Author: The Conversation

The next U.S. trip to the Moon isn’t about planting a flag. It’s about learning how to live and work there. NASA has just reset its Artemis program, marking a clear strategic shift: Space exploration is moving away from a race to achieve milestones and toward a system built on repeated operations, a sustained presence and lunar infrastructure that could become part of the technology networks we rely on here on Earth. That shift is reflected in newly announced plans to invest billions of dollars in building a long-term lunar base, with habitats, power systems and surface infrastructure designed to support ongoing…

Millions of people are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots for advice on everything from cooking to tax returns. Increasingly, they are also asking chatbots about their health. But as the UK’s chief medical officer recently warned, that may not be wise when it comes to medical decisions. In a recent study, colleagues and I tested how well large language model (LLM) chatbots help the public deal with common health problems. The results were striking. The chatbots we tested were not ready to act as doctors. A common response to studies like this is that AI moves faster than academic publishing. By the time…

Astronomers are uncovering previously hidden structures within some of the universe’s largest objects, known as galaxy clusters. Using the powerful MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, researchers have mapped faint, diffuse radio emissions, an imprint that reveals energy processes taking place in the vast spaces between galaxies when galaxy clusters collide or merge. Konstantinos Kolokythas, a radio astronomer and postdoctoral research fellow at Rhodes University and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), has led research into what these radio emissions reveal about our cosmic history. His findings provide a glimpse of what powerful instruments like MeerKAT and the upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA)…

Taylor Little became so badly addicted to her smartphone that she felt she had lost many of her teenage years. “I was literally trapped by addiction at age 12 and lost my teenage years because of it,” she said. Her addiction was to social media, which led to suicide attempts and prolonged depression. Molly Russell, at just 14, took her own life. Her parents blame the apps on her phone for exposing her to graphic and disturbing content that took control of her mindset. These stories are not unique. Data from thousands of people shows that social media increases loneliness, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. Last week,…

An Australian tech entrepreneur has helped create what appears to be a made-to-measure cancer vaccine for his dog, Rosie, using artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT as part of the process. The science behind this sounds intimidating – DNA sequencing, mRNA vaccines, “neoantigens” – but at its core, it is about reading the instructions inside a tumour and then writing a new set of instructions to help the immune system see it. Rosie is an eight-year-old rescue Staffordshire bull terrier cross that developed aggressive mast cell cancer, a common skin cancer in dogs. She had surgery and chemotherapy, but the disease kept coming back,…

“Project Hail Mary,” the movie adaptation to Andy Weir’s 2021 novel about a science teacher attempting to save the Earth from sun-eating microbes, was released in March 2026 to stellar ratings from critics and audiences alike. The movie explores a few unique forms that extraterrestrial life could take, from space microorganisms that produce both infrared light and an unfathomable amount of energy, to rocklike aliens that live under crushing pressure and breathe ammonia. https://youtu.be/m08TxIsFTRI Over the past decade, scientists have come up with a variety of frameworks to guide their search for life in the universe. While it’s most convenient to start looking for…

Debates about generative AI in higher education have been informed by studies of completed student papers, or self-reported survey data. Research shows that artificial intelligence tools can support learning, but also has raised concerns, including students’ overreliance, cheating, and the potential degradation of critical thinking and engagement. While these types of studies provide interesting snapshots of reported practices, their methodologies may hide something important: how writing actually unfolds while students are composing with the assistance of AI. A pilot study I led of undergraduate writers at Kennesaw State University takes a different approach. Using think-aloud protocols – a method in which participants verbalise…

South Africa’s state-owned electricity provider, Eskom, announced in early March 2026 that it would cut off the power to 14 municipalities that collectively owe it more than R110 billion (US$6.5 billion). Energy economist Roula Inglesi-Lotz describes the growing crisis in South Africa’s power system, where many municipalities can’t pay their bulk electricity bills due to poor governance, weak finances, and low payment rates from consumers. She sets out why cutting the supply won’t help Eskom get paid but could harm low income communities. Why did Eskom decide to cut off 14 municipalities? Eskom went through many tough years burdened by high debt levels, rising operating costs,…

In February 2023, a little more than a year after the launch of ChatGPT, Vanderbilt University sent an email to its student body in the wake of a fatal campus shooting at Michigan State. “The recent Michigan shootings are a tragic reminder of the importance of taking care of each other,” the email read in part. In tiny type at the bottom of the message, a disclaimer appeared: “paraphrased from OpenAI’s ChatGPT.” Students immediately objected. “There is a sick and twisted irony to making a computer write your message about community and togetherness because you can’t be bothered to reflect on it…

Social media platforms Instagram and YouTube have a design defect, which means they are addictive, a jury in the United States has ruled. The Los Angeles jury took nearly nine days to reach its verdict in the landmark case brought by a woman known as KGM against social media platforms. It awarded US$3 million (A$4.3 million) in damages, with Meta (owner of Instagram) being 70% responsible and Google (owner of YouTube) 30%. The jury later awarded a further US$3 million in punitive damages. Both TikTok and Snap settled on confidential terms before the six-week trial commenced. This is Meta’s second big loss in the…