Visa restrictions for foreign researchers and students, political attacks targeting some of the world’s leading research universities, and sudden suspensions of public funding, particularly in the fields of climate and the environment: since Donald Trump’s re-election in November 2024, these decisions have generated considerable media surprise. They are often presented as a radical break with […] … learn more→
Author Archives: Kevin
What America is doing to its science
How can unis balance academic freedom with the need to protect against antisemitism?
Australian students are returning to university campuses for the start of the academic year. They do so amid highly charged debates around racism and antisemitism. Australian universities have been accused both of failing to protect freedom of speech and academic freedom, and failing to protect the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students and staff. A new Australian Human Rights […] … learn more→
Humanoid home robots are on the market – but do we really want them?
Last year, Norwegian-US tech company 1X announced a strange new product: “the world’s first consumer-ready humanoid robot designed to transform life at home”. Standing 168 centimetres tall and weighing in at 30 kilograms, the US$20,000 Neo bot promises to automate common household chores such as folding laundry and loading the dishwasher. Neo has a built-in artificial intelligence (AI) system, […] … learn more→
Riffing your way to meaning
In blues, jazz, and music that traces its roots to those genres, the riff is a repeated chord progression or set of notes that ties a song together. A guitar riff returns again and again in a song as though to tell listeners where they are, even as the instruments take excursions elsewhere. The song […] … learn more→
Common mistakes in cursive writing and how to fix them
Cursive writing is more than just a beautiful style of handwriting; it helps improve writing speed, coordination, and overall presentation. Many students and adults learn cursive at an early age, but over time, small mistakes begin to appear. These mistakes can affect readability, neatness, and confidence. The good news is that cursive writing problems are […] … learn more→
Can digital health be unfair?
Imagine you live in a village in the Pyrenees of Lleida. The only way to contact the nearest doctor, who makes daily rounds in the regional capital, is by phone or through an online consultation . However, the health center’s switchboard is overwhelmed. You have a mobile phone that allows you to make video calls with your […] … learn more→
The greatest risk of AI in higher education isn’t cheating – it’s the erosion of learning itself
Public debate about artificial intelligence in higher education has largely orbited a familiar worry: cheating. Will students use chatbots to write essays? Can instructors tell? Should universities ban the tech? Embrace it? These concerns are understandable. But focusing so much on cheating misses the larger transformation already underway, one that extends far beyond student misconduct and […] … learn more→
A social network for AI: signs of the emergence of an artificial society, or very human manipulations?
Since its launch in late January 2026, Moltbook has seen AI agents found religions, create subcultures, and launch markets for “digital drugs.” A spectacular experiment, but one in which some of the protagonists are actually infiltrated humans. A new social network called Moltbook has been launched for artificial intelligence, aiming to allow machines to exchange […] … learn more→
Social media is dead: now it’s just attention traps
The term “social media” has become fossilized in our vocabulary, a linguistic inertia that masks a very different technological and sociological reality. However, social media, as it was originally conceived, is dead. What we consume today are commercial platforms for mass entertainment, built on an architecture that no longer seeks connection between people, but rather […] … learn more→
I asked students whether they’d want to be teachers? They quickly responded, ‘Why would I?’
I spoke in January 2026 with 150 high school students about career options. After explaining my own career as a professor of education, health and behavior, I asked the students a simple question: Would you want to be a teacher? “Why in the world would I want to be a teacher?” one female student said. “My […] … learn more→
