AI doesn’t have a boss. It doesn’t really care about rules. And most of us don’t have any say over what it will do next. Yet the technology is all around us, firmly established in workplaces, financial systems, healthcare and defence. So maybe it needs someone to keep an eye on its progress and set some boundaries. […] … learn more→

The idea that muscle is a simple mechanical motor has become obsolete thanks to a discovery that has changed modern physiology: in reality, it functions as an endocrine organ capable of influencing virtually all the systems of our body. During muscle contraction, hundreds of molecules called myokines are released, substances essential for the body to function correctly. […] … learn more→

In recent decades, bilingual education has expanded rapidly and gained significant international recognition. In Spain, the model is widely implemented: 41.4% of primary school students and 32.2% of secondary school students participate in bilingual programs, studying subjects such as Social Sciences, Mathematics, Art, History, and Physics and Chemistry in a foreign language. This growth has been driven […] … learn more→

Amid a rapid, AI-driven technology boom and all the changes it’s entailed, mental health issues due to social isolation have been on the rise. Researchers in social and clinical psychology have documented this shift and coined it the “loneliness epidemic.” Human connection is imperative to psychological well-being but the world is increasingly disconnected. With technology streamlining our lives, many report growing […] … learn more→

Imagine someone who feels a lump on their side. They go to the doctor, distressed, and the doctor, upon palpating, says, “That’s not a lump, it’s a floating rib.” It’s a funny anecdote to tell at the dinner table (and joke about the person’s possible hypochondria) because it was easy for the specialist to identify […] … learn more→

Expert voices in Australian science news coverage are still more likely to be those of men, according to recent research, despite journalists themselves being fairly evenly spread between genders. Our study of print and online science news from 2018–22 found an increase in the proportion of female journalists writing about science. The number of women quoted […] … learn more→

Recently, I worked with a group of elementary teachers in Iowa to select new reading textbooks and software. They wanted new materials to improve their district’s stagnant reading scores. After several days of reviewing materials from a state-approved list, one of the teachers asked me, “Will any of these help my students learn to read?” […] … learn more→

Academia isn’t strong on gender equality. Women are under-represented throughout, in the research workforce and even more so as leaders in scientific organisations. This is true for science academies (prestigious bodies within national science systems) and scientific unions (international organisations representing disciplinary communities). Women today make up nearly a third of the global research workforce. […] … learn more→

A coherent piece of writing is one where the parts connect to the whole. That sounds obvious, but it can be difficult to achieve. That’s partly because the whole is surprisingly easy to lose sight of, especially in long texts where the writing happens across days or weeks or months. The whole is never entirely […] … learn more→

I’ve just read a paper about epistemic placemaking. Epistemic placemaking is equipping and arranging places for knowledge work. The paper suggests that students might actively co-design the spaces they need, rather than simply inhabiting whatever institutional niche happens to be there. The nub of the argument is that knowledge work is deeply entangled with the conditions […] … learn more→