Opinion: Don’t Ask AI to Make Life-and-Death Decisions - Undark …
WEB08.08.2024. Sometimes, AI really can be a matter of life and death. Last year, a Belgian man tragically ended his life after allegedly being persuaded to do so by a chatbot. In the Netherlands, there’s an ongoing debate over whether to allow the use of artificial intelligence, or AI, to support decisions around doctor-assisted suicide.
Can Plastic Waste Be Transformed Into Food for Humans?
WEBAug 21, 2024 · I n 2019, an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense released a call for research projects to help the military deal with the copious amount of plastic waste generated when troops are sent to work in remote locations or disaster zones. The agency wanted a system that could convert food wrappers and water bottles, among other things, into usable products, such as fuel and rations.
At the Salton Sea, Uncovering the Culprit of Lung Disease
WEB08.19.2024. When David Lo first visited the Salton Sea shore in the spring of 2018, he was struck by the sheer oddness of the place: the beach of barnacle shells and pulverized fish bones; the abandoned dock far from the water’s edge; the unremitting smell of decay. It was like a scene from a science fiction movie, recalled the 66-year-old ...
Submissions - Undark Magazine
WEBAuthors, publishers or agents submitting entire books for review consideration should send galleys or hard copies to Undark Magazine, c/o Knight Science Journalism @MIT, E19-623, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139. Please include resumes and links or attachments to previous work. Summarize your idea in a couple brief sentences. (250 ...
As Offshore Wind Ramps Up, Scientists Flag Potential Impacts
WEBAug 21, 2023 · L ast year, the Biden administration announced an ambitious goal: enough offshore wind to power 10 million homes by 2030. The move would reduce carbon emissions, create jobs, and strengthen energy security. It would also help the United States — which was responsible for just 0.1 percent of the world’s offshore wind capacity last year — catch up with renewable energy leaders like China ...
Long Division: The Persistence of Race Science
WEBDec 12, 2022 · LONG DIVISION is an ongoing journalistic project by Undark Magazine, published by the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT, that examines the fraught legacy of race science.The multipart series, supported in part by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, grew out of a workshop held in June 2022 at Harvard University, which brought together journalists, science historians, and other ...
Earth’s Orbit Is About to Get More Crowded - Undark Magazine
WEB12.26.2022. Sometime this coming March, a network of 10 small satellites winged with solar panels is scheduled to launch into Earth’s low orbit. Though likely invisible to the naked eye, the satellites will be part of a future herd of hundreds that, according to the Space Development Agency, or SDA, will bolster the United States’ defense ...
Evidence and Orthodontics: Does Your Child Really Need Braces?
WEBJul 20, 2020 · Some orthodontists who question their field’s claims about oral health do continue to treat patients. As they see it, clear communication of evidence — or lack thereof — is key. “If you tell a lay person” that a child has “mandibular hypoplasia, or maxillary deficiency, or adenoidal facies — it sounds bad,” said Vig.
Interview: The Threat of Self-Censorship in Science - Undark …
WEBDec 15, 2023 · T he word censorship might bring to mind authoritarian regimes, book-banning, and restrictions on a free press, but Cory Clark, a behavioral scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who has been studying censorship in science, is interested in another kind.In a recent paper published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Clark and 38 co-authors argue that, in science ...
When the Bison Come Back, Will the Ecosystem Follow? - Undark …
WEB06.02.2021. On a blustery October afternoon at the Wolfcrow Bison Ranch in southern Alberta, Canada, Dan Fox and his ranch hand, Man Blackplume, tried to wrestle fence panels into place despite a 60 mph wind. The next day was weaning day — and the fence needed to be rock solid so the bison calves could be separated from their mothers.