Tag: the conversation
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There is huge potential to generate clean geothermal power – including from used oil and gas wells
Building geothermal power stations does require significant investment, but its ability to deliver energy over the long term can offset many of these costs. Projects like those undertaken by Fervo Energy show that government subsidies are no longer necessary for a project to get funded, built and begin generating energy.
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Yes, this is who we are: America’s 250-year history of political violence
By Maurizio Valsania from Università di Torino, originally published on September 12th, 2025 at theconversation.com under CC BY-ND 4.0 The day after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University, commentators repeated a familiar refrain: “This isn’t who we are as Americans.” Others similarly weighed in. Whoopi Goldberg on…
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How Philly anarcho-punks blended music, noise and social justice in the 1990s and 2000s
Written by Edward Avery-Natale of Mercer County Community College for theconversation.com, published September 22nd, 2025 under CC BY-ND 4.0 While New York City is commonly considered the birthplace of American punk rock, just 100 miles south of the famous CBGB club where the Ramones and other early punk bands got their start is Philadelphia, which…
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Objectivity is a myth – cultural values and beliefs always influence science, just like other professions
Over time, scientists realized that sperm are too weak to penetrate the egg and that the union is more mutual, with the two cells working together. It’s no coincidence that these findings were made in the same era when new cultural ideas of more egalitarian gender roles were taking hold.
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AI (so-called) is made possible by a hyper-exploited human workforce
These workers are the lifeblood of the burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Without them, products such as ChatGPT simply would not exist. That’s because the data they label helps AI systems “learn”. Self-driving cars, for example, rely on labelled video footage to distinguish pedestrians from road signs. Large language models such as ChatGPT rely on…
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Why is free time still so elusive?
Many economists see the status quo mostly as a choice: People would simply rather have more money. So they prioritize work over free time. However, in the past, many economists assumed that people’s need for more stuff would eventually be met. At that point, they would choose more free time.
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‘It is hijacking my brain’ – How to Help People Addicted to Social Media to Cut the Craving
Problematic social media addiction is associated with a host of negative effects including moodiness, anxiety and an excessive amount of time and energy spent on or thinking about social media. People with clinical social media addiction levels experience those same effects but to a great degree, with their habit patterns around social media resembling that…
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Women in South Africa’s Armed Struggle: new book records their stories
In her book Guerrillas and Combative Mothers, political and international studies academic Siphokazi Magadla uses life history interviews to offer firsthand insights into women’s participation in the armed struggle against apartheid in South Africa from 1961 until 1994. She also examines the texture of their lives in the new South Africa after demobilisation. Magadla interviewed…
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Why protest if it doesn’t make a difference?
Written by David J. Bailey of the University of Birmingham, published by the conversation.com on March 2nd, 2024, CC BY-ND 4.0 The current global wave of protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza has included mass demonstrations, street blockades, and efforts to disrupt arms manufacturing. This continues a decade-long trend of rising protest around the…
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100 years of radio in Africa: from propaganda to people’s power
Sisanda Nkoala, University of the Western Cape; Christina Chan-Meetoo, University of Mauritius; Jacinta Mwende Maweu, University of Nairobi; Marissa J. Moorman, Indiana University; Modestus Fosu, Ghana Institute of Journalism, and Stanley Tsarwe, University of Namibia for The Conversation, CC BY-ND 3.0 Radio is thriving across Africa. Exact figures are difficult to come by because audience…
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