s, new study finds</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Whether it’s for Biden and Trump or anyone else, these scholars advise staying active, deepening connections with family and friends and recognizing that not everyone ages the same way.</p>
<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223419/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Both men have faced criticism about what can appear to be obvious signs of aging, including questions about their memory and cognitive abilities.Jeff Inglis, Politics + Society Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2225582024-02-12T13:22:26Z2024-02-12T13:22:26ZAre you seeing news reports of voting problems? 4 essential reads on election disinformation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573137/original/file-20240202-21-f3bec9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5871%2C3908&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A voter emerges from a voting booth in New Hampshire in January 2024.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Election2024NewHampshire/972c19ed86d54978a681a700a4bfc1f5/photo">AP Photo/David Goldman</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In certain circles, the 2020 presidential election isn’t over – and that seems to be at least a little bit true. In recent weeks, official reviews of election records and processes from the 2020 presidential election have reported findings that might be used to spread rumors about voting integrity.</p>
<p>For instance, election officials in Virginia’s Prince William County <a href="https://26d73768-aba6-4644-905b-6ea5efbfc5d6.filesusr.com/ugd/d8ec42_4838ad7c950247ae9cf010d85b4654c1.pdf">announced on Jan. 11, 2024</a>, that <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4409576-virginia-county-misreported-2020-votes/">4,000 votes from the 2020 presidential election had been miscounted</a>. None of them changed the results. Those miscounts gave Donald Trump 2,327 more votes than he actually got, and Joe Biden 1,648 votes fewer. Errors in counting turned up in other races, too, with both parties’ candidates for U.S. Senate being given fewer votes than they actually received, and a Republican who won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives actually won by a slightly larger margin than previously reported.</p>
<p>An audit of South Carolina’s 2020 voting records <a href="https://scdailygazette.com/2024/01/17/auditors-find-no-fraud-in-sc-election-process-but-make-some-clean-up-suggestions/">released in mid-January</a> <a href="https://scdailygazette.com/2024/01/17/auditors-find-no-fraud-in-sc-election-process-but-make-some-clean-up-suggestions/">found no fraud</a> and no indication any election results could have been different with the errors that were identified. But the report did recommend election officials cross-check lists of registered voters with other state lists more frequently than they have done in the past. Death reports and prison inmate rolls can help them determine who should remain eligible to voter and who should be removed from voting lists, the report said.</p>
<p>The Conversation U.S. has published several articles about the systems protecting election integrity. Here are four examples from our archives. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368026/original/file-20201106-23-1m7dosw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Trump campaign poll watcher films the counting of ballots at the Allegheny County, Pa., elections warehouse" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368026/original/file-20201106-23-1m7dosw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368026/original/file-20201106-23-1m7dosw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368026/original/file-20201106-23-1m7dosw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368026/original/file-20201106-23-1m7dosw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368026/original/file-20201106-23-1m7dosw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368026/original/file-20201106-23-1m7dosw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368026/original/file-20201106-23-1m7dosw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Trump campaign poll watcher films the counting of ballots at the Allegheny County, Penn., elections warehouse in 2020 in Pittsburgh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/trump-campaign-poll-watcher-films-the-counting-of-ballots-news-photo/1229491574?adppopup=true">Jeff Swensen/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1. Changing numbers are evidence of transparency, not fraud</h2>
<p>The news reports of election audits came, originally, from election officials themselves, who specified they were below the small margins that would have triggered recounts. The reports also offered explanations for what had happened and how to fix it in the future – and included statements that at least some of the problems had already been fixed for upcoming elections.</p>
<p>That’s an example of what <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=NYzBHVcAAAAJ">Kristin Kanthak</a>, a political scientist at the University of Pittsburgh, was talking about when she explained that election results that change over time aren’t inherently a problem:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-votes-are-counted-in-pennsylvania-changing-numbers-are-a-sign-of-transparency-not-fraud-during-an-ongoing-process-149685">(T)his doesn’t mean the system is ‘rigged.’</a> Actually, it means the system is transparent to a fault,” she wrote.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-votes-are-counted-in-pennsylvania-changing-numbers-are-a-sign-of-transparency-not-fraud-during-an-ongoing-process-149685">How votes are counted in Pennsylvania: Changing numbers are a sign of transparency, not fraud, during an ongoing process</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Easier voting is not a threat to election integrity</h2>
<p>Erecting obstacles to voting will not prevent the problems that do exist in the election system, for the simple reason that the flaws are not a result of easier voting methods, such as early voting and voting by mail.</p>
<p>Grinnell College political scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=rx12P2YAAAAJ">Douglas R. Hess</a> observed that the COVID-19 pandemic was a massive test of whether a secure election could be held with a lot of <a href="https://theconversation.com/making-it-easier-to-vote-does-not-threaten-election-integrity-157007">accommodations that made voting easier</a>, and safer from the spread of disease.</p>
<p>As he wrote,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“(E)arly voting and voting by mail are targeted for restrictions in many states, even though both reforms are popular with the public, worked securely in 2020 and have been expanded in many states for years without increases in fraud. Likewise, the collection of absentee ballots – a necessity for some voters – can be implemented securely.”</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/making-it-easier-to-vote-does-not-threaten-election-integrity-157007">Making it easier to vote does not threaten election integrity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. It’s possible for election workers to be both partisan and fair-minded</h2>
<p>For many years, elections have been run by people who were members of one political party or the other but behaved in good faith to run fair elections, wrote <a href="https://search.asu.edu/profile/2408574">Thom Reilly</a>, a scholar at Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs.</p>
<p>But both the facts and the rhetoric have changed, he explained, noting that a significant share of the electorate is not a member of either party – so the people who supervise elections, who are typically party members, are “<a href="https://theconversation.com/good-faith-and-the-honor-of-partisan-election-officials-used-to-be-enough-to-ensure-trust-in-voting-results-but-not-anymore-189510">an increasingly partisan set of officials</a>.”</p>
<p>Even so, many of them work hard to conduct fair elections. Yet, he wrote,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/good-faith-and-the-honor-of-partisan-election-officials-used-to-be-enough-to-ensure-trust-in-voting-results-but-not-anymore-189510">(W)idespread misinformation and disinformation</a> on election administration is hobbling the ability of election officials to do their job and has created fertile ground for mistrust.”</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/good-faith-and-the-honor-of-partisan-election-officials-used-to-be-enough-to-ensure-trust-in-voting-results-but-not-anymore-189510">Good faith and the honor of partisan election officials used to be enough to ensure trust in voting results – but not anymore</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488374/original/file-20221005-12-kkkvga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman with gray hair helps a man with gray hair cast a ballot at a voting machine." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488374/original/file-20221005-12-kkkvga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/488374/original/file-20221005-12-kkkvga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488374/original/file-20221005-12-kkkvga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488374/original/file-20221005-12-kkkvga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488374/original/file-20221005-12-kkkvga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488374/original/file-20221005-12-kkkvga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/488374/original/file-20221005-12-kkkvga.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A poll worker helps a voter cast a ballot in the Kansas primary election at Merriam Christian Church on Aug. 2, 2022, in Merriam, Kan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/poll-worker-helps-a-voter-cast-their-ballot-in-the-kansas-news-photo/1412514591?phrase=election%20worker&adppopup=true">Kyle Rivas/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Beware those who aim to confuse or mislead</h2>
<p>Political disinformation efforts are particularly intense around elections, warn scholars of information warfare <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=C6KSF5gAAAAJ&hl=en">Kate Starbird</a> and
<a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=db5ZPlkAAAAJ&hl=en">Jevin West</a> at the University of Washington and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=udIHaZAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Renee DiResta</a> at Stanford University.</p>
<p>Situations to watch out for are those in which “<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-types-of-misinformation-to-watch-out-for-while-ballots-are-being-counted-and-after-149509">lack of understanding and certainty</a> can fuel doubt, fan misinformation and provide opportunities for those seeking to delegitimize the results,” they wrote.</p>
<p>Specifically, look out for:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-types-of-misinformation-to-watch-out-for-while-ballots-are-being-counted-and-after-149509">Politically motivated individuals</a> (who) are likely to cherry-pick and assemble these pieces of digital "evidence” to fit narratives that seek to undermine trust in the results. Much of this evidence is likely to be derived from real events, though taken out of context and exaggerated.“</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They provide a reminder to keep your wits about you and be sure to double-check any claims before believing or sharing them.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-types-of-misinformation-to-watch-out-for-while-ballots-are-being-counted-and-after-149509">5 types of misinformation to watch out for while ballots are being counted – and after</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p>
<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/election-2024-disinformation-151606">This article is part of Disinformation 2024:</a></strong> a series examining the science, technology and politics of deception in elections.</em></p>
<p><em>You may also be interested in:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-disinformation-is-a-threat-to-elections-learning-to-spot-russian-chinese-and-iranian-meddling-in-other-countries-can-help-the-us-prepare-for-2024-214358">AI disinformation is a threat to elections − learning to spot Russian, Chinese and Iranian meddling in other countries can help the US prepare for 2024</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-ai-could-take-over-elections-and-undermine-democracy-206051">How AI could take over elections – and undermine democracy</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/events-that-never-happened-could-influence-the-2024-presidential-election-a-cybersecurity-researcher-explains-situation-deepfakes-206034">Events that never happened could influence the 2024 presidential election – a cybersecurity researcher explains situation deepfakes</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222558/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Scholars discuss aspects of protecting election integrity in the face of efforts to cast aspersions on voting results.Jeff Inglis, Politics + Society Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2206412024-02-09T13:33:00Z2024-02-09T13:33:00ZAds, food and gambling galore − 5 essential reads for the Super Bowl<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574506/original/file-20240208-18-ge9cxl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=203%2C54%2C4074%2C2881&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Christian McCaffrey and the San Francisco 49ers will try to stop the Kansas City Chiefs from winning their third Super Bowl in five years.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/christian-mccaffrey-of-the-san-francisco-49ers-rushes-news-photo/1976854646?adppopup=true">Michael Zagaris/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Sunday in Las Vegas, the Kansas City Chiefs will be looking to win their second straight Lombardi Trophy, while a San Francisco 49ers victory would give the team its first Super Bowl <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_XXIX">since 1995</a>, when <a href="https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/Y/YounSt00.htm">Steve Young</a> was under center.</p>
<p>I didn’t get a pass to media day, so I didn’t get a chance to ask Chiefs head coach Andy Reid about how he tends to <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nfl/article-12961001/Chiefs-coach-Andy-Reid-mustache-FREEZES.html">his mustache</a>.</p>
<p>But my colleagues and I were able to ask an all-pro lineup of scholars to write about a range of football-related topics, from the partisan food divide to the numbers behind the biggest gambling bonanza in league history.</p>
<h2>1. Flag, you’re it</h2>
<p>The Pro Bowl, the NFL’s version of the all-star game, usually gets scant attention. That’s because it happens the weekend before the Super Bowl – absent many of the stars playing in the big game – and the players seem most concerned about avoiding injuries, not winning the game.</p>
<p>A year ago, league officials decided to shake up the annual showcase. It would no longer be a tackle football game. <a href="https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-announces-the-pro-bowl-games-to-replace-tackle-game-with-flag-football-skill">It would be a flag football match</a>. The thinking went that if the league’s stars didn’t have to tackle one another, they might play harder, be more likely to showcase their athleticism and, importantly, have more fun. </p>
<p>As West Virginia University sociologist Josh Woods explains, <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-flag-football-one-day-leapfrog-tackle-football-in-popularity-222349">the NFL’s promotion of flag football is a big deal</a>, particularly for an emerging sport that’s somewhat obscure outside of Florida, Georgia and New York, where roughly 80% of high school flag football players live. Its inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics will only further bolster its profile.</p>
<p>But Woods points to a gender divide and a political divide that could end up clouding the sport’s future.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/could-flag-football-one-day-leapfrog-tackle-football-in-popularity-222349">Could flag football one day leapfrog tackle football in popularity?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young man runs holding a football and waving his finger mid-stride." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574505/original/file-20240208-24-e030ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574505/original/file-20240208-24-e030ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574505/original/file-20240208-24-e030ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574505/original/file-20240208-24-e030ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574505/original/file-20240208-24-e030ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574505/original/file-20240208-24-e030ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574505/original/file-20240208-24-e030ed.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill runs for a touchdown in the first quarter of the 2024 NFL Pro Bowl in Orlando, Fla.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tyreek-hill-of-the-miami-dolphins-and-afc-reacts-as-he-runs-news-photo/1985984027?adppopup=true">Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. X’s, O’s and Z’s</h2>
<p>In 2011, former NFL cornerback Sam Shields was a rookie playing for a Green Bay Packers team that had made the Super Bowl. The night before the big game, he tossed and turned.</p>
<p>“I had stomach aches, using the bathroom, but I didn’t have to use it,” <a href="https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/01/31/super-bowl-2019-nfl-players-sleep-rams-patriots-atlanta">he told Sports Illustrated in 2019</a>. “It felt like Christmas too, when Christmas is the next day you can’t sleep.”</p>
<p>I’ve wondered whether I would get a wink of shut-eye if I were scheduled to pitch in the World Series. Something tells me I’d be a lot like Shields. And as if the Chiefs and 49ers players and coaches aren’t feeling enough pressure, it turns out that getting a good night’s sleep is one of the most important things an athlete can do before a big game, meet or match.</p>
<p>University of Pittsburgh sleep medicine specialist Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse highlights reams of studies showing how <a href="https://theconversation.com/sleep-can-give-athletes-an-edge-over-competitors-but-few-recognize-how-fundamental-sleep-is-to-performance-221403">a poor night’s sleep can effect performance and decision-making</a> while making you more likely to get injured.</p>
<p>In fact, she writes, “Sleep deficits have been linked to decreased performance in every cognitive measure.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sleep-can-give-athletes-an-edge-over-competitors-but-few-recognize-how-fundamental-sleep-is-to-performance-221403">Sleep can give athletes an edge over competitors − but few recognize how fundamental sleep is to performance</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>3. Going all in on gambling</h2>
<p>Did you bet on the 49ers to cover the spread? Perhaps you’re <a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Play-Football-Squares">playing squares</a>. Or maybe you’re betting on Reba McEntire’s national anthem <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/2024-super-bowl-lviii-odds-how-long-will-reba-mcentires-national-anthem-be">to last longer than 90.5 seconds</a>.</p>
<p>If you’ve wagered on some aspect of the big game, you’re one of roughly 67 million American adults who have done the same, according to a Morning Consult survey conducted in early February. That would make another new record, shattering 2023’s record, which shattered the mark from 2022. The country’s gambling mania has been aided, in part, by the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/us/politics/supreme-court-sports-betting-new-jersey.html">overturned a federal ban on sports betting</a>. </p>
<p>Gambling and the Super Bowl have always gone hand in hand. To University of Iowa sports media scholar Tom Oates, what makes the developments of the past few years so remarkable is <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-super-bowl-gets-the-vegas-treatment-with-1-in-4-american-adults-expected-to-gamble-on-the-big-game-222370">the NFL’s stunning reversal on its own attitudes toward betting</a>.</p>
<p>Gone are the quaint days of league officials lobbying Congress to put restrictions and guardrails in place. The NFL has gone all in on its embrace of gambling, <a href="https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-inks-nearly-1-billion-212312677.html?_fsig=UXLu7VdB0Sg8Wcfmd7USNw--%7EA">forging billion-dollar partnerships</a> with the country’s top sportsbooks.</p>
<p>“But this infusion of extra cash comes with a substantial social cost,” Oates writes. “Gambling addictions are at an all-time high, likely spurred by the ease with which people can place bets from their phones.” </p>
<p>So if you want to get in on the action, gamble responsibly and don’t let your emotions get the best of you. </p>
<p>That being said, a little birdie told me that Reba <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=696443244813036">can really hold her notes</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-super-bowl-gets-the-vegas-treatment-with-1-in-4-american-adults-expected-to-gamble-on-the-big-game-222370">The Super Bowl gets the Vegas treatment, with 1 in 4 American adults expected to gamble on the big game</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman with red hair and silver dress holds microphone and smiles." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574593/original/file-20240209-31-9fdvn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/574593/original/file-20240209-31-9fdvn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574593/original/file-20240209-31-9fdvn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574593/original/file-20240209-31-9fdvn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574593/original/file-20240209-31-9fdvn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574593/original/file-20240209-31-9fdvn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/574593/original/file-20240209-31-9fdvn2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Country music singer Reba McEntire will be singing the national anthem at Super Bowl LVIII.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/reba-mcentire-performs-at-madison-square-garden-on-april-15-news-photo/1482508270?adppopup=true">Theo Wargo/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>4. At least they aren’t serving donkey meat</h2>
<p><a href="https://jacobin.com/2022/01/hyper-politics-annie-ernaux-moralism-identity-media-individualization">Everything is politicized</a>, so the lament goes. And even the Super Bowl – <a href="https://thedaily.case.edu/the-super-bowl-is-a-cultural-moment-but-why/">one of the few communal events left</a> in a polarized, atomized nation – can’t avoid the creep of partisanship. </p>
<p>In recent years, some of the country’s most iconic food brands – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/bud-light-boycott.html">Bud Light</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/business/goya-boycott.html">Goya</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/papa-johns-cuts-ties-with-the-nfl-after-national-anthem-protests-2018-2">Papa John’s</a>, <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/02/23/coca-cola-diversity-training-urged-workers-to-be-less-white/">Coca-Cola</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/5/31/23742373/chick-fil-a-boycott-controversy-conservative-backlash">Chick-fil-A</a> – have been excoriated by partisans on both sides of the aisle. </p>
<p>So food spreads can color every Super Bowl party with a tinge of “red team,” “blue team.”</p>
<p>“What you serve at your Super Bowl party, or what the host serves at the event you attend, can now be interpreted, or twisted, through a partisan lens,” write political scientists Joshua J. Dyck and Shanna Pearson-Merkowitz.</p>
<p>One possible way to bridge the divide: Unite in a bipartisan celebration of Taylor Swift. Actually, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-taylor-swift-is-an-antihero-to-the-gop-but-democrats-should-know-all-too-well-that-her-endorsement-wont-mean-its-all-over-now-222437">scratch that</a>. </p>
<p>Maybe you could just serve salmon – a food that, according to Dyck and Pearson-Merkowitz’s research, is “resistant to partisan cues.”</p>
<p>Grim times, indeed.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/super-bowl-party-foods-can-deliver-political-bite-choose-wisely-222687">Super Bowl party foods can deliver political bite – choose wisely</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>5. ByeDaddy</h2>
<p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/super-bowl-poll-commercials-halftime-1f65969d3ec56a5c3eca3ba386428d6a">According to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll</a>, 22% of Americans planning to watch the Super Bowl are most excited about the commercials.</p>
<p>That’s one reason companies are willing to fork over so much cash for a coveted slot – as much as US$7 million for a 30-second spot. </p>
<p>However, as Auburn University scholars Linda Ferrell and O.C. Ferrell point out, many regulars on the airwaves of the Super Bowl, such as GoDaddy and Ford, are <a href="https://theconversation.com/super-bowl-ads-its-getting-harder-for-commercials-to-score-with-consumers-222269">missing from this year’s lineup</a>.</p>
<p>What gives?</p>
<p>“Gen Z, in particular, is not impressed by Super Bowl ads,” they write, “and complicating the matter is their lack of interest in broadcast TV.”</p>
<p>So as a millennial who’s spent years listening to how <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/millennials-are-killing">my generation has killed</a> everything from paper napkins to mayonnaise, I take great pleasure in typing: Gen Z killed the Super Bowl ad.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/super-bowl-ads-its-getting-harder-for-commercials-to-score-with-consumers-222269">Super Bowl ads: It's getting harder for commercials to score with consumers</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220641/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Oh, yeah, and there’s a game, too.Nick Lehr, Arts + Culture EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2204452024-01-02T18:41:08Z2024-01-02T18:41:08ZIsrael’s highest court protects its power to curb government extremism − 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567606/original/file-20240102-15-z4y79r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C5%2C3976%2C2335&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Israeli Supreme Court assembled in September 2023 to hear arguments to strike down a controversial judicial overhaul limiting the power of the court to review and overturn government decisions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-of-the-israeli-supreme-court-esther-hayut-and-all-news-photo/1659537878?adppopup=true">Debbie Hill/Pool/AFP viaGetty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the midst of Israel’s fierce war against Hamas in Gaza, the country’s highest court on New Year’s Day drew attention back to a previous conflict within the country. In a narrowly divided decision, the justices <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-supreme-court-judicial-overhaul-78733a94428b8b9f2c311ee6779eba23">struck down a significant part of the contentious judicial reform</a> passed in July 2023 by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. </p>
<p>That reform would have taken away from the Supreme Court the ability to review and limit the government’s actions. Netanyahu and his cabinet – the most religious and politically conservative in Israel’s history – claimed the court had become too powerful, vetoing government policies. Opponents of the legislation said it was an attack on democracy, aimed at neutering the judicial system so that government had nearly unfettered power. </p>
<p>Demonstrations against the reform began in January 2023 and grew over several months into massive expressions of opposition featuring hundreds of thousands of protesters in the streets. The public opposition grew so large and emphatic, attracting figures previously uninvolved in politics – such as members of the military and 18 former Supreme Court justices – that it was seen as unprecedented in Israel’s history.</p>
<p>The Conversation followed the path of the legislation in Israel’s parliament, as well as the demonstrations that accompanied its debate and passage. Here are three stories from our archives that can help readers understand what was at stake.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510166/original/file-20230214-28-8u12ky.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A protester raises a 'Scales of Justice' symbol while other protesters hold a banner and placards during a demonstration" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510166/original/file-20230214-28-8u12ky.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510166/original/file-20230214-28-8u12ky.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510166/original/file-20230214-28-8u12ky.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510166/original/file-20230214-28-8u12ky.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510166/original/file-20230214-28-8u12ky.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510166/original/file-20230214-28-8u12ky.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510166/original/file-20230214-28-8u12ky.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A protester raises a ‘scales of justice’ symbol during a demonstration on Feb. 11, 2023, in Tel Aviv, where 130,000 people marched against Israel’s right-wing government and its controversial legal reform.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protester-raises-a-scales-of-justice-symbol-while-other-news-photo/1247124896?phrase=Netanyahu&adppopup=true">Matan Golan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>1. Unchecked majority power</h2>
<p>In an early analysis of the Netanyahu cabinet’s legislative moves, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=K47kws8AAAAJ&hl=en">Boaz Atzili</a>, a scholar of international relations at American University School of International Service, wrote that there were a number of ways Israel’s democratic institutions, customs and practices <a href="https://theconversation.com/israels-netanyahu-facing-off-against-the-supreme-court-and-proposing-to-limit-judicial-independence-and-3-other-threats-to-israeli-democracy-197096">were endangered by the new government</a>. Among those threats were the government’s hostility to freedom of speech, dissent, equal rights – especially for the LGBTQ community – and “the new government’s intention to de facto annex the West Bank.” </p>
<p>“Perhaps the most important front in the battle is the Israeli Supreme Court,” wrote Atzili. “The courts are the only institution that can check the power of the ruling parties and uphold the country’s Basic Laws, which provide rights in the absence of a formal constitution. But the new government wants to erase this separation of power and explicitly aims at weakening the courts. … This would, in effect, remove all barriers placed upon the power of the majority.”</p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/israels-netanyahu-facing-off-against-the-supreme-court-and-proposing-to-limit-judicial-independence-and-3-other-threats-to-israeli-democracy-197096">Israel's Netanyahu facing off against the supreme court and proposing to limit judicial independence - and 3 other threats to Israeli democracy</a>
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<h2>2. Perception isn’t reality</h2>
<p>As the protests grew in Israel, we interviewed political scientist and Israel expert <a href="https://www.international.ucla.edu/israel/person/2520">Dov Waxman</a>, the director of UCLA’s Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, about the proposals to limit the independence and power of the judiciary. He said that there was a perception that the Supreme Court had overstepped boundaries. </p>
<p>“Since the 1990s, Israel’s high court has become <a href="https://theconversation.com/israel-enters-a-dangerous-period-public-protests-swell-over-netanyahus-plan-to-limit-the-power-of-the-israeli-supreme-court-199917">very involved in Israeli politics</a>, something it did not do in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s,” Waxman said. “It has intervened, overridden and disqualified many government decisions and laws. So the perception, particularly by those on the right, that this is an activist court, that it has been too active, is reasonable.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510168/original/file-20230214-26-72elpe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man marching in a protest wearing a military uniform raises his fist." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510168/original/file-20230214-26-72elpe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510168/original/file-20230214-26-72elpe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510168/original/file-20230214-26-72elpe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510168/original/file-20230214-26-72elpe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510168/original/file-20230214-26-72elpe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510168/original/file-20230214-26-72elpe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510168/original/file-20230214-26-72elpe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An Israeli reserve soldier raises his fist as he marches during a demonstration on Feb. 13, 2023, in Jerusalem to protest proposed judicial reform.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-israeli-reserve-soldier-raises-his-fist-as-he-marches-news-photo/1247124493?phrase=israel%20protest&adppopup=true">Eyal Warshavsky/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>But, Waxman said, “This perception among the right that the court has really restrained Israeli governments isn’t actually accurate. I think many people would accept that there could be an argument for some kind of judicial reform, at least passing a law to clarify the role and powers of the Supreme Court. But what’s being presented in this reform is actually a revolutionary attempt to essentially take away the independence and power of the Supreme Court.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/israel-enters-a-dangerous-period-public-protests-swell-over-netanyahus-plan-to-limit-the-power-of-the-israeli-supreme-court-199917">Israel enters a dangerous period – public protests swell over Netanyahu's plan to limit the power of the Israeli Supreme Court</a>
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<h2>3. Secular power vs. settlers and the Orthodox</h2>
<p>Behind the judicial reform effort by Netanyahu’s government was the move to wrest state power away from the liberal, secular interests that had long dominated Israel’s politics. </p>
<p>“A country once known for left-leaning politics now has a right-wing government dominated by Jewish religious nationalists who spearheaded the <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-contentious-judicial-reform-becomes-law-in-israel-netanyahu-cements-his-political-legacy-210043">efforts to curb judicial checks on executive power</a>,” wrote <a href="https://www.umass.edu/jne/member/david-mednicoff">David Mednicoff</a>, a scholar of Judaic and Near Eastern studies at UMass Amherst. </p>
<p>“This reform appeals to important sectors of Netanyahu’s supporters who see the Supreme Court’s power as an inappropriate secular check on Israel’s increasingly pro-settler and pro-Orthodox government,” Mednicoff wrote. </p>
<p>At the center of this battle, wrote Mednicoff, is the man who has played a leading role in Israeli politics since the 1990s, Benjamin Netanyahu. He did this in part by allying himself increasingly with the country’s settler population, many of them Orthodox Jews.</p>
<p>“Today’s Israel is marked by growing splits between secular, urbanized citizens near the Mediterranean coast and Orthodox and other settlers in or near the West Bank. The two groups have different visions for Israel’s future, with the latter citizens pushing the country in a more theocratic direction.”</p>
<p>“This divisive battle over Israel’s nature owes a great deal to Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership,” wrote Mednicoff.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-contentious-judicial-reform-becomes-law-in-israel-netanyahu-cements-his-political-legacy-210043">As contentious judicial 'reform' becomes law in Israel, Netanyahu cements his political legacy</a>
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<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Israel’s highest court has struck down the government’s law limiting its power. Three scholars look at why the law was proposed, what it aimed to do and who supported – and opposed – it.Naomi Schalit, Senior Editor, Politics + Democracy, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2200352023-12-20T13:16:02Z2023-12-20T13:16:02ZChatGPT and its AI chatbot cousins ruled 2023: 4 essential reads that puncture the hype<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566735/original/file-20231219-23-ok6pkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7885%2C5252&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">ChatGPT captivated the public imagination.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-picture-taken-on-january-23-2023-in-toulouse-news-photo/1246494152">Lionel Bonaventure via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Within four months of ChatGPT’s launch on Nov. 30, 2022, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/05/24/a-majority-of-americans-have-heard-of-chatgpt-but-few-have-tried-it-themselves/">most Americans had heard of the AI chatbot</a>. Hype about – and fear of – the technology was at a fever pitch for much of 2023. </p>
<p>OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, Anthropic’s Claude and Microsoft’s Copilot are among the chatbots powered by large language models to provide uncannily humanlike conversations. The experience of interacting with one of these chatbots, combined with Silicon Valley spin, can leave the impression that these technical marvels are conscious entities.</p>
<p>But the reality is considerably less magical or glamorous. The Conversation published several articles in 2023 that dispel several key misperceptions about this latest generation of AI chatbots: that they know something about the world, can make decisions, are a replacement for search engines and operate independent of humans.</p>
<h2>1. Bodiless know-nothings</h2>
<p>Large-language-model-based chatbots seem to know a lot. You can ask them questions, and they more often than not answer correctly. Despite the occasional comically incorrect answer, the chatbots can interact with you in a similar manner as people – who share your experiences of being a living, breathing human being – do.</p>
<p>But these chatbots are sophisticated statistical machines that are extremely good at predicting the best sequence of words to respond with. Their “knowledge” of the world is actually human knowledge as reflected through the massive amount of human-generated text the chatbots’ underlying models are trained on.</p>
<p>Arizona State psychology researcher <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=qycCCZMAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">Arthur Glenberg</a> and University of California, San Diego cognitive scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mhU_tUgAAAAJ&hl=en">Cameron Robert Jones</a> explain how people’s knowledge of the world <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-takes-a-body-to-understand-the-world-why-chatgpt-and-other-language-ais-dont-know-what-theyre-saying-201280">depends as much on their bodies as their brains</a>. “People’s understanding of a term like ‘paper sandwich wrapper,’ for example, includes the wrapper’s appearance, its feel, its weight and, consequently, how we can use it: for wrapping a sandwich,” they explained. </p>
<p>This knowledge means people also intuitively know other ways of making use of a sandwich wrapper, such as an improvised means of covering your head in the rain. Not so with AI chatbots. “People understand how to make use of stuff in ways that are not captured in language-use statistics,” they wrote.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/it-takes-a-body-to-understand-the-world-why-chatgpt-and-other-language-ais-dont-know-what-theyre-saying-201280">It takes a body to understand the world – why ChatGPT and other language AIs don't know what they're saying</a>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gSRN_3pkTsc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">AI researchers Emily Bender and Casey Fiesler discuss some of ChatGPT’s limitations, including problems of bias.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>2. Lack of judgment</h2>
<p>ChatGPT and its cousins can also give the impression of having cognitive abilities – like understanding the concept of negation or making rational decisions – thanks to all the human language they’ve ingested. This impression has led cognitive scientists to test these AI chatbots to assess how they compare to humans in various ways.</p>
<p>University of Southern California AI researcher <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=fetkEu4AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">Mayank Kejriwal</a> tested the large language models’ understanding of expected gain, a measure of how well someone understands the stakes in a betting scenario. They found that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-bet-with-chatgpt-study-shows-language-ais-often-make-irrational-decisions-202936">models bet randomly</a>. </p>
<p>“This is the case even when we give it a trick question like: If you toss a coin and it comes up heads, you win a diamond; if it comes up tails, you lose a car. Which would you take? The correct answer is heads, but the AI models chose tails about half the time,” he wrote.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-bet-with-chatgpt-study-shows-language-ais-often-make-irrational-decisions-202936">Don't bet with ChatGPT – study shows language AIs often make irrational decisions</a>
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<h2>3. Summaries, not results</h2>
<p>While it might not be surprising that AI chatbots aren’t as humanlike as they can seem, they’re not necessarily digital superstars either. For instance, ChatGPT and the like are increasingly used in place of search engines to answer queries. The results are mixed.</p>
<p>University of Washington information scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=H4dLAw0AAAAJ&hl=en">Chirag Shah</a> explains that large language models perform well as information summarizers: combining key information from multiple search engine results in a single block of text. But <a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-information-retrieval-a-search-engine-researcher-explains-the-promise-and-peril-of-letting-chatgpt-and-its-cousins-search-the-web-for-you-200875">this is a double-edged sword</a>. This is useful for getting the gist of a topic – assuming no “hallucinations” – but it leaves the searcher without any idea of the sources of the information and robs them of the serendipity of coming across unexpected information.</p>
<p>“The problem is that even when these systems are wrong only 10% of the time, you don’t know which 10%,” Shah wrote. “That’s because these systems lack transparency – they don’t reveal what data they are trained on, what sources they have used to come up with answers or how those responses are generated.” </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ai-information-retrieval-a-search-engine-researcher-explains-the-promise-and-peril-of-letting-chatgpt-and-its-cousins-search-the-web-for-you-200875">AI information retrieval: A search engine researcher explains the promise and peril of letting ChatGPT and its cousins search the web for you</a>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hbxvccjQ-NI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A look at the humans shaping AI chatbots behind the curtain.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Not 100% artificial</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most pernicious misperception about AI chatbots is that because they are built on artificial intelligence technology, they are highly automated. While you might be aware that large language models are trained on text produced by humans, you might not be aware of the thousands of workers – and millions of users – continuously honing the models, teaching them to weed out harmful responses and other unwanted behavior.</p>
<p>Georgia Tech sociologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=TP027oEAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">John P. Nelson</a> pulled back the curtain of the big tech companies to show that they <a href="https://theconversation.com/chatgpt-and-other-language-ais-are-nothing-without-humans-a-sociologist-explains-how-countless-hidden-people-make-the-magic-211658">use workers, typically in the Global South, and feedback from users</a> to train the models which responses are good and which are bad.</p>
<p>“There are many, many human workers hidden behind the screen, and they will always be needed if the model is to continue improving or to expand its content coverage,” he wrote. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chatgpt-and-other-language-ais-are-nothing-without-humans-a-sociologist-explains-how-countless-hidden-people-make-the-magic-211658">ChatGPT and other language AIs are nothing without humans – a sociologist explains how countless hidden people make the magic</a>
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<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Common misperceptions about AI chatbots are that they know something about the world, can make decisions, are a replacement for search engines and operate independent of humans.Eric Smalley, Science + Technology EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2168082023-12-12T13:22:22Z2023-12-12T13:22:22ZScientists and space agencies are shooting for the Moon – 5 essential reads on modern lunar missions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556958/original/file-20231031-19-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=72%2C21%2C4734%2C3293&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Moon, shot from Pakistan during a lunar eclipse. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PakistanLunarEclipse/78b42ec6aa9f40218389cd06b938b1ff/photo?Query=moon&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=41215&currentItemNo=5">AP Photo/Fareed Khan</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The year 2023 proved a big one for lunar science. <a href="https://theconversation.com/indias-chandrayaan-3-landed-on-the-south-pole-of-the-moon-a-space-policy-expert-explains-what-this-means-for-india-and-the-global-race-to-the-moon-212171">India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed</a> near the south pole of the Moon, a huge accomplishment for a country relatively new to the space scene, especially after its <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/chandrayaan-2/">Chandrayaan-2 craft crashed</a> in 2019. </p>
<p>At the same time, NASA’s been gearing up for a host of Moon-related missions, including its <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/">Artemis program</a>. In 2023, the agency gained nine signatories to the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords/">Artemis Accords</a>, an international agreement for peaceful space exploration, for a total of 32 countries that have signed so far. </p>
<p>As Georgia Tech’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/returning-to-the-moon-can-benefit-commercial-military-and-political-sectors-a-space-policy-expert-explains-209300">Mariel Borowitz explains</a>, the U.S. now has widespread bipartisan political support for spacefaring – for the first time since the 1970s – and returning missions to the Moon is the first natural target. </p>
<p>Here are five stories that The Conversation U.S. has published over the past year about lunar exploration, including why people want to go back to the Moon, what Chandrayaan-3 found during its initial foray across the lunar surface and the ever-growing problem of lunar space junk. </p>
<h2>1. Why shoot for the Moon?</h2>
<p>Missions to the Moon <a href="https://theconversation.com/returning-to-the-moon-can-benefit-commercial-military-and-political-sectors-a-space-policy-expert-explains-209300">hold potential benefits</a> for a variety of sectors, including commercial, military and geopolitical. </p>
<p>“Ever since humans last left the Moon in 1972, many have dreamed about the days when people would return. But for decades, these efforts have hit political roadblocks,” <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aESo-coAAAAJ&hl=en">wrote Borowitz</a>. “This time, the United States’ plans to return to the Moon are likely to succeed – it has the cross-sector support and the strategic importance to ensure continuity, even during politically challenging times.”</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ocDzndmmE8I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">NASA is planning to return to the Moon with Artemis missions. This video describes where on the Moon it may land and how it will decide.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While some of these <a href="https://theconversation.com/back-to-the-moon-a-space-lawyer-and-planetary-scientist-on-what-it-will-take-to-share-the-benefits-of-new-lunar-exploration-podcast-202415">potential uses</a> are incredibly far off – from <a href="https://theconversation.com/mining-the-moon-110744">mining the Moon for resources</a> to sending out <a href="https://www.airandspaceforces.com/raymond-foresees-cislunar-space-as-key-terrain-guardians-going-to-space/">military satellites</a> to orbit around the Moon – missions to the Moon in the near term will help inform scientists and stakeholders of future possibilities. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/returning-to-the-moon-can-benefit-commercial-military-and-political-sectors-a-space-policy-expert-explains-209300">Returning to the Moon can benefit commercial, military and political sectors – a space policy expert explains</a>
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<h2>2. Searching for sulfur</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/indias-chandrayaan-3-landed-on-the-south-pole-of-the-moon-a-space-policy-expert-explains-what-this-means-for-india-and-the-global-race-to-the-moon-212171">India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down</a> on the Moon’s surface, just a few miles away from the lunar south pole, in late August 2023. </p>
<p><a href="https://robotsguide.com/robots/pragyan">Its rover, called Pragyan</a>, took measurements of the lunar surface and found the <a href="https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/lunar_sourcebook/pdf/Chapter07.pdf">soil near the south pole</a> contains <a href="https://www.isro.gov.in/LIBSResults.html">a surprise – sulfur</a>. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rrTtLze5Ydk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">India’s lunar rover Pragyan rolls out of the lander and onto the surface.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wKuEBj0AAAAJ&hl=en">Jeffrey Gillis-Davis</a>, a <a href="https://theconversation.com/chandrayaan-3s-measurements-of-sulfur-open-the-doors-for-lunar-science-and-exploration-212950">physicist at Washington University in St. Louis, wrote</a>, future Moon missions or a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-s-artemis-base-camp-on-the-moon-will-need-light-water-elevation">future Moon base</a> could use lunar sulfur as an ingredient in everything from <a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19980001900/downloads/19980001900.pdf">fuel and fertilizer to concrete</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/chandrayaan-3s-measurements-of-sulfur-open-the-doors-for-lunar-science-and-exploration-212950">Chandrayaan-3's measurements of sulfur open the doors for lunar science and exploration</a>
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<h2>3. Water in ice</h2>
<p>But <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-suspect-theres-ice-hiding-on-the-moon-and-a-host-of-missions-from-the-us-and-beyond-are-searching-for-it-216060">sulfur’s not the only resource</a> the lunar south pole could have to offer. For several years, scientists have predicted that the lunar south pole <a href="https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/ice/ice_moon.html">might have water</a> in the form of ice. And Chandrayaan-3’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/chandrayaan-3s-measurements-of-sulfur-open-the-doors-for-lunar-science-and-exploration-212950">sulfur discovery</a> gives scientists more insight into how and how recently ice might have formed on the surface.</p>
<p>Comets or <a href="https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac649c">volcanic activity</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemer.2021.125858">could have brought water</a> to the Moon years ago. If volcanic activity is the culprit for water’s appearance, scientists would also expect to see sulfur in higher levels, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kgXwvksAAAAJ&hl=en">wrote Paul Hayne</a>, an assistant professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.</p>
<p>A host of future missions to the Moon, including <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/mission/viper/in-depth/">NASA’s VIPER mission</a> planned for 2024, will continue to investigate where ice could be hiding on the Moon. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-suspect-theres-ice-hiding-on-the-moon-and-a-host-of-missions-from-the-us-and-beyond-are-searching-for-it-216060">Scientists suspect there's ice hiding on the Moon, and a host of missions from the US and beyond are searching for it</a>
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<h2>4. Moon debris</h2>
<p>With all the Moon missions, <a href="https://www.jhuapl.edu/NewsStory/221205-apl-cislunar-traffic-management">both current and upcoming</a>, some experts have raised concerns about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-a-satellite-falls-on-your-house-space-law-protects-you-but-there-are-no-legal-penalties-for-leaving-junk-in-orbit-160757">increased space junk</a> in the “<a href="https://www.afrl.af.mil/Portals/90/Documents/RV/A%20Primer%20on%20Cislunar%20Space_Dist%20A_PA2021-1271.pdf?ver=vs6e0sE4PuJ51QC-15DEfg%3D%3D">cislunar space</a>” – or the space between Earth and the Moon and around the Moon. </p>
<p>NASA doesn’t currently track the space junk left behind from its missions, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/space-junk-in-earth-orbit-and-on-the-moon-will-increase-with-future-missions-but-nobodys-in-charge-of-cleaning-it-up-212421">this lack of oversight</a> has many people worried. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508150/original/file-20230203-7549-e3xoli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large, black telescope." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508150/original/file-20230203-7549-e3xoli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508150/original/file-20230203-7549-e3xoli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508150/original/file-20230203-7549-e3xoli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508150/original/file-20230203-7549-e3xoli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=794&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508150/original/file-20230203-7549-e3xoli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508150/original/file-20230203-7549-e3xoli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508150/original/file-20230203-7549-e3xoli.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=997&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A team of students and professors at the University of Arizona built a telescope to track objects near the Moon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vishnu Reddy/University of Arizona</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One team at the University of Arizona has started <a href="https://news.arizona.edu/story/75m-effort-seeks-prevent-lunar-traffic-jams">building a catalog of debris</a> left in this space. Team members started off by identifying a few large objects, and as their methods got better, they <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-lunar-missions-means-more-space-junk-around-the-moon-two-scientists-are-building-a-catalog-to-track-the-trash-196645">were able to see objects</a> as small as a cereal box. The team hopes this work will one day improve the sustainability of future lunar missions. </p>
<p>“While there is still a long way to go, these efforts are designed to ultimately form the basis for a catalog that will help lead to safer, more sustainable use of cislunar orbital space as humanity begins its expansion off of the Earth,” <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XCYhJqcAAAAJ&hl=en">writes Vishnu Reddy</a>, a professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona. </p>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-lunar-missions-means-more-space-junk-around-the-moon-two-scientists-are-building-a-catalog-to-track-the-trash-196645">More lunar missions means more space junk around the Moon – two scientists are building a catalog to track the trash</a>
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<h2>5. Future flyers</h2>
<p>Early this year, <a href="https://spacenews.com/nasa-announces-crew-for-artemis-2-mission/">NASA announced</a> who will make up the crew of their <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/">Artemis II mission</a>. Set for late 2024, Artemis II will fly by the Moon and test the technology and equipment planned for use in future missions. It will also mark the <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-next-four-people-headed-to-the-moon-how-the-diverse-crew-of-artemis-ii-shows-nasas-plan-for-the-future-of-space-exploration-203214">first time people are close to the lunar surface</a> in over 50 years. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519114/original/file-20230403-16-y1n19n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four astronauts in orange space suits with their helmets off." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519114/original/file-20230403-16-y1n19n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519114/original/file-20230403-16-y1n19n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519114/original/file-20230403-16-y1n19n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519114/original/file-20230403-16-y1n19n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519114/original/file-20230403-16-y1n19n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519114/original/file-20230403-16-y1n19n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519114/original/file-20230403-16-y1n19n.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crew members of the Artemis II mission are NASA astronauts Christina Hammock Koch, Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-names-astronauts-to-next-moon-mission-first-crew-under-artemis">NASA</a></span>
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<p>Three of the four crew members <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-next-four-people-headed-to-the-moon-how-the-diverse-crew-of-artemis-ii-shows-nasas-plan-for-the-future-of-space-exploration-203214">have spent time in space</a>, with the fourth having spent lots of time in spaceflight simulations. Each started their careers as a military pilot, just like all the astronauts of the Apollo missions. But this crew represents more racial and gender diversity than the astronauts of the Apollo era. </p>
<p>“Unlike the Apollo program of the 1960s and 1970s, with Artemis, NASA has placed a heavy emphasis on building a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/16/science/nasa-launch-artemis-1.html">politically sustainable lunar program</a> by fostering the participation of a diverse group of people and countries,” <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PxIOz7cAAAAJ&hl=en">wrote Wendy Whitman Cobb</a>, a professor of strategy and security studies at Air University.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-next-four-people-headed-to-the-moon-how-the-diverse-crew-of-artemis-ii-shows-nasas-plan-for-the-future-of-space-exploration-203214">Meet the next four people headed to the Moon – how the diverse crew of Artemis II shows NASA's plan for the future of space exploration</a>
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<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216808/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing on the Moon made 2023 a big year for lunar exploration, and future years will come with even more discoveries.Mary Magnuson, Assistant Science EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2168062023-12-05T13:17:38Z2023-12-05T13:17:38ZScientists have been researching superconductors for over a century, but they have yet to find one that works at room temperature − 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560888/original/file-20231121-15-k3mvg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C8%2C1417%2C2095&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The search for the room-temperature superconductor continues. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/superconductivity-royalty-free-image/521405206?phrase=superconductor&adppopup=true">Charles O'Rear/Corbis Documentary via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you hadn’t heard about superconductors before 2023, odds are you know what they are now. Researchers raised eyebrows early in the year with <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/short-spectacular-life-viral-room-temperature-superconductivity-claim">claims of operational room-temperature superconductors</a>, though none has been substantiated, and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05742-0">one paper</a> from researchers at the University of Rochester was <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06774-2">retracted by the journal Nature</a> at the authors’ request in November. </p>
<p>But the hunt <a href="https://www.energy.gov/science/doe-explainssuperconductivity">for a superconductor</a> – that is, a material that can conduct electricity without resistance – that can operate at room temperature is nothing new. </p>
<p>Right now, superconductors can operate only at very cold temperatures. So, finding one that could work at room temperature without needing to be kept in a cold chamber could revolutionize everything <a href="https://theconversation.com/physicists-hunt-for-room-temperature-superconductors-that-could-revolutionize-the-worlds-energy-system-80707">from power grids</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/room-temperature-superconductors-could-revolutionize-electronics-an-electrical-engineer-explains-the-materials-potential-201849">medical equipment</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/room-temperature-superconductors-could-revolutionize-electronics-an-electrical-engineer-explains-the-materials-potential-201849">quantum computing</a>. But physicists first have to figure out how to make them work. </p>
<p>A Dutch physicist <a href="https://theconversation.com/superconductivity-at-room-temperature-remains-elusive-a-century-after-a-nobel-went-to-the-scientist-who-demonstrated-it-below-450-degrees-fahrenheit-213959">discovered the phenomenon of superconductivity</a> in the early 20th century, and since then, labs around the world have tested materials that can reach a superconductive state at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.50.4260">warmer and warmer temperatures</a>. </p>
<p>So, how do these materials manage to conduct electricity without resistance, and what sorts of technological possibilities lie on the horizon, with superconductor research improving every year? Here are three stories from The Conversation’s archive that explore the history, science and future of this incredible physical phenomenon. </p>
<h2>1. Physics behind the phenomenon</h2>
<p>How is it even possible to generate a current with zero electrical resistance, the basis for superconductivity? In order to do so, you must <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.108.1175">keep your conducting metal cold</a>. Really cold. Like, hundreds of degrees below zero. </p>
<p>“At normal temperatures, electrons move in somewhat erratic paths. They can generally succeed in moving through a wire freely, but every once in a while they collide with the nuclei of the material,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-superconductors-work-a-physicist-explains-what-it-means-to-have-resistance-free-electricity-202308">wrote Mishkat Bhattacharya</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=5gCcMuMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">a physicist at</a> Rochester Institute of Technology. “These collisions are what obstruct the flow of electrons, cause resistance and heat up the material.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Superconductive materials repel magnetic fields, making it possible to levitate a magnet above a superconductor.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Normally, the nuclei of all atoms vibrate constantly, and they can bump into each other. In superconducting materials, the electrons in the current pass from atom to atom while vibrating at the same frequency as the nuclei of the atoms in the superconducting metal. This means that instead of colliding and generating heat, they’re moving in a <a href="https://www.energy.gov/science/bes/articles/electrons-line-dance-superconductor">smooth and coordinated way</a>. And it’s the cold temperatures that allow for this coordinated movement. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-superconductors-work-a-physicist-explains-what-it-means-to-have-resistance-free-electricity-202308">How do superconductors work? A physicist explains what it means to have resistance-free electricity</a>
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<h2>2. A century of superconductivity</h2>
<p>Mercury was the first material <a href="https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3490499">discovered as a superconducter</a>, by <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1913/onnes/facts/">Heike Kamerlingh Onnes</a> in 1911. His team had to cool liquid helium to -454 degrees Fahrenheit (-270 degrees Celsius) to observe the effect. They used wires made of mercury to send a current through the material, and then measured the effect of electrical resistance as “near enough null.” </p>
<p>Onnes and his team repeated the experiment several times to make sure the effect they’d observed was, in fact, superconductivity, and they also troubleshot all other possible explanations for the effect – electrical faults, open currents and so on. But they kept finding the same result, and after three years of testing, Onnes was able to demonstrate currents with truly zero resistance. </p>
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<span class="caption">The resistance of mercury as recorded on Oct. 26, 1911, by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes’ lab.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Superconductivity_1911.png">Heike Kamerlingh Onnes via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<p>“Superconductivity has always been tricky to prove because some metals can masquerade as superconductors,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/superconductivity-at-room-temperature-remains-elusive-a-century-after-a-nobel-went-to-the-scientist-who-demonstrated-it-below-450-degrees-fahrenheit-213959">wrote David D. Nolte</a>, <a href="https://galileo-unbound.blog/books-by-d-d-nolte/">an author of history of science books and a physicist at Purdue</a>. “The lessons learned by Onnes a century ago – that these discoveries require time, patience and, most importantly, proof of currents that never stop – are still relevant today.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/superconductivity-at-room-temperature-remains-elusive-a-century-after-a-nobel-went-to-the-scientist-who-demonstrated-it-below-450-degrees-fahrenheit-213959">Superconductivity at room temperature remains elusive a century after a Nobel went to the scientist who demonstrated it below -450 degrees Fahrenheit</a>
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<h2>3. A superconductive future</h2>
<p>One of the most important applications of a future room-temperature superconductor would be decreasing the heat wasted from electronics. Not only could electronics like cellphones and computers run much <a href="https://theconversation.com/physicists-hunt-for-room-temperature-superconductors-that-could-revolutionize-the-worlds-energy-system-80707">more quickly and efficiently</a>, but on a larger scale, electric grids, power lines and data centers could decrease <a href="https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=105&t=3">their wasted heat</a>. This could be a huge win for the environment. </p>
<p>“If we succeed in making a room-temperature superconductor, then we can address the billions of dollars that it costs in wasted heat to transmit energy from power plants to cities,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/physicists-hunt-for-room-temperature-superconductors-that-could-revolutionize-the-worlds-energy-system-80707">wrote Pegor Aynajian</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=B_5QhO4AAAAJ&hl=en">a physicist at</a> Binghamton University, State University of New York. “Solar energy harvested in the vast empty deserts around the world could be stored and transmitted without any loss of energy, which could power cities and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”</p>
<p>A type of superconductor made from a ceramiclike material <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1987/summary/">discovered by scientists</a> at <a href="https://www.zurich.ibm.com/">IBM in Switzerland</a> could be one path to a room-temperature superconductor. Already, this class of materials has been shown to <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/high-temperature-superconductivity-understood-at-last-20220921/">work at higher – though still frigid – temperatures</a>, closer to -300 F (-184 C) than conventional superconductors like Onnes’ original mercury wires. </p>
<p>But while a room-temperature superconductor could revolutionize electronics and energy transmission, the right material still remains elusive. As Aynajian puts it, a room-temperature superconductor is quite literally “the next million-dollar question.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/physicists-hunt-for-room-temperature-superconductors-that-could-revolutionize-the-worlds-energy-system-80707">Physicists hunt for room-temperature superconductors that could revolutionize the world's energy system</a>
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<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Claims about the discovery of a coveted room-temperature superconductor peppered the news in 2023. We pulled three stories from our archives on what superconductivity is and why scientists study it.Mary Magnuson, Assistant Science EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2176112023-11-14T17:12:37Z2023-11-14T17:12:37ZBiden-Xi meeting: 6 essential reads on what to look out for as US, Chinese leaders hold face-to-face talks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559360/original/file-20231114-25-d2sfpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4480%2C2984&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Joe Biden and Xi Jinping are set to meet for the first time in a year.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-joe-biden-and-chinas-president-xi-jinping-meet-on-news-photo/1244770358?adppopup=true">Saul Loeb/AFP cia Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>U.S. President Joe Biden sits down with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Nov. 15, 2023, in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/13/business/dealbook/biden-xi-china-trade.html">first head-to-head talks between the leaders</a> of the world’s two biggest economies in over a year.</p>
<p>During that time, relations between the two countries have not been their best – a spat over a <a href="https://theconversation.com/spy-balloon-drama-elevates-public-attention-pressure-for-the-us-to-confront-china-199484">purported spy balloon over American airspace</a> in February only added to a list of grievances that includes <a href="https://theconversation.com/biden-on-taiwan-did-he-really-commit-us-forces-to-stopping-any-invasion-by-china-an-expert-explains-why-on-balance-probably-not-176765">Biden’s comments over Taiwan</a>, Beijing’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-view-from-moscow-and-beijing-what-peace-in-ukraine-and-a-post-conflict-world-look-like-to-xi-and-putin-202323">support of Russia</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-is-about-to-blow-up-a-fake-warship-in-the-south-china-sea-but-naval-rivalry-with-beijing-is-very-real-and-growing-198651">confrontations in the South China Sea</a> and more generally a competition for influence and trade around the world.</p>
<p>Yet, going into the meeting – which takes place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the San Francisco Bay Area – there has been talk of trying to put the U.S.-China relationship on a better track. The White House has indicated that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-chinas-xi-will-discuss-communication-competition-apec-summit-2023-11-13/">strengthening communication and managing competition</a> will be the key thing to watch; Xi <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231009-top-diplomat-wang-hopes-us-china-can-rationally-manage-differences">recently commented</a> that there were “a thousand reasons to improve China-U.S. relations, but not one reason to ruin them.”</p>
<p>But how much is achievable? Recent articles from The Conversation’s archive provide insight and background over what is likely to be on the agenda – and the obstacles to improving ties.</p>
<h2>1. Engagement, decoupling or derisking?</h2>
<p>The meeting comes after a hardening stance against China in Washington – and with a general election just a year away, political rhetoric on China is likely to remain robust.</p>
<p>Michael Beckley, an <a href="https://facultyprofiles.tufts.edu/michael-beckley">expert on U.S.-China relations at Tufts University</a>, saw evidence of a more hawkish China policy on display in March when a bipartisan House committee on China held its inaugural meeting.</p>
<p>“What was abundantly clear from the lawmakers was the message that the era of engagement with China is long past its sell-by date,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-more-hawkish-china-policy-5-takeaways-from-house-committees-inaugural-hearing-on-confronting-beijing-200953">wrote Beckley, adding</a>: “Engagement had been the policy of successive government from Nixon’s landmark visit to China in 1972 onward. But there was a general acceptance among committee members that the policy is outdated and that it is time to adopt if not outright containment then certainly a more competitive policy.”</p>
<p>A key part of that new policy would involve a more robust stance on confronting China’s military posturing in East Asia. </p>
<p>It also included what Beckley described as “selective decoupling,” or the disentangling of certain technology and economic interests. The buzzword being thrown around in foreign policy circles lately is “derisking,” but it alludes to the same thing: U.S. entities limiting their exposure to China.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-more-hawkish-china-policy-5-takeaways-from-house-committees-inaugural-hearing-on-confronting-beijing-200953">A more hawkish China policy? 5 takeaways from House committee's inaugural hearing on confronting Beijing</a>
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<h2>2. War (of words) over Taiwan</h2>
<p>So what has prompted the worsening relations between China and the U.S.? For starters, there is the ongoing tension over Taiwan.</p>
<p>For the best part of 40 years, U.S. diplomatic relations with the island have been governed by the “one China policy” – through which Washington recognizes the People’s Republic of China and acknowledges that Beijing’s position remains that Taiwan is part of China. Prior to 1979, the U.S. recognized the government of Taiwan as “China.”</p>
<p>But in recent years, Beijing has caught wind of subtle changes in the U.S. over the issue. In May 2022, Biden suggested he would intervene “militarily” should China ever invade Taiwan. This would break a long-standing policy of ambiguity over what the U.S. would do in such an event. The White House later walked back the comments, suggesting that it didn’t represent a change. But it <a href="https://theconversation.com/biden-on-taiwan-did-he-really-commit-us-forces-to-stopping-any-invasion-by-china-an-expert-explains-why-on-balance-probably-not-176765">wasn’t the first time</a> that Biden has made such a remark, noted Meredith Oyen, an <a href="https://history.umbc.edu/facultystaff/full-time/meredith-oyen/">expert on U.S. Taiwan relations</a> at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.</p>
<p>“I think it is clear at this point that Biden’s interpretation of the Taiwan Relations Act – which since 1979 has set out the parameters of U.S. policy on the island – is that it allows for a U.S. military response should China invade. And despite White House claims to the contrary, I believe that does represent a departure from the long-standing policy of ‘strategic ambiguity’ on Taiwan,” she wrote.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/biden-on-taiwan-did-he-really-commit-us-forces-to-stopping-any-invasion-by-china-an-expert-explains-why-on-balance-probably-not-176765">Biden on Taiwan: Did he really commit US forces to stopping any invasion by China? An expert explains why, on balance, probably not</a>
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<h2>3. Navigating the South China Sea</h2>
<p>Most experts are of a mind that an invasion of Taiwan isn’t on Beijing’s immediate agenda – or in its interests. But that <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-is-about-to-blow-up-a-fake-warship-in-the-south-china-sea-but-naval-rivalry-with-beijing-is-very-real-and-growing-198651">doesn’t mean that a military confrontation isn’t possible</a>.</p>
<p>“If a war between China and the U.S. is going to happen, I believe the South China Sea is likely to be a major theater, with Chinese aggression toward Taiwan the spark,” wrote Krista Wiegand, a <a href="http://www.kristawiegand.com/">scholar of East Asian security and maritime disputes</a> at the University of Tennessee.</p>
<p>The South China Sea – which is home to large reserves of oil and gas as well as billions of dollars’ worth of fisheries – has become a constant cause of tension between Beijing and a host of East and Southeast Asian nations, including U.S. allies the Philippines and Japan.</p>
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<img alt="An infographic shows a map of South China Sea and surrounding countries with their claims to the waters represented by dotted lines." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559366/original/file-20231114-23-c4cy8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559366/original/file-20231114-23-c4cy8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559366/original/file-20231114-23-c4cy8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559366/original/file-20231114-23-c4cy8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559366/original/file-20231114-23-c4cy8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559366/original/file-20231114-23-c4cy8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559366/original/file-20231114-23-c4cy8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>In April, the U.S. Navy in conjunction with counterparts in the Philippines sunk a mock warship off the archipelago country’s coast.</p>
<p>Washington stressed that it was not in response to increased tension over Taiwan, but it was nonetheless met by Beijing staging its own military exercise around the disputed island.</p>
<p>More generally, China has consistently engaged in so-called “gray zone tactics” in the waters – such as deploying Chinese Coast Guard boats in disputed areas, harassing other nations’ ships and building up artificial islands.</p>
<p>“With China playing by a different set of rules than the U.S. and its allies in the region, the risk of clashes at sea is very real. It could even lead to conflict between the two most powerful countries in the world today,” wrote Wiegand.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-is-about-to-blow-up-a-fake-warship-in-the-south-china-sea-but-naval-rivalry-with-beijing-is-very-real-and-growing-198651">The US is about to blow up a fake warship in the South China Sea – but naval rivalry with Beijing is very real and growing</a>
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<h2>4. Trading blows</h2>
<p>The South China Seas is also a major trade route – and simmering trade competition underpins a lot of the tension between the U.S and China.</p>
<p>City, University of London’s <a href="https://www.bayes.city.ac.uk/faculties-and-research/experts/manmohan-s-sodhi">ManMohan S. Sodhi</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Kk-QbksAAAAJ&hl=en">Christopher S. Tang</a> at the University of California, Los Angeles, explained how economic ties between the two countries flourished in the 1980s only to <a href="https://theconversation.com/china-us-tensions-how-global-trade-began-splitting-into-two-blocs-188380">become more hostile of late</a> – and how that is affecting global trade.</p>
<p>“As U.S.-China relations have moved from building bridges in 1972 to building walls in 2022, countries will increasingly be forced to choose sides and companies will have to plan supply chains accordingly. Those seeking to trade in both blocs will need to ‘divisionalise,’ running parallel operations,” the scholars wrote.</p>
<p>A bipolar trading world is already emerging, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen calling for “friend-shoring” with trusted partners – in other words, splitting countries into friends or foes and rewarding the former. Such a tactic is aimed at countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which has seen Beijing pump billions of dollars into developing countries over the last decade.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/china-us-tensions-how-global-trade-began-splitting-into-two-blocs-188380">China-US tensions: how global trade began splitting into two blocs</a>
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<h2>5. War in Ukraine …</h2>
<p>Biden and Xi have plenty of bilateral issues to talk though. But the meeting takes place with a backdrop of two major conflagrations that continue to occupy the thoughts of foreign policy advisors in both Beijing and Washington.</p>
<p>China’s support of Russia has been a continued source of tension between Beijing and the West since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Meanwhile the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas puts in jeopardy China’s policy of “balanced diplomacy” in the region.</p>
<p>And yet, there is potential for common ground here between Biden and Xi. Both will be keen that war doesn’t cause more destabilization. As <a href="https://lsa.umich.edu/history/people/emeritus/rgsuny.html">Ronald Suny of the University of Michigan</a> wrote <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-view-from-moscow-and-beijing-what-peace-in-ukraine-and-a-post-conflict-world-look-like-to-xi-and-putin-202323">in regards to the Ukraine conflict</a>: “Stability, both domestically and internationally, works to China’s economic advantage as a major producer and exporter of industrial goods. And Beijing is mindful that a slump in foreign demand and investment is hitting the country’s economic prospects.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-view-from-moscow-and-beijing-what-peace-in-ukraine-and-a-post-conflict-world-look-like-to-xi-and-putin-202323">The view from Moscow and Beijing: What peace in Ukraine and a post-conflict world look like to Xi and Putin</a>
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<h2>6. … and now the Middle East</h2>
<p>Yet Beijing is also at pains to promote its vision of a multipolar world, edging away from U.S. dominance. For similar reasons, Beijing is keen to develop its role as friend to all in the Middle East – a position that will become <a href="https://theconversation.com/israel-hamas-war-puts-chinas-strategy-of-balanced-diplomacy-in-the-middle-east-at-risk-216246">harder to maintain as war goes on</a>, as Andrew Latham, who <a href="https://www.macalester.edu/politicalscience/facultystaff/andrewlatham/">teaches China foreign policy</a> at Macalester College, explained.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/israel-hamas-war-puts-chinas-strategy-of-balanced-diplomacy-in-the-middle-east-at-risk-216246">Israel-Hamas war puts China's strategy of 'balanced diplomacy' in the Middle East at risk</a>
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Scholars writing for The Conversation take a deeper look at some of the issues expected to be on the agenda when the leaders of the world’s two biggest economies meet.Matt Williams, Senior International EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2172502023-11-13T13:33:19Z2023-11-13T13:33:19ZAs yet another deadline looms, a divided US House stumbles closer to a federal shutdown: 5 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558696/original/file-20231109-15-3o1kq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1253%2C576%2C3551%2C2622&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson arrives for a GOP meeting at the Capitol on Nov. 7, 2023. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/speaker-of-the-house-mike-johnson-arrives-for-a-house-news-photo/1768479565?adppopup=true">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Once again, federal budget negotiations are down to the last minute, and once again, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-09/house-speaker-mike-johnson-is-running-out-of-time-to-avoid-government-shutdown#xj4y7vzkg">GOP hardliners</a> are in the middle of what might turn into a gridlock. </p>
<p>Current government funding expires on Nov. 17, 2023. While newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republican-us-house-speaker-johnson-nears-choice-avoiding-govt-shutdown-2023-11-08/">has not announced</a> any <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/09/politics/house-republicans-government-funding/index.html">new and specific proposals</a> that stand a chance of passage in the Democratic-controlled Senate, he has urged the public to “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/11/07/congress-shutdown-house-gop-plan/">trust us</a>.”</p>
<p>The Conversation has published the work of several scholars who study Congress and federal budgets. They explain the brinkmanship politics and the economic consequences of federal shutdowns. Here, we spotlight five examples of those scholars’ work.</p>
<h2>1. How a government shutdown affects the economy</h2>
<p>In the past four decades, the government <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/government-shutdowns-how-long-lasted-years-parties-power-rcna117508">has shut down 20 times</a>.</p>
<p>During the Trump administration, the government <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/25/trump-shutdown-announcement-1125529">shut down three times</a>, the longest starting three days before Christmas in 2018 and lasting 34 days.</p>
<p>Northwestern finance scholar <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8syQapsAAAAJ&hl=en">Scott R. Baker</a> examined a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1094202516300308?via%3Dihub">shutdown in 2013</a> to determine both short- and long-term effects of the federal government closing down. </p>
<p>Baker wrote that the most immediate impact of a shutdown is on the government’s day-to-day operations. </p>
<p>“Many national museums and parks are closed, immigration hearings are being postponed, and the Food and Drug Administration isn’t doing routine inspections of domestic food-processing facilities,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-government-shutdown-affects-the-economy-109688">Baker wrote</a>. </p>
<p>Whether or not a shutdown has a longer-term economic impact, Baker explained, depends on “how long the shutdown lasts and whether employees are paid their foregone wages after its conclusion.” </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-government-shutdown-affects-the-economy-109688">How a government shutdown affects the economy</a>
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<h2>2. Congressional dysfunction?</h2>
<p>As a public policy expert and former deputy director of the Congressional Budget Office, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/raymond-scheppach-19b98536/">Raymond Scheppach</a> said he believes the challenges in 2023’s negotiations over the budget are the greatest faced in the last five decades. </p>
<p>The reason, Scheppach explained, is the result of “the magnitude of the differences” between the Republican and Democratic parties, as well as the split between the GOP-controlled House and the Senate, where the Democrats hold sway.</p>
<p>“A worst-case scenario could see a government shutdown for several weeks, or even a couple of months – and that could have a significant negative impact on the economy,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-needs-to-pass-12-funding-bills-in-11-days-to-avert-a-shutdown-heres-why-that-isnt-likely-212520">he wrote</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-needs-to-pass-12-funding-bills-in-11-days-to-avert-a-shutdown-heres-why-that-isnt-likely-212520">Congress needs to pass 12 funding bills in 11 days to avert a shutdown – here’s why that isn’t likely</a>
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<h2>3. Beyond partisan gridlock</h2>
<p>As a political scientist who studies the evolving budget brinkmanship, <a href="https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/00336000014TkUCAA0/laura-blessing">Laura Blessing</a> asks an important question: What are the costs of congressional dysfunction?</p>
<p>One such cost is the added bureaucratic burden on federal agencies to submit shutdown plans to the Office of Management and Budget as required by law. Though as of late September, 80% of the plans had been updated since 2021, no two shutdowns are exactly alike, and agencies are continually revising their plans, which help sketch out the variety of ways the shutdown will affect individual Americans.</p>
<p>And that’s the most immediate concern for most people of the country.</p>
<p>“Whether delayed business loans, slower mortgage applications, curtailed food assistance or postponed food inspections, the effects could be substantial,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-will-this-government-shutdown-shut-down-social-security-and-medicaid-keep-going-sba-loans-and-some-food-and-safety-inspections-do-not-214040">Blessing wrote</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-will-this-government-shutdown-shut-down-social-security-and-medicaid-keep-going-sba-loans-and-some-food-and-safety-inspections-do-not-214040">What will this government shutdown shut down? Social Security and Medicaid keep going; SBA loans and some food and safety inspections do not</a>
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<h2>4. An ideological battle</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Jks9RasAAAAJ&hl=en">David R. Jones</a>, a scholar of Congress, political parties and elections, noted that one important factor in the House dysfunction over the federal budget is the difference in party ideologies. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://theconversation.com/3-reasons-the-house-gop-is-not-any-more-dysfunctional-than-the-democrats-even-after-the-prolonged-speaker-chaos-216608">Jones wrote</a>, Democrats generally agree that a functioning government is needed to help solve societal problems. Even dissident factions within the Democratic Party are typically unwilling to shut down government operations indefinitely in order to extract concessions from their leadership.</p>
<p>Not so the Republicans. </p>
<p>They are more likely to believe, as President Ronald Reagan famously stated, that “government IS the problem,” Jones wrote. </p>
<p>“This means that dissident factions in the Republican Party can much more credibly threaten to indefinitely halt government operations – doing so does not conflict as much with their policy goals. In turn, the fact that they have less incentive to drop their obstruction gives them more leverage over their party’s leadership.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-reasons-the-house-gop-is-not-any-more-dysfunctional-than-the-democrats-even-after-the-prolonged-speaker-chaos-216608">3 reasons the House GOP is not any more dysfunctional than the Democrats − even after the prolonged speaker chaos</a>
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<h2>5. Federal workers feel the pain</h2>
<p>As a researcher who studies <a href="https://u.osu.edu/zagorsky.1/tag/wealth/">people’s wealth</a>, <a href="https://www.bu.edu/questrom/profile/jay-zagorsky/">Jay L. Zagorsky</a> understands that the loss of a single paycheck can be devastating for many American families.</p>
<p>During the 2019 partial shutdown, about <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/politics/shutdown-who-gets-sent-home/?amp;utm_term=.db75457d08e1&noredirect=on&utm_term=.27e7c33902aa">800,000 federal workers</a> were either furloughed or working without pay.</p>
<p>“Going without a paycheck for a few weeks is hard enough,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-workers-begin-to-feel-pain-of-shutdown-as-800-000-lose-their-paychecks-109710">Zagorsky wrote</a>. “If the shutdown lasts months or years, the situation could get very dire for the average government worker.”</p>
<p>Zagorsky noted that there is a bit of good news.</p>
<p>“Congress tends to give all affected workers back pay, regardless of whether they worked during the impasse,” he wrote.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-workers-begin-to-feel-pain-of-shutdown-as-800-000-lose-their-paychecks-109710">Federal workers begin to feel pain of shutdown as 800,000 lose their paychecks</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217250/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The threat to shut down the federal government to attain political goals appears to be an important factor in the budget negotiations.Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2156982023-11-01T12:35:53Z2023-11-01T12:35:53ZCancer has many faces − 5 counterintuitive ways scientists are approaching cancer research to improve treatment and prevention<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553918/original/file-20231016-15-3osk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2700%2C1758&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cancer cells don't follow the typical rules that allow a multicellular collective to function.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cancer_cells_(1).jpg">Dr. Cecil Fox/National Cancer Institute</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How researchers conceptualize a disease informs how they treat it. Cancer is often described as uncontrollable cell growth triggered by genetic damage. But cancer can also be seen from angles that emphasize mathematics, evolutionary game theory and physics, among others.</p>
<p>Molecular biology has brought significant advances in making it possible to live with cancer as a chronic illness rather than a fatal disease. Alternative frameworks, however, can offer scientists additional insights on how to prevent tumors from spreading throughout the body and becoming resistant to treatment.</p>
<p>Here are a few unconventional lenses through which researchers are viewing cancer with fresh eyes, drawn from The Conversation’s archives.</p>
<h2>1. Evolution and natural selection of cancer</h2>
<p>The body is far from a wonderland for cells. Each individual cell competes against trillions of others for finite space and nutrients. If they’re able to cooperate in an orderly enough fashion, sharing resources and dividing labor, the collective functions effectively. Cancer cells, however, <a href="https://theconversation.com/microbes-in-your-food-can-help-or-hinder-your-bodys-defenses-against-cancer-how-diet-influences-the-conflict-between-cell-cooperators-and-cheaters-195810">cheat the system</a>: They hog resources, take up as much space as possible and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-hela-cells-a-cancer-biologist-explains-169913">refuse to die</a>.</p>
<p>In this way, cancer can be thought of as <a href="https://theconversation.com/every-cancer-is-unique-why-different-cancers-require-different-treatments-and-how-evolution-drives-drug-resistance-199249">an evolutionary disease</a> – these are cells that have developed the genetic mutations to outcompete their neighbors, and subsequent cell generations inherit this survival advantage. Cancer cells benefit at the expense of the collective until the entire organism collapses.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554078/original/file-20231016-27-4u7mpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Microscopy image of pancreas tumor with multicolored cell subgroups" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554078/original/file-20231016-27-4u7mpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554078/original/file-20231016-27-4u7mpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554078/original/file-20231016-27-4u7mpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554078/original/file-20231016-27-4u7mpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554078/original/file-20231016-27-4u7mpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554078/original/file-20231016-27-4u7mpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554078/original/file-20231016-27-4u7mpn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=575&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Most tumors are made of many different kinds of cancer cells, as shown in this pancreatic cancer sample from a mouse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://visualsonline.cancer.gov/details.cfm?imageid=10654">Ravikanth Maddipati/Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania via National Cancer Institute</a></span>
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<p>Oncologist <a href="https://cancer.psu.edu/researchers/individual/-/researcher/5B6500F63D6A38DBE0540010E056499A/monika-joshi-md-mrcp">Monika Joshi</a> and pathologists <a href="https://cancer.psu.edu/researchers/individual/-/researcher/5F6E820FF5C14A2DE0540010E056499A/joshua-warrick-md">Joshua Warrick</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YEqQHkIAAAAJ&hl=en">David DeGraff</a> believe that understanding evolution is key to understanding cancer. Screening programs are effective, for example, because removing a nascent tumor is easier than treating one that has evolved the ability to spread. Cancer cells likewise become resistant to treatments because they’re pushed to further evolve to survive.</p>
<p>Some researchers are applying the principles of evolutionary game theory to <a href="https://theconversation.com/cancers-are-in-an-evolutionary-battle-with-treatments-evolutionary-game-theory-could-tip-the-advantage-to-medicine-17017">reduce treatment resistance</a> and optimize <a href="https://theconversation.com/cancer-in-kids-is-different-from-cancer-in-grown-ups-figuring-out-how-could-lead-to-better-pediatric-treatments-212738">therapies for children</a>.</p>
<p>“The fight against cancer is a fight against evolution, the fundamental process that has driven life on Earth since time immemorial,” they wrote. “This is not an easy fight, but medicine has made tremendous progress.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/every-cancer-is-unique-why-different-cancers-require-different-treatments-and-how-evolution-drives-drug-resistance-199249">Every cancer is unique – why different cancers require different treatments, and how evolution drives drug resistance</a>
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<h2>2. Fluid mechanics of cancer</h2>
<p>As much as cancer is a disease that respects no boundaries, tumor cells are still shaped by their environment. Unlike healthy cells that take the hint when their presence isn’t wanted, however, tumor cells not only <a href="https://theconversation.com/stopping-the-cancer-cells-that-thrive-on-chemotherapy-research-into-how-pancreatic-tumors-adapt-to-stress-could-lead-to-a-new-treatment-approach-197768">survive but thrive in stressful conditions</a>. Isolated cancer cells able to adapt to harsh settings are the ones that establish metastatic colonies and become resistant to treatment.</p>
<p>While researchers have focused on how biochemical signals direct cells to move from one location to another, a cell’s physical environment also affects where it migrates. Mechanical engineer <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nKmJNpQAAAAJ&hl=en">Yizeng Li</a> found that a cell’s “solid” and “fluid” surroundings influence its movement.</p>
<p>Cancer cells encounter varying degrees of fluid viscosity, or thickness, as they travel through the body. Li and her team found that breast cancer cells counterintuitively move faster in high viscosity environments by changing their structure. This meant that fluid viscosity serves as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cancer-cells-move-and-metastasize-is-influenced-by-the-fluids-surrounding-them-understanding-how-tumors-migrate-can-help-stop-their-spread-195792">mechanobiological cue for cancer cells to metastasize</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502975/original/file-20230103-105030-c8xq8d.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Animation comparing two fluids with lower and higher viscosity." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502975/original/file-20230103-105030-c8xq8d.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502975/original/file-20230103-105030-c8xq8d.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502975/original/file-20230103-105030-c8xq8d.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502975/original/file-20230103-105030-c8xq8d.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502975/original/file-20230103-105030-c8xq8d.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502975/original/file-20230103-105030-c8xq8d.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502975/original/file-20230103-105030-c8xq8d.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The blue fluid on the left has a lower viscosity relative to the orange fluid on the right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Viscosities.gif">Synapticrelay/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>“Cancer patients usually don’t die from the original source of the tumor but from its spread to other parts of the body,” Li wrote. “Understanding how fluid viscosity affects the movement of tumor cells could help researchers figure out ways to better treat and detect cancer before it metastasizes.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cancer-cells-move-and-metastasize-is-influenced-by-the-fluids-surrounding-them-understanding-how-tumors-migrate-can-help-stop-their-spread-195792">How cancer cells move and metastasize is influenced by the fluids surrounding them – understanding how tumors migrate can help stop their spread</a>
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<h2>3. Inflammation link to cardiovascular disease</h2>
<p>Apart from being leading causes of death around the world, cardiovascular disease and cancer may not initially seem to have much in common. The many risk factors they share, however – like poor diet, smoking and chronic stress – coalesce with chronic inflammation: persistent, low-grade activation of the immune system can damage cells in ways that encourage either disease to develop. </p>
<p>For biomedical engineer <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wD6KbXkAAAAJ&hl=en">Bryan Smith</a>, the developmental parallels between these diseases signal they could be <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-a-single-drug-treat-the-two-leading-causes-of-death-in-the-us-cancer-and-cardiovascular-disease-205461">treated at the same time</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Nanoparticles can ‘eat’ the plaques that cause heart disease.</span></figcaption>
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<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/drugs-4-essential-reads-on-how-theyre-made-how-they-work-and-how-context-can-make-poison-a-medicine-192590">Drugs can be repurposed</a> to target diseases for which they weren’t originally designed. Certain drugs, for example, can direct immune cells called macrophages to consume both cancer cells and the cellular debris that contribute to cardiovascular plaques.</p>
<p>“As basic science discovers other molecular parallels between these diseases, patients will be the beneficiaries of better therapies that can treat both,” wrote Smith.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/could-a-single-drug-treat-the-two-leading-causes-of-death-in-the-us-cancer-and-cardiovascular-disease-205461">Could a single drug treat the two leading causes of death in the US: cancer and cardiovascular disease?</a>
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<h2>4. Mathematics of cancer</h2>
<p>In certain contexts, math has unique strengths in <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-bang-of-numbers-the-conversations-book-club-explores-how-math-alone-could-create-the-universe-with-author-manil-suri-213690">describing the natural world</a>. For instance, epigenetics – where and when genes are turned on or off – plays as much a role in cancer progression as direct changes to the genetic code. Epigenetic changes can alter healthy cells to the point of losing their normal form and function. But the randomness of these changes makes it difficult to tease out pathological from normal genetic activity.</p>
<p>A mathematical concept called stochasticity – or how the randomness of the steps of a process influences how predictable its outcome will be – lends a logical framework to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/cancer-evolution-is-mathematical-how-random-processes-and-epigenetics-can-explain-why-tumor-cells-shape-shift-metastasize-and-resist-treatments-199398">epigenetic changes contributing to cancer</a>, clarifying when healthy cells rapidly develop into tumor cells. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Twins sharing the exact same genome can develop in completely different ways because of epigenetics.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Stochasticity is commonly used to study stock market behavior and epidemic disease spread, and researchers quantify it by examining the degree of uncertainty, or entropy, of a particular outcome. Identifying high entropy areas in the genome could offer another approach to cancer detection and drug design.</p>
<p>Cancer geneticist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tbj-LpcAAAAJ&hl=en">Andrew Feinberg</a> has been using entropy to quantitatively describe the epigenetics of cancer. He and his colleagues found that high entropy regions of the genome in the skin become even more entropic with sun damage, increasing the chance of developing cancer. This offers a potential explanation for why cancer risk significantly increases with age.</p>
<p>“Epigenetic entropy shows that you can’t fully understand cancer without mathematics,” Feinberg wrote. “Biology is catching up with other hard sciences in incorporating mathematical methods with biological experimentation.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cancer-evolution-is-mathematical-how-random-processes-and-epigenetics-can-explain-why-tumor-cells-shape-shift-metastasize-and-resist-treatments-199398">Cancer evolution is mathematical – how random processes and epigenetics can explain why tumor cells shape-shift, metastasize and resist treatments</a>
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<h2>5. A public health issue</h2>
<p>Cancer is a disease that develops in an individual, but its socially derived causes and societal-wide effects are hardly limited to a single person.</p>
<p>Take the case of lung cancer. It is stigmatized as a disease brought on by poor lifestyle choices – a consequence of a personal decision to use tobacco products. But as thoracic oncologist <a href="https://doctors.umiamihealth.org/provider/Estelamari+Rodriguez/1257821">Estelamari Rodriguez</a> noted, the face of lung cancer has changed.</p>
<p>“Over the past 15 years, more women, never-smokers and younger people are being diagnosed with lung cancer,” she wrote. While lung cancer rates have significantly decreased for men, they have <a href="https://theconversation.com/lung-cancer-rates-have-decreased-for-the-marlboro-man-but-have-risen-steeply-for-nonsmokers-and-young-women-an-oncologist-explains-why-197581">substantially risen for women</a> around the world. Despite being the leading cause of cancer death among women, screening rates remain low compared with other cancers.</p>
<p>More broadly, cancer symptoms are often unrecognized or misdiagnosed, not only <a href="https://theconversation.com/ovarian-cancer-is-not-a-silent-killer-recognizing-its-symptoms-could-help-reduce-misdiagnosis-and-late-detection-181415">for women</a> but also for many marginalized populations, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/biopsies-confirm-a-breast-cancer-diagnosis-after-an-abnormal-mammogram-but-structural-racism-may-lead-to-lengthy-delays-185824">people of color</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/doctors-often-arent-trained-on-the-preventive-health-care-needs-of-gender-diverse-people-as-a-result-many-patients-dont-get-the-care-they-need-191933">transgender patients</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-obamacare-has-helped-poor-cancer-patients-85306">the uninsured</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">An increasing number of lung cancer diagnoses are among people who never smoked.</span></figcaption>
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<p>These disparities are due in part to biases in medical education and <a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-black-patients-do-want-to-help-with-medical-research-here-are-ways-to-overcome-the-barriers-that-keep-clinical-trials-from-recruiting-diverse-populations-185337">clinical research</a> that fail to prepare clinicians to care for the diversity of patients they’ll encounter. <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-next-attack-on-the-affordable-care-act-may-cost-you-free-preventive-health-care-166087">Tenuous access to preventive care</a> and disproportionate <a href="https://theconversation.com/arsenic-contamination-of-food-and-water-is-a-global-public-health-concern-researchers-are-studying-how-it-causes-cancer-200689">exposure to carcinogens</a> among certain populations compound these inequities.</p>
<p>The purview of cancer goes far beyond a single discipline. It takes a village of researchers, policymakers and patient advocates to achieve effective and accessible cancer care for all.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lung-cancer-rates-have-decreased-for-the-marlboro-man-but-have-risen-steeply-for-nonsmokers-and-young-women-an-oncologist-explains-why-197581">Lung cancer rates have decreased for the Marlboro Man, but have risen steeply for nonsmokers and young women – an oncologist explains why</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215698/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
From math to evolutionary game theory, looking at cancer through different lenses can offer further insights on how to approach treatment resistance, metastasis and health disparities.Vivian Lam, Associate Health and Biomedicine EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2004112023-10-05T12:34:13Z2023-10-05T12:34:13ZThe splendid life of Jimmy Carter – 5 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511714/original/file-20230222-26-wdgm71.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=129%2C54%2C2027%2C1377&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cuban President Fidel Castro watches former U.S. President Jimmy Carter throw a baseball on May 14, 2002, in Havana, Cuba.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cuban-president-fidel-castro-watches-former-us-president-news-photo/73894798?phrase=jimmy%20carter%20fidel%20castro&adppopup=true">Sven Creutzmann/Mambo Photography/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In <em>Mark 8:34-38</em> a question is asked: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”</p>
<p>Jimmy Carter never lost his soul. </p>
<p>A person who served others, Jimmy Carter did more to advance the cause of human rights than any U.S. president in American history. That tireless commitment “to advance democracy and human rights” was noted by the Nobel Committee when it honored Carter with its <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2002/summary/">Peace Prize</a> in 2002.</p>
<p>From establishing the nonprofit <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/">Carter Center</a> to working for <a href="https://www.habitat.org/volunteer/build-events/carter-work-project">Habitat for Humanity</a>, Carter never lost his moral compass in his public policies. </p>
<p>Over the years, The Conversation U.S. has published numerous stories exploring the legacy of the nation’s 39th president – and his blessed life after leaving the world of American politics. Here are selections from those articles. </p>
<h2>1. A preacher at heart</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.asbury.edu/about/directory/david-swartz/">As a scholar</a> of American religious history, Asbury University Professor David Swartz believes that a speech Carter gave on July 15, 1979, was the most theologically profound speech by an American president since <a href="https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm">Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address</a>, on March 4, 1865.</p>
<p>Carter’s nationally televised sermon was watched by 65 million Americans as he “intoned an evangelical-sounding lament about a crisis of the American spirit,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-jimmy-carters-truth-telling-sermon-to-americans-97241">Swartz wrote</a>. </p>
<p>“All the legislation in the world,” Carter proclaimed during the speech, “can’t fix what’s wrong with America.”</p>
<p>What was wrong, Carter believed, was self-indulgence and consumption. </p>
<p>“Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but by what one owns,” Carter preached. But “owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-jimmy-carters-truth-telling-sermon-to-americans-97241">Revisiting Jimmy Carter's truth-telling sermon to Americans</a>
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<h2>2. Tough-minded policies on human rights</h2>
<p>Though Carter was considered a weak leader after <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/11/04/the-iranian-hostage-crisis-and-its-effect-on-american-politics/">Iranian religious militants</a> seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, his overseas policies were far more effective than critics have claimed, <a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carters-lasting-cold-war-legacy-human-rights-focus-helped-dismantle-the-soviet-union-113994">wrote</a> Gonzaga University historian <a href="https://www.gonzaga.edu/college-of-arts-sciences/faculty-listing/detail/donnelly">Robert C. Donnelly</a>, especially when it came to the former Soviet Union.</p>
<p>Shortly after the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-soviet-war-in-afghanistan-1979-1989/100786/">Soviet invasion of Afghanistan</a> in 1979, for instance, Carter imposed an embargo on <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/08/16/639149657/farmers-caught-up-in-u-s-trade-war-s-remember-80-s-grain-embargo">U.S. grain sales</a> that targeted the Soviet Union’s dependence on imported wheat and corn to feed its population. </p>
<p>To further punish the Soviets, Carter persuaded the U.S. Olympic Committee to refrain from competing in the upcoming Moscow Olympics while the Soviets repressed their own people and occupied Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Among Carter’s critics, none was harsher than Ronald Reagan. But in 1986, after beating Carter for the White House, even he had to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/06/us/reagan-acknowledges-carter-s-military-buildup.html">acknowledge Carter’s foresight</a> in modernizing the nation’s military forces, a measure that further increased economic and diplomatic pressure on the Soviets. </p>
<p>“Reagan admitted that he felt very bad for misstating Carter’s policies and record on defense,” Donnelly wrote. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carters-lasting-cold-war-legacy-human-rights-focus-helped-dismantle-the-soviet-union-113994">Jimmy Carter's lasting Cold War legacy: Human rights focus helped dismantle the Soviet Union</a>
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<h2>3. Carter’s unexpected liberal foe</h2>
<p>Reagan’s win over Carter in the 1980 U.S. presidential race was due in part to Carter’s bitter race during the Democratic primary against an heir to one of America’s great political families – Ted Kennedy. </p>
<p>Kennedy’s decision to run against Carter was “something of a shock to Carter,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-lion-of-the-senate-roared-like-a-mouse-39826">wrote</a> <a href="https://www.bu.edu/cgs/profile/thomas-whalen/">Thomas J. Whalen</a>, a Boston University associate professor of social science. </p>
<p>In 1979, Kennedy had pledged to support Carter’s reelection bid but later succumbed to pressure in liberal Democratic circles to launch his own presidential bid and fulfill his family’s destiny. </p>
<p>In addition, Whalen wrote, Kennedy “harbored deep reservations about Carter’s leadership, especially in the wake of a faltering domestic economy, high inflation and the seizure of the American Embassy in Iran by radical Muslim students.”</p>
<p>In response, Carter vowed to “whip (Kennedy’s) ass.” </p>
<p>And did. </p>
<p>But that win over Kennedy came at a high cost. </p>
<p>“Having expended so much political and financial capital fending off Kennedy’s challenge,” Whalen wrote, “he was easy pickings for Reagan in that fall’s general election.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-lion-of-the-senate-roared-like-a-mouse-39826">When the Lion of the Senate roared like a mouse</a>
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<h2>4. A quiet fight against a deadly disease</h2>
<p>Guinea worm is a painful parasitic disease that is contracted when people consume water from stagnant sources contaminated with the worm’s larvae. </p>
<p>Clemson University Professor Kimberly Paul has <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yb246-8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">worked as a parasitologist</a> for over two decades. </p>
<p>"I know the suffering that parasitic diseases like Guinea worm infections inflict on humanity, especially on the world’s most vulnerable and poor communities,” she <a href="https://theconversation.com/guinea-worm-a-nasty-parasite-is-nearly-eradicated-but-the-push-for-zero-cases-will-require-patience-199156">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>In 1986, it infected an estimated 3.5 million people per year in 21 countries in Africa and Asia. </p>
<p>Since then, that number has been reduced by more than 99.99% to 13 provisional cases in 2022, in large part because of Carter and his efforts to eradicate the disease. Those efforts included teaching people to filter all drinking water.</p>
<p>Over time, Carter’s efforts proved tremendously successful. On Jan. 24, 2023, The Carter Center, the nonprofit founded by the former U.S. president, <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2023/2022-guinea-worm-worldwide-cases-announcement.html">announced</a> that “Guinea worm is poised to become the second human disease in history to be eradicated.”</p>
<p>The first was smallpox. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/guinea-worm-a-nasty-parasite-is-nearly-eradicated-but-the-push-for-zero-cases-will-require-patience-199156">Guinea worm: A nasty parasite is nearly eradicated, but the push for zero cases will require patience</a>
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<h2>5. Carter’s brave step in Cuba</h2>
<p>In 2002, long after his departure from the White House in 1981, Carter became the the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/post-revolution-cuba/">1959 Cuban Revolution</a>. Carter had accepted the invitation of then President Fidel Castro.</p>
<p><a href="https://chrd.gsu.edu/profile/jennifer-mccoy-2-4/">Jennifer Lynn McCoy</a>, now at Georgia State University, was director of <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/peace/americas/index.html">The Carter Center’s Americas Program</a> at the time and accompanied Carter on that trip, on which he <a href="https://www.cartercenter.org/news/documents/doc517.html">gave a speech in Spanish</a> that called on Castro to lift restrictions on free speech and assembly, among other constitutional reforms.</p>
<p>Castro was unmoved by the speech but instead invited Carter <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/cuba-and-the-united-states-play-beisbol-diplomacy/">to watch a Cuban all-star baseball game</a>. </p>
<p>At the game, McCoy <a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carter-in-cuba-46109">wrote</a>, “Castro asked Carter for a favor” – to walk to the pitcher’s mound without his security detail to show how much confidence he had in the Cuban people.</p>
<p>Over the objections of his Secret Service agents, Carter obliged and walked to the mound with Castro and threw out the first pitch.</p>
<p>Carter’s move was a symbol of what normal relations could look like between the two nations – and of Carter’s unwavering faith. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jimmy-carter-in-cuba-46109">Jimmy Carter in Cuba</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Beloved in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Jimmy Carter became the 39th US president and used his office to make human rights a priority throughout the world.Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2129242023-09-06T12:26:36Z2023-09-06T12:26:36ZInvasive species cause billions of dollars in damage worldwide: 4 essential reads<p>Invasive species – including plants, animals and fish – cause heavy damage to crops, wildlife and human health worldwide. Some prey on native species; other out-compete them for space and food or spread disease. A new United Nations report estimates the losses generated by invasives at <a href="https://zenodo.org/record/8314303">more than US$423 billion yearly</a> and shows that these damages have at least quadrupled in every decade since 1970.</p>
<p>Humans regularly move animals, plants and other living species from their home areas to new locations, either accidentally or on purpose. For example, they may import plants from faraway locations to <a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-grasses-are-fueling-wildfires-across-the-us-126574">raise as crops</a> or bring in a nonnative animal to <a href="https://theconversation.com/everyone-agreed-cane-toads-would-be-a-winner-for-australia-19881">prey on a local pest</a>. Other invasives <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-invasive-emerald-ash-borer-has-destroyed-millions-of-trees-scientists-aim-to-control-it-with-tiny-parasitic-wasps-158403">hitch rides in cargo</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/ballast-water-management-is-reducing-the-flow-of-invasive-species-into-the-great-lakes-190880">ships’ ballast water</a>.</p>
<p>When a species that is not native to a particular area becomes established there, reproducing quickly and causing harm, it has become invasive. These recent articles from The Conversation describe how several invasive species are causing economic and ecological harm across the U.S. They also explain steps that people can take to avoid contributing to this urgent global problem.</p>
<h2>1. The best intentions: Callery pear trees</h2>
<p>Many invasive species were introduced to new locations because people thought they would be useful. One example that’s widely visible across the U.S. Northeast, Midwest and South is the Callery pear (<em>Pyrus calleryana</em>), a flowering tree that botanists brought to the U.S. from Asia more than 100 years ago. </p>
<p>Horticulturists loved the Callery pear for landscaping and wanted to produce trees that all grew and bloomed in the same way. As University of Dayton plant ecologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uRA-SZ0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">Ryan W. McEwan</a> explained, they created identical clones from cuttings of trees with the desired characteristics – a process called grafting. Unlike some trees, a Callery pear can’t fertilize its flowers with its own pollen, so plant experts thought it wouldn’t spread.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Missouri state foresters explain why Callery pear trees became so popular and the problems they cause.</span></figcaption>
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<p>However, “as horticulturalists tinkered with Callery pears to produce new versions, they made the individuals different enough to <a href="https://theconversation.com/once-the-callery-pear-tree-was-landscapers-favorite-now-states-are-banning-this-invasive-species-and-urging-homeowners-to-cut-it-down-198724">escape the fertilization barrier</a>,” McEwan wrote. As wind and birds spread the trees’ seeds, wild populations of the trees became established and started crowding out native species. </p>
<p>Today, Callery pear trees are such scourges that several states have banned them. Others are paying residents to cut them down and replace them with native plants. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/once-the-callery-pear-tree-was-landscapers-favorite-now-states-are-banning-this-invasive-species-and-urging-homeowners-to-cut-it-down-198724">Once the Callery pear tree was landscapers' favorite – now states are banning this invasive species and urging homeowners to cut it down</a>
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<h2>2. Tiny organisms, big impacts: Zebra and quagga mussels</h2>
<p>Invasive species don’t have to be large to cause outsized damage. Zebra and quagga mussels – shellfish the size of a fingernail – invaded the Great Lakes in the 1980s, clogging water intake pipes and out-competing native mollusks for food. Now they’re spreading west via rivers, lakes and bays, threatening waters all the way to the Pacific coast and Alaska.</p>
<p>As Rochester Institute of Technology environmental historian <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Christine-Keiner-2071802254">Christine Keiner</a> wrote, it took several decades for the U.S. and Canada to regulate ships’ management of their ballast water tanks, which was the route by which the mussels were introduced to North America. </p>
<p>“Now, however, other human activities are increasingly contributing to harmful freshwater introductions – and with shipping regulated, the main culprits are <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-westward-spread-of-zebra-and-quagga-mussels-shows-how-tiny-invaders-can-cause-big-problems-185286">thousands of private boaters and anglers</a>,” Keller wrote. Limiting the destructive impacts of invasive species “requires scientific, technological and historical knowledge, political will and skill to persuade the public that everyone is part of the solution.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546519/original/file-20230905-29-ibkd25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Infographic showing locations on a motorboat to check for invasive mussels." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546519/original/file-20230905-29-ibkd25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546519/original/file-20230905-29-ibkd25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546519/original/file-20230905-29-ibkd25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546519/original/file-20230905-29-ibkd25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546519/original/file-20230905-29-ibkd25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546519/original/file-20230905-29-ibkd25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546519/original/file-20230905-29-ibkd25.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Many states require boaters to clean and dry their boats after use to avoid spreading zebra and quagga mussels.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://neinvasives.com/stop-aquatic-hitchhikers">Nebraska Invasive Species Program</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-westward-spread-of-zebra-and-quagga-mussels-shows-how-tiny-invaders-can-cause-big-problems-185286">The westward spread of zebra and quagga mussels shows how tiny invaders can cause big problems</a>
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<h2>3. Threatening entire ecosystems: Lionfish</h2>
<p>When an invasive species is especially successful at spreading and reproducing, it can threaten the health of entire ecosystems. Consider the Pacific red lionfish (<em>Pterois volitans</em>), which has spread throughout the Caribbean and now is <a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-lionfish-have-spread-south-from-the-caribbean-to-brazil-threatening-ecosystems-and-livelihoods-199229">moving south along Brazil’s coast</a>. </p>
<p>Lionfish thrive in many ocean habitats, from coastal mangrove forests to deepwater reefs, and they prey on numerous smaller fish species. In the Caribbean, they have reduced the number of small juvenile fish on reefs by up to 80% within as little as five weeks. </p>
<p>“Scientists and environmental managers widely agree that the lionfish invasion in Brazil is a potential ecological disaster,” warned Brazilian marine ecologist <a href="https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=_ArEYYMAAAAJ&hl=en">Osmar J. Luiz</a> of Charles Darwin University. “Brazil’s northeast coast, with its rich artisanal fishing activity, stands on the front line of this invasive threat.”</p>
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<p>Although the Brazilian government was slow to address the lionfish threat, Luiz asserted that “with strategic, swift action and international collaboration, it can mitigate the impacts of this invasive species and safeguard its marine ecosystems.” That will require many techniques, from recruiting coastal residents to monitor for the invaders to tracking lionfish subpopulations using DNA analysis. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/invasive-lionfish-have-spread-south-from-the-caribbean-to-brazil-threatening-ecosystems-and-livelihoods-199229">Invasive lionfish have spread south from the Caribbean to Brazil, threatening ecosystems and livelihoods</a>
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<h2>4. The value of acting locally</h2>
<p>Public awareness is critical for stemming the spread of many invasive plants and animals. That can involve actions as simple as cleaning your shoes and socks after a hike. </p>
<p>“Certain species of nonnative invasive plants produce seeds <a href="https://theconversation.com/those-seeds-clinging-to-your-hiking-socks-may-be-from-invasive-plants-heres-how-to-avoid-spreading-them-to-new-locations-195697">designed to attach to unsuspecting animals or people</a>. Once affixed, these sticky seeds can be carried long distances before they fall off in new environments,” explains Boise State University ecology Ph.D. candidate <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nmAblPEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Megan Dolman</a>. </p>
<p>Research shows that recreational trails promote the introduction of invasive plant species into natural and protected areas, including national parks and scenic trails.</p>
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<p>In her research, Dolman found that few Appalachian Trail hikers were aware of the risk of carrying invasive plant seeds on their shoes or socks, so they typically did not take steps such as cleaning their gear before and after hiking. By knowing about invasive species in their areas and ways to manage them, people can help protect special places and keep invasive species from spreading.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/those-seeds-clinging-to-your-hiking-socks-may-be-from-invasive-plants-heres-how-to-avoid-spreading-them-to-new-locations-195697">Those seeds clinging to your hiking socks may be from invasive plants – here's how to avoid spreading them to new locations</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212924/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
According to a new UN report, invasive species do more than US$423 billion in damage worldwide every year. Four articles explore examples, from mollusks to poisonous fish.Jennifer Weeks, Senior Environment + Cities Editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2115872023-08-23T12:26:21Z2023-08-23T12:26:21ZNavigating the intersection between AI, automation and religion – 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542839/original/file-20230815-23-3fs34t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">AI is slowly becoming part of the religious sphere. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/rosary-prayer-online-holy-mass-conducted-online-royalty-free-image/1221601837?phrase=religion+and+technology&adppopup=true">robertprzybysz/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a era marked by rapid technological advancement, we are seeing everything from artificial intelligence to robots slowly seep into our everyday lives. But now, this technology is increasingly making inroads into a realm that has long been uniquely human: religion. </p>
<p>From the creation of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-church-protestants-chatgpt-ai-sermon-651f21c24cfb47e3122e987a7263d348">ChatGPT sermons</a> to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/robots-are-performing-hindu-rituals-some-worshippers-fear-theyll-be-replaced">robots performing sacred Hindu rituals</a>, the once-clearer boundaries between faith and technology are blurring. </p>
<p>Over the last few months, The Conversation U.S. has published a number of stories exploring how AI and automation are weaving themselves into religious contexts. These three articles from our archives shed light on the impacts of such technology on human spirituality, faith and worship across cultures. </p>
<h2>1. Prophets come to life</h2>
<p>As one of the most prominent religious figures in the world, Jesus has been continually reinterpreted to fit the norms and needs of each new historical context, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/panama-celebrates-its-black-christ-part-of-protest-against-colonialism-and-slavery-122171">Cristo Negro</a> or “Black Christ” to being depicted as a Hindu mystic. </p>
<p>But now the prophet is on Twitch, a video live-streaming platform. And it’s all thanks to an AI chatbot. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bearded white man wearing a brown hooded jacket has a halo around him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543072/original/file-20230816-17-mzi6vx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">AI Jesus provides insight on both spiritual and personal questions users ask on his channel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.twitch.tv/ask_jesus">Twitch user ask_jesus</a></span>
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<p>Presented as a bearded white man wearing a brown hood, “AI Jesus” is available 24/7 on his Twitch channel “<a href="https://www.twitch.tv/ask_jesus">ask_Jesus</a>” and is able to interact with users who can ask him anything from deep religious-in-nature questions to lighthearted inquiries. </p>
<p>AI Jesus represents one of the newest examples in the growing field of AI spirituality, noted Boston College theology faculty member <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joseph-l-kimmel-1441171">Joseph L. Kimmel</a>, and may help scholars better understand how human spirituality is being actively shaped by the influence of AI.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-chatbot-willing-to-take-on-questions-of-all-kinds-from-the-serious-to-the-comical-is-the-latest-representation-of-jesus-for-the-ai-age-208644">A chatbot willing to take on questions of all kinds – from the serious to the comical – is the latest representation of Jesus for the AI age</a>
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<h2>2. Robotic rituals</h2>
<p>A unique intersection of religion and robotic technology has emerged with the introduction of robots performing Hindu rituals in South Asia. While some have welcomed the technological inclusion, others express worries about the future that ritual automation could lead to. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LH5yqpCWKqs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A robotic arm performs “aarti” — a Hindu practice in which light is ritually waved for the veneration of deities.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many believe that the growth of robots within Hindu practices could lead to an increase in people leaving the religion, and question the use of robots to embody religious and divine figures.</p>
<p>But there is another concern: whether robots could eventually replace Hindu worshippers. Automated robots would be able to perform rituals without a single error. This is significant because religions like Hinduism and Buddhism emphasize the correct execution of rituals and ceremonies as a means to connect with the divine rather than emphasizing correct belief. </p>
<p>It’s a concept referred to as orthopraxy, according to Wellesley College anthropology lecturer <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/holly-walters-1406163">Holly Walters</a>. “In short, the robot can do your religion better than you can because robots, unlike people, are spiritually incorruptible,” she explained. “Modern robotics might then feel like a particular kind of cultural paradox, where the best kind of religion is the one that eventually involves no humans at all.”</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/robots-are-performing-hindu-rituals-some-devotees-fear-theyll-replace-worshippers-197504">Robots are performing Hindu rituals -- some devotees fear they'll replace worshippers</a>
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</em>
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<h2>3. AI preachers</h2>
<p>According to College of the Holy Cross religious studies scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joanne-m-pierce-156953">Joanne M. Pierce</a>, preaching has always been considered a human activity grounded in faith. But what happens when that practice is taken over by an AI chatbot? </p>
<p>In June 2023, hundreds of Lutherans gathered in Bavaria, Germany, for a service designed and delivered by ChatGPT. But many are cautious about using AI to conduct these religious practices. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xmXghWi2lf8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">St. Paul’s Church in Fürth, Bavaria was packed with over 300 Lutherans who attended a church service generated almost entirely by artificial intelligence.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In their sermons, preachers not only offer advice, but “speak out of personal reflection in a way that will inspire the members of the congregation, not just please them,” Pierce said. “It must also be shaped by an awareness of the needs and lived experience of the worshiping community in the pews.”</p>
<p>For the time being, it seems as though the inability to understand the human experience is AI’s biggest flaw within the preaching sphere. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-chatbots-write-inspirational-and-wise-sermons-208825">Can chatbots write inspirational and wise sermons?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211587/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The merging of technology and faith is sparking a transformative shift in redefining spirituality and religious practices.Meher Bhatia, Editorial Intern, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116662023-08-22T12:25:22Z2023-08-22T12:25:22ZSeeing what the naked eye can’t − 4 essential reads on how scientists bring the microscopic world into plain sight<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543356/original/file-20230817-17-593vu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2048%2C1839&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">This microscopy image shows the retina of a mouse, laid flat and made fluorescent.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/Mr9Ybe">Kenyoung Kim, Wonkyu Ju and Mark Ellisman/National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, University of California, San Diego via Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The microscope is an iconic symbol of the life sciences – and for good reason. From the discovery of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/robert-hooke-the-english-leonardo-who-was-a-17th-century-scientific-superstar-119497">existence of cells</a> to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sexism-pushed-rosalind-franklin-toward-the-scientific-sidelines-during-her-short-life-but-her-work-still-shines-on-her-100th-birthday-139249">structure of DNA</a>, microscopy has been a quintessential tool of the field, unlocking new dimensions of the living world not only for scientists but also for the general public.</p>
<p>For the life sciences, where understanding the function of a living thing often requires interpreting its form, imaging is vital to confirming theories and revealing what is yet unknown.</p>
<p>This selection of stories from The Conversation’s archive presents a few ways in which microscopy has contributed to different forms of scientific knowledge, including techniques that take visualization beyond sight altogether.</p>
<h2>1. Seeing as identifying</h2>
<p>Over the past few centuries, the microscope has undergone a gradual but significant evolution. Each advance has allowed researchers to see increasingly smaller and more fragile structures and biomolecules at increasingly higher resolution – from cells, to the structures within cells, to the structures within the structures within cells, down to atoms.</p>
<p>But there is still a resolution gap between the smallest and largest structures of the cell. Biophysicist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MZ6qrPUAAAAJ&hl=en">Jeremy Berg</a> drew an analogy to Google Maps: Though scientists could see the city as a whole and individual houses, they couldn’t make out the neighborhoods. </p>
<p>“Seeing these neighborhood-level details is essential to being able to understand how individual components work together in the environment of a cell,” he writes.</p>
<p>Scientists are working to bridge that resolution gap. Improvements to the 2014 Nobel Prize-winning <a href="https://theconversation.com/zooming-across-time-and-space-simultaneously-with-superresolution-to-understand-how-cells-divide-203324">superresolution microscopy</a>, for example, have enhanced the study of lengthy processes like cell division by capturing images across a range of size and time scales simultaneously, bringing clarity to details traditional microscopes tend to blur.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543350/original/file-20230817-29-4xyjde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cryo-ET image of SARS-CoV-2" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543350/original/file-20230817-29-4xyjde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543350/original/file-20230817-29-4xyjde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543350/original/file-20230817-29-4xyjde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543350/original/file-20230817-29-4xyjde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543350/original/file-20230817-29-4xyjde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543350/original/file-20230817-29-4xyjde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543350/original/file-20230817-29-4xyjde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cryo-electron tomography shows what molecules look like in high resolution – in this case, the virus that causes COVID-19.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nanographics.at/projects/coronavirus-3d/">Nanographics</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another technique, <a href="https://theconversation.com/visualizing-the-inside-of-cells-at-previously-impossible-resolutions-provides-vivid-insights-into-how-they-work-195873">cryo-electron microscopy, or cryo-EM</a>, won a Nobel Prize in 2017 for bringing even more complex, dynamic molecules into view by flash-freezing them. This creates a protective glasslike shell around samples as they’re bombarded by a beam of electrons to create their photo op. Cryo-ET, a specialized type of cryo-EM, can construct 3D images of molecular structures within their natural environments. </p>
<p>These techniques not only generate images at or near atomic resolution but also preserve the natural shape of difficult-to-capture biomolecules of interest. Researchers were able to use cryo-EM, for instance, to capture the elusive structure of the protein on the surface of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-uncovered-the-structure-of-the-key-protein-for-a-future-hepatitis-c-vaccine-heres-how-they-did-it-193705">shape-shifting hepatitis C virus</a>, providing key information for a future vaccine.</p>
<p>Further enhancements to science’s visual acuity will reveal more of the fine details of the building blocks of life. </p>
<p>“I anticipate seeing new theories on how we understand cells, moving from disorganized bags of molecules to intricately organized and dynamic systems,” writes Berg.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/visualizing-the-inside-of-cells-at-previously-impossible-resolutions-provides-vivid-insights-into-how-they-work-195873">Visualizing the inside of cells at previously impossible resolutions provides vivid insights into how they work</a>
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</p>
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<h2>2. Seeing as scoping</h2>
<p>Microscopy images are often framed as snapshots – circumscribed parts of a whole that have been magnified to reveal their hidden features. But nothing in an organism works in isolation. After discerning individual components, scientists are tasked with charting how they interact with each other in the macrosystem of the body. Figuring this out requires not only identifying every component that makes up a particular cell, tissue and organ but also placing them in relation to each other – in other words, making a map.</p>
<p>Researchers have been charting the brain by stitching together multiple snapshots like a photo mosaic. They use different techniques to label a specific cell type and then image the whole brain at high resolution. Layer by layer, each run-through creates an increasingly detailed and more complete model. Neuroscientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WOQx1ksAAAAJ&hl=en">Yongsoo Kim</a> likens the process to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/mapping-how-the-100-billion-cells-in-the-brain-all-fit-together-is-the-brave-new-world-of-neuroscience-170182">satellite image of the brain</a>. Combining millions of these photos allows researchers to zoom into the weeds and zoom out to a bird’s-eye view.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432261/original/file-20211116-25-1vtphzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Stiched high-resolution microscopy image of mouse brain." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432261/original/file-20211116-25-1vtphzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432261/original/file-20211116-25-1vtphzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432261/original/file-20211116-25-1vtphzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432261/original/file-20211116-25-1vtphzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432261/original/file-20211116-25-1vtphzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432261/original/file-20211116-25-1vtphzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/432261/original/file-20211116-25-1vtphzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zooming in on this image of a mouse brain reveals rectangular lines where images were stitched together, with each colored dot representing a specific brain cell type.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://kimlab.io">Yongsoo Kim</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But building a map of a city, however detailed, is not the same as understanding its rhythm and atmosphere. Likewise, knowing where every cell is located relative to each other doesn’t necessarily tell researchers how they function or interact. Just as important as charting out the landscape of an organ is coming up with a working theory of how it all fits together and performs as a whole. Right now, Kim notes, analysis lags behind technical advances in data collection.</p>
<p>“Incredibly rich, high-resolution brain mapping presents a great opportunity for neuroscientists to deeply ponder what this new data says about how the brain works,” Kim writes. “Though there are still many unknowns about the brain, these new tools and techniques could help bring them to light.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mapping-how-the-100-billion-cells-in-the-brain-all-fit-together-is-the-brave-new-world-of-neuroscience-170182">Mapping how the 100 billion cells in the brain all fit together is the brave new world of neuroscience</a>
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<h2>3. Seeing as recognizing</h2>
<p>Every improvement in technology brings a parallel improvement in the data it collects, both in quality and in quantity. But that data is only useful insofar as researchers are able to analyze it – high granularity isn’t helpful if those details aren’t appreciable, and high output isn’t beneficial if it’s too overwhelming to organize.</p>
<p>Automated microscopes, for example, have made it possible to take time-lapse images of cells, resulting in massive amounts of data that require manual sifting. Neuroscientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=cQdBoWUAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&alert_preview_top_rm=2&sortby=pubdate">Jeremy Linsley</a> and his team encountered this dilemma in their own work on neurodegenerative disease. They’ve been relying on an army of interns to scour hundreds of thousands of images of neurons and tally each death – a slow and expensive process.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443244/original/file-20220128-14047-1wva32o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Microscopy images showing rat neurons before and after treatment with glutamate; the neurons are colored green when alive and yellow when dead" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443244/original/file-20220128-14047-1wva32o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443244/original/file-20220128-14047-1wva32o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443244/original/file-20220128-14047-1wva32o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443244/original/file-20220128-14047-1wva32o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443244/original/file-20220128-14047-1wva32o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443244/original/file-20220128-14047-1wva32o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443244/original/file-20220128-14047-1wva32o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">These images show living neurons colored green and dead neurons colored yellow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf8142">Jeremy Linsley</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So they turned to artificial intelligence. Researchers can train an AI model to recognize specific patterns by feeding it many sample images, pointing out structures of interest and extrapolating the algorithm to new contexts. Linsley and his team developed a model to <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-ai-technique-identifies-dead-cells-under-the-microscope-100-times-faster-than-people-can-potentially-accelerating-research-on-neurodegenerative-diseases-like-alzheimers-174154">distinguish between living and dead neurons</a> with greater speed and accuracy than people trained to do the same task. </p>
<p>They also opened the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-black-box-a-computer-scientist-explains-what-it-means-when-the-inner-workings-of-ais-are-hidden-203888">black box</a> of the model to figure out how it was finding dead cells, revealing new signals of neuron death that researchers previously weren’t aware of because they weren’t obvious to the human eye.</p>
<p>“By taking out human guesswork, (AI models) increase the reproducibility and speed of research and can help researchers discover new phenomena in images that they would otherwise not have been able to easily recognize,” writes Linsley.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-ai-technique-identifies-dead-cells-under-the-microscope-100-times-faster-than-people-can-potentially-accelerating-research-on-neurodegenerative-diseases-like-alzheimers-174154">New AI technique identifies dead cells under the microscope 100 times faster than people can – potentially accelerating research on neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>4. Seeing as appreciating</h2>
<p>Even before they had the instruments to zoom in on samples, researchers had a tool in their arsenal to study the living world that they still use today: art.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543351/original/file-20230817-7317-pfm7di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of cells in a cork from Robert Hooke's Micrographia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543351/original/file-20230817-7317-pfm7di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543351/original/file-20230817-7317-pfm7di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543351/original/file-20230817-7317-pfm7di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543351/original/file-20230817-7317-pfm7di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=875&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543351/original/file-20230817-7317-pfm7di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543351/original/file-20230817-7317-pfm7di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543351/original/file-20230817-7317-pfm7di.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">This illustration from Robert Hooke’s ‘Micrographia’ shows the structure of cells in a cork.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Micrographia_Schem_11.jpg">Robert Hooke/National Library of Wales via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<p>Centuries ago, scientists and artists examined plants, animals and anatomy through illustration. Sketches of unfamiliar species in their natural environments aided in their classification, and drawings of the human body advanced study of its structure and function. With the help of the printing press, these artistic renderings – which later included the <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15491">view under the lenses</a> of early microscopes – popularized scientific knowledge about the natural world.</p>
<p>Though hand drawings have since given way to advanced imaging techniques and computer models, the legacy of communicating science through art continues. Scientific publications and <a href="https://theconversation.com/art-illuminates-the-beauty-of-science-and-could-inspire-the-next-generation-of-scientists-young-and-old-168925">BioArt competitions</a> highlight laboratory images and videos to share the awe and wonder of studying the natural world with the general public. Using visualizations in classrooms and art museums can also promote science literacy by giving students a chance to look through the eye of the microscope as a scientist would.</p>
<p>Biologist and BioArt Awards judge <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christine-Curran">Chris Curran</a> believes that making visible the processes and concepts of science can grant a greater depth of understanding of the natural world necessary to being an informed citizen. </p>
<p>“That those images and videos are often beautiful is an added benefit,” she writes.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">This video of cells migrating in a zebra fish embryo won first place in the 2022 Nikon Small World in Motion Competition.</span></figcaption>
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<p>And the abstract qualities of science can be made tangible in ways that don’t involve sight. Proteins, for instance, can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-music-of-proteins-is-made-audible-through-a-computer-program-that-learns-from-chopin-168718">translated into music</a> by mapping their physical properties into sound: amino acids turn into notes, while structural loops become tempos and motifs. Computational biologists <a href="https://scholar.google.com.sg/citations?user=Ic2nqDsAAAAJ&hl=en">Peng Zhang</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=784B-f0AAAAJ&hl=en">Yuzong Chen</a> enhanced the musicality of these mapping techniques by basing them on different music styles, such as that of Chopin. Consequently, a protein that prevents cancer formation, p53, sounds toccata-like, and the protein that binds to the hormone and neurotransmitter oxytocin flutters with recurring motifs.</p>
<p>Framing scientific images as art often requires no more than a change in perspective. And uncovering the poetry of science, many researchers would agree, can help reveal the artistry of life.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/art-illuminates-the-beauty-of-science-and-could-inspire-the-next-generation-of-scientists-young-and-old-168925">Art illuminates the beauty of science – and could inspire the next generation of scientists young and old</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Visualization is an essential part of the scientific process. Advances in imaging have enabled eye-opening discoveries, not only for scientists and researchers but also for the general public.Vivian Lam, Associate Health and Biomedicine EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2109552023-08-04T12:30:01Z2023-08-04T12:30:01ZAre we alone in the universe? 4 essential reads on potential contact with aliens<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541095/original/file-20230803-27-wa23kr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C0%2C8694%2C5617&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">UFOs usually have non-extraterrestrial origins, but many have urged the government to be more transparent about UFO data. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/long-exposure-of-andromeda-galaxy-royalty-free-image/1455373371?phrase=space&adppopup=true">Westend61/Westend61 via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The House subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?529499-1/hearing-unidentified-aerial-phenomena">met in July 2023 to discuss</a> affairs so foreign that they may not even be of this world. During the meeting, several military officers testified that unidentified anomalous phenomena – the government’s name for UFOs – <a href="https://theconversation.com/whistleblower-calls-for-government-transparency-as-congress-digs-for-the-truth-about-ufos-210435">pose a threat</a> to national security. </p>
<p>Their testimony may have <a href="https://theconversation.com/whistleblower-calls-for-government-transparency-as-congress-digs-for-the-truth-about-ufos-210435">raised eyebrows in the chamber</a>, but there’s still no public physical evidence of extraterrestrial life. In fact, most UFO sightings <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-people-tend-to-believe-ufos-are-extraterrestrial-208403">have earthly explanations</a>, from tricks of the light to weather balloons. </p>
<p>Whether or not these testimonials hold any grains of truth, some scholars argue that simply by listening for signs of extraterrestrials, we’re already <a href="https://theconversation.com/first-contact-with-aliens-could-end-in-colonization-and-genocide-if-we-dont-learn-from-history-207793">engaging in the first phase of contact</a> with alien life. </p>
<p>These four articles from our archives dive into what went down during the subcommittee hearing, why perceived UFO sightings usually have human explanations, and how humanity can learn from history when it comes to engaging with extraterrestrials. </p>
<h2>1. Whistleblower allegations</h2>
<p>The most interesting testimony of the July 26 subcommittee hearing came from ex-Air Force Intelligence Officer David Grusch, who <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Dave_G_HOC_Speech_FINAL_For_Trans.pdf">claimed that</a> the U.S. has nonhuman biological material recovered from a UFO crash site. The Pentagon has <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-oversight-plans-ufo-hearing-after-unconfirmed-claims/story?id=99899883">denied this claim</a>, and it has <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-oversight-plans-ufo-hearing-after-unconfirmed-claims/story?id=99899883">denied the existence of any program</a> designed to retrieve and reverse-engineer crashed UFOs. </p>
<p>All witnesses at the hearing advocated for more government transparency around reports of UFOs. Intelligence agencies and the Pentagon currently steward this data, most of which <a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/pentagon-blocks-lawmakers-ufo-data-uap-hearing/">is not public</a>. While having access to more data may help understand what’s going on, as the University of Arizona’s <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OrRLRQ4AAAAJ&hl=en">Chris Impey</a> put it, “the gold standard is physical evidence.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whistleblower-calls-for-government-transparency-as-congress-digs-for-the-truth-about-ufos-210435">Whistleblower calls for government transparency as Congress digs for the truth about UFOs</a>
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<h2>2. Sociological explanations</h2>
<p>Again, while no physical evidence has been made public, anyone surfing the internet can see plenty of alleged UFO videos, photos and stories. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZEQu09wAAAAJ&hl=en">Barry Markovsky</a>, from the University of South Carolina, is a sociologist of shared beliefs and misconceptions who explained why UFOs seem to <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-people-tend-to-believe-ufos-are-extraterrestrial-208403">captivate the public</a> every few years.</p>
<p>People want explanations <a href="https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/ambiguity-effect">for ambiguous situations</a>, and they’re easily influenced by others. Social media enables a concept called <a href="https://doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v3i2.21">bottom-up social diffusion</a>. Say one user posts a blurry video claiming it depicts a UFO. It’s easy for that user’s network to see and repost the video and so on, until it goes viral. Then, when organized institutions like news outlets or government sources publish UFO-related information, that’s called <a href="https://doi.org/10.31269/triplec.v3i2.21">top-down social diffusion</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536695/original/file-20230710-15-14kf6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two circle-and-line graphics, the left showing several circles connected to one another with lines, while the right shows one circle at the top connecting several other circles" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536695/original/file-20230710-15-14kf6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536695/original/file-20230710-15-14kf6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536695/original/file-20230710-15-14kf6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536695/original/file-20230710-15-14kf6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=284&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536695/original/file-20230710-15-14kf6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536695/original/file-20230710-15-14kf6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536695/original/file-20230710-15-14kf6i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The left image shows bottom-up diffusion, in which information spreads from person to person. The right shows top-down diffusion, in which information spreads from one authority.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Barry Markovsky</span></span>
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<p>“Diffusion processes can combine into self-reinforcing loops. Mass media spreads UFO content and piques worldwide interest in UFOs. More people aim their cameras at the skies, creating more opportunities to capture and share odd-looking content,” Markovsky wrote. “Poorly documented UFO pics and videos spread on social media, leading media outlets to grab and republish the most intriguing. Whistleblowers emerge periodically, fanning the flames with claims of secret evidence.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-people-tend-to-believe-ufos-are-extraterrestrial-208403">Why people tend to believe UFOs are extraterrestrial</a>
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<h2>3. Signature detection</h2>
<p>While UFOs might have traction on social media, it’s likely that the first trace of extraterrestrial life won’t come from a crashed alien spaceship. Instead, scientists could potentially <a href="https://theconversation.com/signatures-of-alien-technology-could-be-how-humanity-first-finds-extraterrestrial-life-191054">pick up signals</a> like radio waves or pollution from some distant galaxy that might indicate extraterrestrial technology. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.seti.org/">Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence</a> is a group of scientists all working on the search for extraterrestrial life. Part of what they do is listen for these “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550419000284">technosignatures</a>”.</p>
<p>As two astronomers who work on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Penn State’s <a href="https://sites.psu.edu/macyhuston/">Macy Huston</a> and <a href="https://sites.psu.edu/astrowright/">Jason Wright</a> wrote about how humans often <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1126/science.199.4327.377">unintentionally broadcast signals</a> like radio waves into space. In theory, extraterrestrial civilizations could be doing the same thing – and if scientists can pick up on these signals, they might have their first hints at alien life. </p>
<p>“However, this approach assumes that extraterrestrial civilizations <a href="https://www.universetoday.com/149513/beyond-fermis-paradox-xvii-what-is-the-seti-paradox-hypothesis/">want to communicate</a> with other technologically advanced life,” Huston and Wright explained. “Humans very rarely send targeted signals into space, and some scholars argue that intelligent species may <a href="https://theconversation.com/blasting-out-earths-location-with-the-hope-of-reaching-aliens-is-a-controversial-idea-two-teams-of-scientists-are-doing-it-anyway-182036">purposefully avoid broadcasting</a> out their locations. This search for signals that no one may be sending is called <a href="https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.physics/0611283">the SETI Paradox</a>.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/signatures-of-alien-technology-could-be-how-humanity-first-finds-extraterrestrial-life-191054">Signatures of alien technology could be how humanity first finds extraterrestrial life</a>
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<h2>4. Ethical considerations</h2>
<p>While the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence hasn’t yet detected any extraterrestrial technosignatures, a <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2sq6f3b0">working group of interdisciplinary scholars</a> in Indigenous studies argued that the act of listening for these signals may already count as engaging in first contact with extraterrestrial life.</p>
<p>The Indigenous studies working group argued that first contact may not be just one event – rather, you can think of it as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848619862191">long phase</a> that begins with listening and planning. Listening can be an act of surveillance, and with that comes ethical considerations. </p>
<p>But research groups like the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence don’t often include perspectives from the humanities, even though there are many histories of first contact between groups of people here on Earth to draw from. </p>
<p>James Cook’s 1768 voyage to Oceania, for example, was planned as scientific exploration. But its <a href="https://doi.org/10.17953/aicrj.45.1.lempert">legacy of genocide</a> still affects the Indigenous people of Australia and New Zealand today. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">This BBC video describes the modern ramifications of Captain James Cook’s colonial legacy in New Zealand.</span></figcaption>
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<p>“The initial domino of a public ET message, or recovered bodies or ships, could initiate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0236">cascading events</a>, including military actions, corporate resource mining and perhaps even geopolitical reorganizing,” wrote <a href="https://www.wacd.ucla.edu/people/faculty/david-shorter">David Shorter</a>, <a href="https://www.bowdoin.edu/profiles/faculty/wlempert/index.html">William Lempert</a> and <a href="https://kimtallbear.com/">Kim Tallbear</a>. “No one can know for sure <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-your-religion-ready-to-meet-et-32541">how engagement with extraterrestrials would go</a>, though it’s better to consider cautionary tales from Earth’s own history sooner rather than later.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/first-contact-with-aliens-could-end-in-colonization-and-genocide-if-we-dont-learn-from-history-207793">First contact with aliens could end in colonization and genocide if we don't learn from history</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Whistleblower allegations that the government possesses UFOs may not be backed up by public physical evidence, but some argue that listening for extraterrestrial life is the first phase of contact.Mary Magnuson, Assistant Science EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2106362023-07-31T12:24:13Z2023-07-31T12:24:13ZJustice Department launches civil rights investigation of Memphis police – 4 essential reads about holding police accountable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539936/original/file-20230728-29-n5ruyr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C52%2C7008%2C4500&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Signs calling for all officers and emergency personnel involved in Tyre Nichols' death to be named and charged rest on public steps on Feb. 1, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/signs-calling-for-all-officers-and-emergency-personel-news-photo/1246727760?adppopup=true">Lucy Garrett/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Seven months after the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tyre-nichols-officers-fired-memphis-facb607496ba0f8abf9d7cdf21c97446">horrific beating death by police of Memphis, Tennessee, motorist Tyre Nichols</a>, the Justice Department, on July 27, 2023, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/07/27/justice-civil-rights-memphis/">launched a civil rights investigation</a> into allegations the Memphis Police Department routinely used excessive force and, on a systemic basis, discriminated against Black residents.</p>
<p>Although Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said during a press conference that the investigation of the department and city of Memphis is “not based on a single incident or event,” she also said, “In January of this year, the nation witnessed the tragic death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police.” </p>
<p>The Justice Department, Clarke said, received multiple reports of Memphis police escalating encounters with residents that resulted in excessive force and have indications police there use force punitively.</p>
<p>The Conversation has published a range of articles that examine police departments’ unequal and sometimes violent treatment of Black people. Here are four articles to help you understand the depth and breadth of the problem. Rashad Shabazz, <a href="https://newsroom.asu.edu/expert/rashad-shabazz">a geographer and scholar of African American studies</a> who uses location and societal views about groups of people to make sense of police abuse, wrote three of them. </p>
<h2>1. Black police officers can be affected by anti-Black bias</h2>
<p>Police officers in the United States have always treated Black people as domestic enemies and viewed them as a problem, wrote Shabazz, who teaches at Arizona State University. And ample research indicates anti-Blackness is a factor in American policing from which Black police officers are not exempt.</p>
<p>“American society assumes that Black people are prone to criminality and therefore should be subject to state power <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-police-officers-arent-colorblind-theyre-infected-by-the-same-anti-black-bias-as-american-society-and-police-in-general-198721">in the form of policing</a> or, in some cases, vigilantism – as in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. This is a link deeply woven into American consciousness,” he wrote. “And Black people are not immune. In this way, the long-held targeting of Black men by police and widely held negative beliefs about them are a powerful cocktail that can compel even Black officers to stop, detain and brutally beat a man who looks just like them.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539940/original/file-20230728-26-qxz8m7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mean wearing black and gray carry a black casket topped with white flowers to the open back of a white hearse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539940/original/file-20230728-26-qxz8m7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539940/original/file-20230728-26-qxz8m7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539940/original/file-20230728-26-qxz8m7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539940/original/file-20230728-26-qxz8m7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539940/original/file-20230728-26-qxz8m7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539940/original/file-20230728-26-qxz8m7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539940/original/file-20230728-26-qxz8m7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Family and friends bring Tyre Nichols’ casket to a hearse after Nichols’ funeral at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church on Feb. 1, 2023, in Memphis, Tenn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/family-and-friends-bring-tyre-nichols-casket-to-the-hearse-news-photo/1246727428?adppopup=true">Lucy Garrett/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Shabazz wrote that Americans’ collective surprise that five Black police officers could brutalize another Black man indicated a lack of understanding about race and racism.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/black-police-officers-arent-colorblind-theyre-infected-by-the-same-anti-black-bias-as-american-society-and-police-in-general-198721">Black police officers aren't colorblind – they're infected by the same anti-Black bias as American society and police in general</a>
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<h2>2. The Justice Department has found police in multiple American cities act on racial bias</h2>
<p>Police misconduct in the United States is not unusual. In fact, over the past decade, the Justice Department has found police in cities – including Minneapolis; Louisville, Kentucky; and Ferguson, Missouri – routinely deny Black people their constitutional rights, discriminate against Black people and use excessive force, including unjustified deadly force when interacting with civilians, <a href="https://newsroom.asu.edu/expert/rashad-shabazz">Shabazz</a> also wrote:</p>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/police-treatment-in-black-and-white-report-on-minneapolis-policing-is-the-latest-reminder-of-systemic-racial-disparities-208418">Police body camera footage shows officers speak disrespectfully to Black people</a> during traffic stops; about four of every 10 Black people say police have unfairly stopped them; and Black people are more than three times as likely to be killed by police during interactions. These experiences explain why Black people have negative views of police.”</p>
<p>As Shabazz wrote, the unequal treatment of Black people by police stems from the history of slave patrols policing African Americans in the South. </p>
<p>Black people, though, have not been the only targets of police discrimination. Historically, police discriminated against Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the Southwest and the Irish – before they were considered white - in the North. White Southerners, white Southwesterners, and white people in the middle and upper classes in the North, however, were not subjected to police abuse or racial discrimination.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, because of their different experiences with police, Black and white people view police differently.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/police-treatment-in-black-and-white-report-on-minneapolis-policing-is-the-latest-reminder-of-systemic-racial-disparities-208418">Police treatment in black and white – report on Minneapolis policing is the latest reminder of systemic racial disparities</a>
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</p>
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<h2>3. Police officers who brutalize citizens do it repeatedly</h2>
<p>Often, the same police officers who engage in misconduct – such as witness intimidation, evidence tampering and coercion – do the same thing from one case to another, wrote Jill McCorkel. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igzCbrQQHbQ">A scholar of law and the criminal justice system</a> at Villanova University, McCorkel works with people in Philadelphia who were wrongly convicted of crimes.</p>
<p>“In the aftermath of the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the Department of Justice found that the department had a lengthy history of <a href="https://theconversation.com/police-officers-accused-of-brutal-violence-often-have-a-history-of-complaints-by-citizens-139709">excessive force, unconstitutional stop and searches, racial discrimination and racial bias</a>,” McCorkel wrote. “The report noted that the use of force was often punitive and retaliatory and that the overwhelming majority of force – almost 90% – is used against African Americans.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539942/original/file-20230728-25-l3qp76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People wearing winter coats and hats protest outside holding black and white signs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539942/original/file-20230728-25-l3qp76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539942/original/file-20230728-25-l3qp76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539942/original/file-20230728-25-l3qp76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539942/original/file-20230728-25-l3qp76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539942/original/file-20230728-25-l3qp76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539942/original/file-20230728-25-l3qp76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/539942/original/file-20230728-25-l3qp76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Protesters in Boston hold signs demanding justice following the killing of Tyre Nichols.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-hold-placards-demanding-justice-following-the-news-photo/1246610537?adppopup=true">Vincent Ricci/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>But McCorkel wrote that civilian review boards that can conduct their own investigations and impose discipline may be a solution to the problem.</p>
<p>“Research at the national level suggests that jurisdictions with citizen review boards uphold more excessive force complaints than jurisdictions that rely on internal mechanisms,” she wrote.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/police-officers-accused-of-brutal-violence-often-have-a-history-of-complaints-by-citizens-139709">Police officers accused of brutal violence often have a history of complaints by citizens</a>
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<hr>
<h2>4. Police often shielded from accountability</h2>
<p>Negative cultural myths about Black people and backing from the powerful Fraternal Order of Police together serve to justify a culture of police violence and shield police officers from accountability for their misconduct, Shabazz wrote.</p>
<p>As a consequence, sometimes people who have been abused by police or whose loved ones were killed by police seek police accountability in civil courts. That’s what Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, did when she filed a US$55 million federal lawsuit against the individual police officers who beat and killed her son. That lawsuit also targeted the Memphis Police Department and the city of Memphis.</p>
<p>“In Louisville, in Minneapolis and across the nation, Black <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-law-often-shields-police-officers-from-accountability-and-reinforces-policing-that-harms-black-people-homeless-people-and-the-mentally-ill-201552">people have complained about police misconduct</a> only to have those complaints ignored while white people’s complaints of misconduct are more likely to be sustained,” Shabazz wrote.</p>
<p>But Shabazz also wrote that homeless people who, like African Americans, are heavily policed and viewed as criminals, are also often the victims of police deadly force. And the mentally ill are routinely on the receiving end of police misconduct.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-law-often-shields-police-officers-from-accountability-and-reinforces-policing-that-harms-black-people-homeless-people-and-the-mentally-ill-201552">The law often shields police officers from accountability -- and reinforces policing that harms Black people, homeless people and the mentally ill</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210636/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Justice Department has launched a civil rights probe of the Memphis Police Department to examine allegations of excessive force, improper stops and searches and racial disparities.Lorna Grisby, Politics & Society EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2105142023-07-27T17:43:42Z2023-07-27T17:43:42ZGiuliani claims the First Amendment lets him lie – 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539651/original/file-20230726-29-edulow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C11%2C7600%2C5055&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rudy Giuliani admits to lying but says the Constitution protects him.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/GeorgiaElectionMisinformation/83aaf5c10aaf4da08f8f5e15cc5a21e2/photo">AP Photo/Patrick Semansky</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In his response to a lawsuit filed by two Georgia election workers who said Rudy Giuliani harmed them by falsely alleging they mishandled ballots in the 2020 presidential election, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/us/politics/giuliani-georgia-election-workers.html">Giuliani has admitted lying</a>. But he says the women suffered no harm – and claims that his lies are protected by the <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/">First Amendment</a> to the U.S. Constitution.</p>
<p>The Conversation U.S. has published several articles by scholars explaining what the First Amendment – which, broadly speaking, protects freedom of speech and the press – does and doesn’t say. That includes how it can and can’t be used to protect speech about political controversies, and whether speech that harms or threatens to harm another person is protected. Here is a selection from among those articles.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507967/original/file-20230202-16618-otink6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people stand nearby while a U.S. flag burns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507967/original/file-20230202-16618-otink6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/507967/original/file-20230202-16618-otink6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507967/original/file-20230202-16618-otink6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507967/original/file-20230202-16618-otink6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507967/original/file-20230202-16618-otink6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507967/original/file-20230202-16618-otink6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/507967/original/file-20230202-16618-otink6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It may be upsetting to see – but that’s part of the point of burning a flag, and a key reason it’s protected by the First Amendment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-the-communist-party-usa-and-other-anti-fascist-news-photo/1230698352">Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>1. Not all speech is protected</h2>
<p>The First Amendment’s protections are not absolute, wrote <a href="https://lynngreenky.com/">Lynn Greenky</a>, a communications scholar at Syracuse University.</p>
<p>“When the rights and liberties of others are in serious jeopardy, speakers who provoke others into violence, wrongfully and recklessly injure reputations or incite others to engage in illegal activity <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-first-amendment-really-says-4-basic-principles-of-free-speech-in-the-us-197604">may be silenced or punished</a>,” she wrote.</p>
<p>“People whose words cause actual harm to others can be held liable for that damage,” she noted. That’s what the Georgia election workers are claiming in their lawsuit.</p>
<p>Lying about people and bullying them can have consequences despite free-speech protections, Greenky explained: “Right-wing commentator Alex Jones found that out when courts ordered him to pay more than US$1 billion in damages for his statements about, and treatment of, parents of children who were killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-first-amendment-really-says-4-basic-principles-of-free-speech-in-the-us-197604">What the First Amendment really says – 4 basic principles of free speech in the US</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>2. Defaming someone can be costly</h2>
<p>Jones is not the only defamation defendant who has found lying costly. Dominion Voting Systems sued Fox News for spreading lies about its voting machines in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. Rather than go to trial, Fox settled for $787 million. </p>
<p>But communication scholar <a href="https://comm.osu.edu/people/kraft.42">Nicole Kraft</a>
at The Ohio State University warned that if the case had gone to trial, proving defamation might have been difficult. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/defamation-was-at-the-heart-of-the-lawsuit-settled-by-fox-news-with-dominion-proving-libel-in-a-court-would-have-been-no-small-feat-203741">To be considered defamation</a>, information or claims must be presented as fact and disseminated so others read or see it and must identify the person or business and offer the information with a reckless disregard for the truth,” she wrote.</p>
<p>Another key question, she observed, is the amount of damage the statements do. “Defamation happens when someone publishes or publicly broadcasts falsehoods about a person or a corporation in a way that harms their reputation to the point of damage,” she wrote.</p>
<p>In his recent court filing, Giuliani appears to be saying the election workers weren’t harmed by his statements.</p>
<p>But they are claiming they were harmed, including that they <a href="https://apnews.com/article/giuliani-georgia-election-workers-lawsuit-false-statements-afc64a565ee778c6914a1a69dc756064">received threats and hateful and racist messages</a> from people in the wake of Giuliani’s allegations.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/defamation-was-at-the-heart-of-the-lawsuit-settled-by-fox-news-with-dominion-proving-libel-in-a-court-would-have-been-no-small-feat-203741">Defamation was at the heart of the lawsuit settled by Fox News with Dominion -- proving libel in a court would have been no small feat</a>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505664/original/file-20230120-12-33u2r3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A large, columned white building at the top of a grand, white set of stairs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505664/original/file-20230120-12-33u2r3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505664/original/file-20230120-12-33u2r3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505664/original/file-20230120-12-33u2r3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505664/original/file-20230120-12-33u2r3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505664/original/file-20230120-12-33u2r3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505664/original/file-20230120-12-33u2r3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505664/original/file-20230120-12-33u2r3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that some false statements are ‘inevitable if there is to be open and vigorous expression of views.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SupremeCourtDisabilitiesEducation/c46b6b0bf6ab45a4b6600360efe3083c/photo?Query=U.S.%20Supreme%20Court&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=8325&currentItemNo=19">AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File</a></span>
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<h2>3. The case could be easier</h2>
<p>It’s not clear whether Giuliani has claimed to have been a politician at the time he made the false statements about the Georgia election workers. But he was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/us/politics/giuliani-georgia-election-workers.html">functioning as a personal attorney and representative</a> of Donald Trump, who is definitely a politician.</p>
<p>Allowing politicians to lie with impunity can be dangerous for democracy, warned Drake University constitutional scholar <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aIWyIH8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Miguel Schor</a>:</p>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/george-santos-a-democracy-cant-easily-penalize-lies-by-politicians-197267">The First Amendment was written</a> in an era when government censorship was the principal danger to self-government,” he wrote. “Today, politicians and ordinary citizens can harness new information technologies to spread misinformation and deepen polarization. A weakened news media will fail to police those assertions, or a partisan news media will amplify them.”</p>
<p>Schor found a potential solution in a 2012 opinion by Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, which said laws and courts should be able to penalize not just the harms caused by speech but also “false statements about easily verifiable facts.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/george-santos-a-democracy-cant-easily-penalize-lies-by-politicians-197267">George Santos: A democracy can't easily penalize lies by politicians</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210514/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
To what degree can the First Amendment be used to protect someone from the consequences of lying?Jeff Inglis, Politics + Society Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2104992023-07-27T12:26:30Z2023-07-27T12:26:30ZAlabama is not the first state to defy a Supreme Court ruling: 3 essential reads on why that matters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539643/original/file-20230726-25-q9sqyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=596%2C571%2C2890%2C3214&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Police officers patrolling the front of the Supreme Court building.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/police-officers-with-the-u-s-supreme-court-detain-a-man-who-news-photo/1504442811?adppopup=true">Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In its 5-4 <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-1086_1co6.pdf">Allen v. Milligan</a> decision on June 8, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the state of Alabama to redraw its congressional voting districts and consider race as it made up the new districts. The court had found that the state’s political districts diluted the strength of Black voters by denying them the possibility of electing a second Black member to the state’s congressional delegation.</p>
<p>While the court did not specifically order the state to create a second majority-Black congressional district, Chief Justice John Roberts made it clear how he viewed the long history of racist voter suppression in Alabama – and what factors should weigh prominently in the state’s new political map. </p>
<p>“States shouldn’t let race be the primary factor in deciding how to draw boundaries, but it should be a consideration,” <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-1086_1co6.pdf">Roberts wrote</a>. “The line we have drawn is between consciousness and predominance.”</p>
<p>Alabama state officials <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/21/1189494854/alabama-redistricting-map-black-districts">submitted the state’s new boundaries</a> by the Republican-controlled state legislature in late July.</p>
<p>But the new districts still <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1181002182/supreme-court-voting-rights">include only one in which Black voters could reasonably elect</a> a candidate of their own choosing, not two as voting rights advocates had argued – and as the Supreme Court appeared to endorse. </p>
<p>Over the years, The Conversation U.S. has published numerous stories exploring the consequences of not complying with court rulings and what resistance, including resistance to decisions involving race, does to the legitimacy of America’s legal system. Here are selections from those articles. </p>
<h2>1. When the Supreme court loses Americans’ loyalty</h2>
<p>As political scientists <a href="https://people.tamu.edu/%7Ejura/">Joseph Daniel Ura</a> of Texas A&M and <a href="https://politicalscience.nd.edu/people/matthew-e-k-hall/">Matthew Hall</a> of Notre Dame <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-supreme-court-loses-americans-loyalty-chaos-even-violence-can-follow-192384">wrote</a>, the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education revealed “white Americans’ tenuous loyalty” to the authority of the federal judiciary.</p>
<p>In Brown, the court unanimously held that racial segregation in public education violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. </p>
<p>“Rather than recognizing the court’s authoritative interpretation of the Constitution,” Ura and Hall explained, “many white Americans participated in an extended, violent campaign of resistance to the desegregation ruling.”</p>
<p>The result of such resistance is clear. “Eroding legitimacy means that government officials and ordinary people become increasingly unlikely to accept public policies with which they disagree,” they wrote. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/when-the-supreme-court-loses-americans-loyalty-chaos-even-violence-can-follow-192384">When the Supreme Court loses Americans' loyalty, chaos – even violence – can follow</a>
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<h2>2. Oklahoma resists ruling over tribal authority</h2>
<p>In June 2020, the Supreme Court decided in <a href="https://casetext.com/case/mcgirt-v-oklahoma/">McGirt v. Oklahoma</a> that the Muscogee Creek reservation in Oklahoma is Indian Country. </p>
<p>As an <a href="https://law.wayne.edu/profile/ew9862">expert in federal Indian law</a> at Wayne State University, Kirsten Matoy Carlson <a href="https://theconversation.com/oklahoma-state-officials-resist-supreme-court-ruling-affirming-tribal-authority-over-american-indian-country-175726">wrote</a> that the ruling meant federal criminal laws applied to much of eastern Oklahoma as Indian Country and enabled the federal government – instead of the state of Oklahoma – to prosecute crimes committed by and against American Indians there.</p>
<p>Oklahoma state officials refused to comply and <a href="https://www.muskogeephoenix.com/news/oklahoma-ag-wants-people-released-on-mcgirt-back-in-custody/article_51421619-03db-5a48-9f42-6de3cfc455da.html">actively resisted</a> implementation of the McGirt decision. They asked the Supreme Court to reverse it over 40 times.</p>
<p>The strategy paid off. The U.S. Supreme Court took up a similar case and in June 2022, decided to roll back some of its 2020 decision. </p>
<p>As Carlson wrote, “Conflicts between state and tribal governments are not new; states have long tried to assert power – often violently – over sovereign tribes.”</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/oklahoma-state-officials-resist-supreme-court-ruling-affirming-tribal-authority-over-american-indian-country-175726">Oklahoma state officials resist Supreme Court ruling affirming tribal authority over American Indian country</a>
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<h2>3. Court’s power may pose a danger to its legitimacy</h2>
<p>Political scientist <a href="https://polisci.utk.edu/faculty/pacelle.php">Richard L. Pacelle Jr.</a> at University of Tennessee, Knoxville has examined how the power and authority of the court have waxed and waned over the centuries. </p>
<p>“That immense power has arguably made the court a leading player in enacting policy in the U.S,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-supreme-courts-immense-power-may-pose-a-danger-to-its-legitimacy-168600">Pacelle wrote</a>. “It may also cause the loss of the court’s legitimacy, which can be defined as popular acceptance of a government, political regime or system of governance.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-supreme-courts-immense-power-may-pose-a-danger-to-its-legitimacy-168600">The Supreme Court's immense power may pose a danger to its legitimacy</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives</em>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210499/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
As a powerful branch of government, the Supreme Court has enormous power over public policy only if defendants comply with its rulings.Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2100262023-07-18T18:46:04Z2023-07-18T18:46:04ZTargeting Trump for prosecution – 4 essential reads on how the Jan. 6 investigation laid the groundwork for the special counsel<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538099/original/file-20230718-23-w0udzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C107%2C2878%2C1899&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Donald Trump, left, may yet face off again in federal court against Jack Smith.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TrumpClassifiedDocuments/045f472d792142a0bad5aba2b745ffe1/photo">Associated Press</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the news on July 18, 2023, that Special Counsel Jack Smith had informed former <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/07/18/us/trump-jan-6-letter">President Donald Trump that he was a target</a> of the federal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the related Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, speculation began immediately among political analysts and pundits about what charges the former president might face. </p>
<p>But criminal investigations are not public, so drawing conclusions about what charges Smith might bring would have to rely on indications from other sources. </p>
<p>One place to find some possible hints: Smith’s investigation into Trump came on the heels of the sprawling public investigation of the Capitol insurrection by the <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/committee/house-january6th">House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack</a>, known colloquially as the House January 6 committee. </p>
<p>The committee interviewed 1,200 people, including former Trump staff, state election officials and people who had participated in the Jan. 6 attack. Its <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/collection/january-6th-committee-final-report">final report</a> was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/12/23/1145160544/jan-6-report-committee-donald-trump">845 pages long</a> and provided many previously unknown facts and details about what happened on Jan. 6 and in the days and weeks leading up to it. The committee <a href="https://apnews.com/article/january-6-final-hearing-investigation-wraps-0bceb95826c1c836023d2810ccbeccca">recommended Trump be charged</a> with conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to make a false statement and aiding an insurrection. </p>
<p>Here are four of The Conversation’s stories about the committee’s work to help you understand what it did, what it found and how its work may fit into what could be yet another historic prosecution of a former U.S. president. Three of the four were written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/claire-leavitt-1351188">Claire Leavitt</a>, a Smith College scholar of congressional oversight whose analyses are grounded in real-world experience: She spent a year working on the Democratic majority staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of men and women, looking down at notes as they sit at a high table, all in a row." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467248/original/file-20220606-20-60gofv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson delivers remarks during a January 6 committee business meeting on Capitol Hill, March 28, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chairman-rep-bennie-thompson-delivers-remarks-during-a-news-photo/1239592215?adppopup=true">Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>1. What’s an investigation and what’s a hearing?</h2>
<p>As the committee prepared for its first public hearing, Leavitt laid out its two-pronged functions: investigation first, public hearings second. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-public-hearing-is-different-from-an-investigation-and-what-that-means-for-the-jan-6-committee-184342">Blockbuster hearings are fascinating and even fun</a>,” wrote Leavitt. “They dominate the political and cultural conversation and prompt movie stars to show up in ‘Saturday Night Live’ cold opens. But what do they actually accomplish?”</p>
<p>Such high-profile hearings, wrote Leavitt, actually represent the end of the investigative process. They “tend to be choreographed affairs, presenting a tightly woven narrative to the public. By now, most of the investigative work has already been done.”</p>
<p>Hearings “establish a shared foundation of facts that can inform short- and long-term debates – around the dinner table, in the media, in Congress and among scholars – over how major events should be interpreted,” wrote Leavitt. And they can also serve as a “a kind of preemptive justification for specific legal and legislative actions that may follow the investigation.”</p>
<p>For example, Leavitt wrote, “if the committee does end up recommending criminal charges against Trump and his allies, the hearings have already explained the legitimacy of these charges to the public.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-public-hearing-is-different-from-an-investigation-and-what-that-means-for-the-jan-6-committee-184342">How a public hearing is different from an investigation – and what that means for the Jan. 6 committee</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An antique-looking newspaper clipping about a Senate committee's attempt to get witnesses to testify in 1860." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/500435/original/file-20221212-110709-uu9du9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=735&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A brief New York Times story from Jan. 26, 1860, about witnesses summoned to testify at a Senate committee investigation of John Brown and fellow abolitionists’ raid on a government arsenal at Harpers Ferry, in what is now West Virginia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1860/01/26/88149088.html?pageNumber=2">New York Times archive screenshot</a></span>
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<h2>2. Historic event given time-tested congressional scrutiny</h2>
<p>Leavitt also set the January 6 committee’s work – really, its very existence – in historical context. For all the complaints by Trump and his allies that the investigation was illegitimate and a “<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-responded-jan-6-committee/story?id=95323334">witch hunt</a>,” Leavitt wrote that the committee’s work <a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-committee-tackled-unprecedented-attack-with-time-tested-inquiry-195999">fit squarely into the U.S. democratic tradition</a>.</p>
<p>“The committee’s recommendation to prosecute a former president was unprecedented. But its investigation of the events of Jan. 6, 2021, fell squarely within Congress’ power and added a new chapter to a centurieslong history of congressional investigations into government scandals and failures,” she wrote.</p>
<p>Congress has the power to investigate. “Its standing and special committees,” wrote Leavitt, “known as select committees, regularly conduct both preemptive oversight and retroactive investigations. Their aim: to identify specific cases of wrongdoing both inside and outside government.” </p>
<p>And it’s the committee’s identification of wrongdoing that could have provided fodder for Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-committee-tackled-unprecedented-attack-with-time-tested-inquiry-195999">Jan. 6 committee tackled unprecedented attack with time-tested inquiry</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The backs of four people are seen looking at a projector screen that says 'Two. Conspiracy to defraud the United States,' with the words 'criminal referral of President Donald J. Trump to the Department of Justice.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/501988/original/file-20221219-24-bna81y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The House January 6 committee announced four recommended charges against Donald Trump, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1450388267/photo/house-select-committee-to-investigate-the-january-6th-attack-on-the-u-s-capitol-holds-final.jpg?s=612x612&w=gi&k=20&c=E1rElTdlVPQiszH-7ZgsepscBa6aIY5H8C1o4izW81M=">Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>3. Legitimizing the drive for accountability</h2>
<p>Did the January 6 committee pave the way for Jack Smith to charge Trump in connection with the events to overturn the election?</p>
<p>With its decision to recommend charges against Trump, the January 6 committee members, wrote Santa Clara University legal scholar <a href="https://law.scu.edu/faculty/profile/russell-margaret/">Margaret Russell</a>, had “reached the brink. This bipartisan committee, which comprised seven Democrats and two Republicans, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-criminal-referral-of-trump-means-a-constitutional-law-expert-explains-the-jan-6-committee-action-196841">decided unanimously</a> that backing away from criminal charges would be a dereliction of its duty to recommend, based on what it has found.”</p>
<p>The magnitude of the charges the committee recommended, “particularly the insurrection one, is unprecedented,” wrote Russell. </p>
<p>And while the committee itself could not force charges to be brought, Russell said their recommendation had “very strong teeth in the sense of urging the Department of Justice to make sure that there is accountability.” </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-criminal-referral-of-trump-means-a-constitutional-law-expert-explains-the-jan-6-committee-action-196841">What the criminal referral of Trump means – a constitutional law expert explains the Jan. 6 committee action</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman dressed in a black jacket and white shirt wipes tears from her face while giving testimony at a table in a large room filled with people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/489406/original/file-20221012-22-pvivst.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Wandrea ‘Shaye’ Moss, a former Georgia election worker, testifying as her mother, Ruby Freeman, watches during a hearing held by the House January 6 committee on June 21, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/wandrea-arshaye-shaye-moss-former-georgia-election-worker-news-photo/1241441997?phrase=january%206%20committee%20wandrea&adppopup=true">Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>4. History takes time</h2>
<p>Regardless of whether the House January 6 committee’s work contributed to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, its work should be seen as historic, wrote Leavitt. But that will take time to become clear. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-committees-fact-finding-and-bipartisanship-will-lead-to-an-impact-in-coming-decades-if-not-tomorrow-192324">Assessing the full impact of the investigation</a> requires patience – probably decades’ worth,” Leavitt wrote. </p>
<p>“The process by which events become part of the public consciousness is slow and often imperceptible, but it is a legacy arguably as important as the discrete electoral or policy outcomes that emerge – or not – in the short term.”</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jan-6-committees-fact-finding-and-bipartisanship-will-lead-to-an-impact-in-coming-decades-if-not-tomorrow-192324">Jan. 6 Committee's fact-finding and bipartisanship will lead to an impact in coming decades, if not tomorrow</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210026/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Before there was Jack Smith, there was the House January 6 committee. Its work and findings may provide a hint about what new charges Smith might lodge against former President Donald Trump.Naomi Schalit, Senior Editor, Politics + Democracy, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2092732023-07-07T12:26:54Z2023-07-07T12:26:54ZAffirmative action lasted over 50 years: 3 essential reads explaining how it ended<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536124/original/file-20230706-22749-n7njvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=172%2C112%2C5581%2C3718&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Harvard students protesting on July 1, 2023, after the Supreme Court's ruling against affirmative action.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/harvard-students-joined-in-a-rally-protesting-the-supreme-news-photo/1448852658?adppopup=true">Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ever since U.S. President Lyndon Johnson enacted affirmative action in 1965, white conservatives have challenged the use of race in college admissions. </p>
<p>Their arguments against such policies are typically based on the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/equal_protection">use of the equal protection clause</a> of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which prohibits discrimination against American citizens on the basis of their race, religion or sexuality.</p>
<p>According to this conservative thinking, race-based solutions are discriminatory by their very definition and, as such, are unconstitutional.</p>
<p>The question, then, is how does an institution try to offer a modern-day remedy to atone for long-standing patterns of racial discrimination?</p>
<p>Over the years, The Conversation U.S. has published numerous stories exploring affirmative action – and what diversity on college campuses means with race-neutral admission policies. Here is a selection from our archive.</p>
<h2>1. An ambitious start to level the playing field</h2>
<p>During his 1965 commencement address at Howard University, Johnson explained how he intended to make right the wrongs of the past.</p>
<p>“Freedom is not enough,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcfAuodA2x8">he declared in his speech</a>, “To Fulfill These Rights.” “You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, ‘you are free to compete with all the others,’ and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.”</p>
<p>One of Johnson’s solutions, as affirmative action scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/travis-knoll-1377873">Travis Knoll</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-is-poised-to-dismantle-an-integral-part-of-lbjs-great-society-affirmative-action-201247">pointed out</a>, was affirmative action.</p>
<p>Unlike the conservative majority on today’s Supreme Court, “Johnson understood that the U.S. could not serve as a moral leader around the world if it did not acknowledge its past of racial injustices and try to make amends,” Knoll contended. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-is-poised-to-dismantle-an-integral-part-of-lbjs-great-society-affirmative-action-201247">Supreme Court is poised to dismantle an integral part of LBJ's Great Society – affirmative action</a>
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<h2>2. Court’s mixed history on affirmative action</h2>
<p>The battle over affirmative action heated up during the 1970s when a legal challenge reached the U.S. Supreme Court in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/regents_of_the_university_of_california_v_bakke_(1978)#:%7E:text=Primary%20tabs-,Regents%20of%20the%20University%20of%20California%20v.,Civil%20Rights%20Act%20of%201964">Regents of the University of California v. Bakke</a>.</p>
<p>In that 1978 case, Associate Justice Lewis Powell wrote that while race can still be one of several factors in the admissions process, a separate admissions process for minority students was unconstitutional.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Five men and four women are wearing black robes as they pose for a portrait." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508673/original/file-20230207-29-owvlbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Current members of the Supreme Court, from left in front row: Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Elena Kagan; and from left in back row: Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/united-states-supreme-court-associate-justice-sonia-news-photo/1431388794?phrase=us%20supreme%20clarence%20thomas&adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Since then, the Supreme Court has issued different rulings on whether race could be used in college admissions.</p>
<p>As University of Pennsylvania race and equity legal scholar <a href="https://lgst.wharton.upenn.edu/profile/shrop/">Kenneth Shropshire</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-2003-supreme-court-decision-upholding-affirmative-action-planted-the-seeds-of-its-overturning-as-justices-then-and-now-thought-racism-an-easily-solved-problem-208807">wrote</a>, the court had subtly established an affirmative action expiration date in its 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger decision.</p>
<p>In that case, Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote that the “Court expects that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.” </p>
<p>But Shropshire explained that that O'Connor’s deadline was one of desire and not reality. </p>
<p>“The vestiges of past discrimination and the unfortunate existence of ongoing discrimination continue,” Shropshire wrote. “No deadline has made these wrongs and their impact disappear.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-2003-supreme-court-decision-upholding-affirmative-action-planted-the-seeds-of-its-overturning-as-justices-then-and-now-thought-racism-an-easily-solved-problem-208807">A 2003 Supreme Court decision upholding affirmative action planted the seeds of its overturning, as justices then and now thought racism an easily solved problem</a>
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<h2>3. Selective colleges will become less diverse</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SE2WERAAAAAJ&hl=en">Natasha Warikoo</a>, a sociology professor at Tufts University and author of “<a href="https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=is-affirmative-action-fair-the-myth-of-equity-in-college-admissions--9781509549368">Is Affirmative Action Fair?: The Myth of Equity in College Admissions</a>,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/affirmative-action-bans-make-selective-colleges-less-diverse-a-national-ban-will-do-the-same-189214">shared insights</a> on how the racial and ethnic makeup of student bodies at selective colleges and universities will change now that the Supreme Court has decided to outlaw affirmative action.</p>
<p>As she pointed out, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-might-states-ban-affirmative-action/">nine states already have bans</a> on affirmative action, and studies of college enrollment in those states suggest that enrollment of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373720904433">Black, Hispanic and Native American undergraduate</a> students will decline in the long term.</p>
<p>“Ending affirmative action will make it harder to increase the percentage of professionals and leaders from minority backgrounds,” she explained. “This is because, as research has shown, affirmative action has increased the number of Black college graduates and, in turn, increased the number of Black professionals with advanced degrees.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/affirmative-action-bans-make-selective-colleges-less-diverse-a-national-ban-will-do-the-same-189214">Affirmative action bans make selective colleges less diverse – a national ban will do the same</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209273/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action programs reverses nearly 50 years of its own decisions that ruled diversity was of vital national importance.Howard Manly, Race + Equity Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2085762023-07-03T11:52:41Z2023-07-03T11:52:41ZHow new state laws and book ban movements have made the teaching of US history contentious – 5 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534449/original/file-20230627-33290-9o7a5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C22%2C7304%2C4880&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Certain state laws are banning the instruction of critical race theory.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/students-typing-on-their-personal-tablets-royalty-free-image/494616066?phrase=high+school+classroom&adppopup=true">FatCamera/E+ via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Of all the subjects taught in America’s public schools, few have become as contentious as U.S. history. At least <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/22525983/map-critical-race-theory-legislation-teaching-racism">37 states have adopted</a> new measures that limit how America’s undeniable <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/books/review/a-history-of-race-and-racism-in-america-in-24-chapters.html">history of racism</a> – from chattel slavery to Jim Crow – can be discussed in public school classrooms.</p>
<p>Educators in certain states face laws that restrict classroom discussions about racism. Florida’s <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/florida-moves-to-restrict-what-schools-can-teach-about-systemic-racism">Stop Woke Act</a> for example, limits what educators can say about racism in K-12 schools. </p>
<p>For insight on the restrictive laws and what educators can do, The Conversation compiled a roundup of archival stories from several scholars that explain their origin and intent, as well as how they could potentially affect everyday instruction in America’s schools. </p>
<h2>1. The value of learning about systemic racism</h2>
<p>History educators <a href="https://www.studythepast.org">Jeffrey L. Littlejohn</a> and <a href="https://www.shsu.edu/academics/history/faculty/jeffrey-l-littlejohn-phd">Zachary Montz</a> described how <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/06/15/abbott-critical-race-theory-law/">restrictions on teaching about systemic racism</a> in Texas public schools prevent students from learning vital historical lessons. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/juneteenth-jim-crow-and-how-the-fight-of-one-black-texas-family-to-make-freedom-real-offers-lessons-for-texas-lawmakers-trying-to-erase-history-from-the-classroom-207678">The scholars referenced</a> <a href="https://easttexashistory.org/items/show/10">Joshua Houston</a>, an enslaved servant from Texas who became the county’s first Black county commissioner, and his son <a href="https://easttexashistory.org/items/show/2">Samuel Walker</a>, who notably founded a school which served as one of the first county training schools for African Americans in Texas.</p>
<p>“Americans cannot appreciate the accomplishments of Joshua and Samuel Walker Houston without examining the vicious realities of Jim Crow society,” Littlejohn and Montz wrote. “The lesson of their lives, and of the Juneteenth holiday, is that freedom is a precious thing that requires constant work to make real.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/juneteenth-jim-crow-and-how-the-fight-of-one-black-texas-family-to-make-freedom-real-offers-lessons-for-texas-lawmakers-trying-to-erase-history-from-the-classroom-207678">Juneteenth, Jim Crow and how the fight of one Black Texas family to make freedom real offers lessons for Texas lawmakers trying to erase history from the classroom</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534367/original/file-20230627-29-w2lrsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="View of a classroom, with the educator teaching while standing next to a map of the world." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534367/original/file-20230627-29-w2lrsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534367/original/file-20230627-29-w2lrsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534367/original/file-20230627-29-w2lrsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534367/original/file-20230627-29-w2lrsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534367/original/file-20230627-29-w2lrsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534367/original/file-20230627-29-w2lrsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534367/original/file-20230627-29-w2lrsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Some educators across the U.S. worry about the backlash from teaching about racial discrimination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/rear-view-of-teenage-girls-and-boys-learning-in-royalty-free-image/1345022793?phrase=classrooms&adppopup=true">Maskot via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>2. The importance of historical knowledge</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/people/individual/boaz-dvir">Boaz Dvir</a>, an assistant professor of journalism at Penn State and grandson of Holocaust survivors, is concerned that many educators <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-an-educator-and-grandson-of-holocaust-survivors-and-i-see-public-schools-failing-to-give-students-the-historical-knowledge-they-need-to-keep-our-democracy-strong-203868">are shying away</a> from examining racism and genocide in the classroom due to new and proposed state laws that restrict conversations on crimes against humanity.</p>
<p>Consequently, Dvir wrote that <a href="https://www.claimscon.org/millennial-study/">an alarming 63% of American millennials and Generation Z</a> lacked basic knowledge about the murder of <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/holocaust">six million Jews</a> during the Holocaust. </p>
<p>According to Dvir without vital lessons on such crimes against humanity and the factors that give rise to them, students “may not have the knowledge and insight they need to sustain and thrive in a 21st-century democracy.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/im-an-educator-and-grandson-of-holocaust-survivors-and-i-see-public-schools-failing-to-give-students-the-historical-knowledge-they-need-to-keep-our-democracy-strong-203868">I'm an educator and grandson of Holocaust survivors, and I see public schools failing to give students the historical knowledge they need to keep our democracy strong</a>
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<h2>3. Critical race theory’s impact on AP courses</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=3J0bLuMAAAAJ">Suneal Kolluri</a>, a researcher who studies <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318787268">Advanced Placement courses</a> – which provide students an opportunity to earn college credit while still in high school – raises another <a href="https://theconversation.com/advanced-placement-courses-could-clash-with-laws-that-target-critical-race-theory-186018">set of concerns</a> regarding AP history and other history courses. </p>
<p>In 2022, two Oklahoma school districts got <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/two-okla-districts-get-downgraded-accreditations-for-violating-states-anti-crt-law/2022/0">downgraded accreditation</a> for violating the state’s anti-critical race theory law – a field of intellectual inquiry that looks into how race has been embedded into the legal system. Kolluri described his concern that AP courses could face similar penalties in states with restrictions on conversations on race.</p>
<p>“At a time when mostly Republican-led state legislatures have passed a rash of laws to restrict how public schoolteachers can educate students about America’s racist past, I worry that AP courses like U.S History and U.S. Government and Politics could be in jeopardy,” Kolluri wrote. “The danger is posed by those who support the various new state laws against the teaching of divisive topics and critical race theory.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/advanced-placement-courses-could-clash-with-laws-that-target-critical-race-theory-186018">Advanced Placement courses could clash with laws that target critical race theory</a>
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<img alt="Student reads textbook in library." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534893/original/file-20230629-17-fpapcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534893/original/file-20230629-17-fpapcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534893/original/file-20230629-17-fpapcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534893/original/file-20230629-17-fpapcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534893/original/file-20230629-17-fpapcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534893/original/file-20230629-17-fpapcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534893/original/file-20230629-17-fpapcr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Research shows book banners often target stories by and about people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/student-reading-a-book-in-library-royalty-free-image/951226090?phrase=textbooks+library&adppopup=true">kundoy/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>4. The ongoing battle over book bans</h2>
<p>Book bans in the 1980s focused on <a href="https://www.edweek.org/education/opinion-the-great-secular-humanism-debate-reveals-a-truth-about-public-schooling/1985/10">secular humanism</a>, because it argued that there can be fulfillment without a belief in God. But of late, book bans have focused largely on critical race theory. </p>
<p><a href="https://fredlpincus.com">Fred L. Pincus</a>, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland examined how the book ban movement in the 1980s relates to the one occurring today. He wrote that both book ban movements objected to the critical teaching about race and racism. </p>
<p>Pincus <a href="https://theconversation.com/battles-over-book-bans-reflect-conflicts-from-the-1980s-177888">also wrote</a> that right-wing critics have claimed that critical race theory is designed to cause white students to feel guilty. As of June 2023, a total of 214 local, state and federal government entities across the U.S. have introduced <a href="https://crtforward.law.ucla.edu">699 anti-critical race theory bills</a> and other measures.</p>
<p>“Of course, some white students – and other students, too, for that matter – will feel uncomfortable upon learning not only about the history of American racism but also its present manifestations,” Pincus wrote. “Reality is sometimes uncomfortable.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/battles-over-book-bans-reflect-conflicts-from-the-1980s-177888">Battles over book bans reflect conflicts from the 1980s</a>
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<h2>5. How to teach about racism within the new laws</h2>
<p><a href="https://uncpress.org/author/1338-w-fitzhugh-brundage/">W. Fitzhugh Brundage</a>, a professor of history at University of North Carolina, examined the ways teachers could stay true to American history without breaking any of the new laws. </p>
<p>For example, he suggested <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-teachers-can-stay-true-to-history-without-breaking-new-laws-that-restrict-what-they-can-teach-about-racism-205452">ways to mention slavery</a> within the context of lessons about other topics, such as the free market before the Civil War and how it relied on violence and forced labor.</p>
<p>“Given the current political climate in the U.S., there is no reason to assume more laws that govern what can be taught in public schools will not be passed,” Brundage wrote. “But based on how the laws are being written, there are still plenty of ways for teachers to tackle difficult subjects, such as racism in American society.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-teachers-can-stay-true-to-history-without-breaking-new-laws-that-restrict-what-they-can-teach-about-racism-205452">How teachers can stay true to history without breaking new laws that restrict what they can teach about racism</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208576/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Scholars examine how state laws that restrict lessons on race could affect students and educators.Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Education Editor, The ConversationJusneel Mahal, Freelance editor, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.