Closely examining the claims companies make about a product can help you separate hype from reality. Flavio Coelho/Moment via Getty Images Kai R. Larsen, University of Colorado Boulder; Roman Lukyanenko, University of Virginia, and Thomas H. Davenport, Babson College (from The Conversation) Technological innovations can seem relentless. In computing, some have proclaimed that “a…

Science matters, and everyone deserves Medicare

Ted Eytan How do people respond--positively and negatively--to political stress? There is no denying that tens of millions of people in the United States--and many millions worldwide--face turmoil, dread, anxiety and real physical and psychological symptoms from the political divisions created by some politicians, their backers, and corporations often motivated primarily by power, greed, and wealth through corrupt means. Instead of public service, these politicians and their syncophants (including those in the media and other institutions like the legal system) serve primarily themselves and/or operate out of fear of losing their positions and status.

Ted Eytan / CC BY-ND 4.0 Deed How and when does an established viewpoint of a society change? What does it take for a society (a very large group of people) to alter its collective opinion? Is there a “tipping point” for public opinion? A 2018 study using a naming game discovered that when a minority viewpoint became held by “at least 25% of the population,” that viewpoint “was likely to rapidly become the majority viewpoint.”

It can seem--sometimes very visibly and brutally--that we are losing the ability to make and influence decisions about our own lives.  That no matter what we do and what we want, forces greater than us and our families and even our communities will steamroll us in order to impose someone else's will--and that generally means greater power and greater wealth for a set of politicians and billionaire CEOs.

It is common these days to see people walking their dogs or walking along streets, in parks, staring at or speaking to their smart phones. Yes, they are physically out in the "real" world but, in reality, they are deeply immersed within the artificial world created by AI, social media, and, yes, the Internet. In this hybrid existence, what is real?

Like the Internet in the 1990's, the hype surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) and its real, forecast, and imagined impacts on education at all levels overflows. As a student, as a parent, as an e...

What do people who support authoritarian leaders believe? Why do some people support political violence? "For over 80 years, political psychologists ... have studied the authoritarian personality—a collection of attitudes and behaviors that increase a person’s susceptibility to authoritarian leaders. We have found that authoritarian followers share three tendencies: they obey authority figures from their in-group (called authoritarian submission); they punish rule breakers (authoritarian aggression); and they rigidly endorse long-held traditions (conventionalism)." …

“Most people consume many different types of sugars from a variety of foods and beverages in their diet. A high intake of sugar is linked to an increased risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers ... Sugary beverages are the greatest source of added sugar in the diet, followed by sweets and grains such as ready-to-eat cereals." …

Important news that you may have missed (from CuratedSci): New Analysis Details the Public Health Impacts of Proposed Gas Plants in Wisconsin (Healthy Climate Wisconsin) (Report PDF) How to make America healthy: the real problems — and best fixes (Nature)The United States has lower life expectancy than most similarly wealthy nations. Chronic disease is part of the cause, but so are guns, drugs and cars.

Getty Does the use of artificial intelligence (AI) really help students learn? Is it better or worse or just different than more traditional and tested teaching methods? Should it not be incorporated into K-6 education? K-12? Is higher education the best place for using AI as part of the teaching and learning process? Is the endless hype and hyperbole that surrounds AI in education only a smokescreen for profit-hungry tech companies and/or corrupt, power-hungry billionaire CEO's and politicians?

J.D. Scholten, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, proposed policies Monday he said would make Iowa's farmers more competitive.

Scout--in her favorite bowl Pet ownership/pet companionship has been shown to bring both mental health and physical health benefits to humans. But that is often most associated with dogs. But what about cats? Opinion has been more divided there. What does the research say? Featured articles: *Dinis, F. A. B. D. S. G., & Martins, T. L. F. (2016). Does cat attachment have an effect on human health?

From Artificial intelligence (AI) and its impacts on education (K-12 and higher ed) ... Follow the developing story at -- Artificial Intelligence and Education Recent additions: *AI and the death of student writing: The move away from true hands-on scholarship feels tragic (The Chronicle of Higher Education; requires subscription) *The Handwriting Revolution: Five semesters after ChatGPT changed education forever, some professors are taking their classes back to the pre-internet era…

Tribalism has been used for centuries by some politicians, dictators, authoritarians, etc. (including religious leaders) and, more recently, by some large corporations to divide, dominate, and manipulate societies. Statements by the Trump administration in the United States, Vladimir Putin in Russia, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Narendra Modi in India, among others, offer prime examples. The motivations to divide and dominate are often…

Immediate impacts: June 20-21, 2025; combination of high temperature, high humidity, and high winds--highest, in some cases, since 1929 Tornados (Iowa, USA) Flash flooding (Iowa, USA) Flooding along the Missouri River (Iowa/Nebraska, USA) Missouri River flooding (Iowa, USA) Polar cold (Chicago, Illinois, USA) More frequent and longer-lasting droughts and flash droughts (Kansas, USA) Immediate and longer-term consequences for people, agriculture, wildlife, etc.:

To optimize what’s happening in the world of digital technology, we’ve got to understand the unspoken rules of that world.

Thousands of academic books covering areas of the sciences are available (legally) to be used at no cost. Many can be downloaded and saved and then printed, if desired. Others can be read online but n...