World News
Find out what’s happening in Science & Society around the world. Discover changes to science policy and law, new scientific study results, Supreme Court rulings, debates about nature versus nurture, and news about the sharing of genetic information.
Thu, Jul 03
Scientists Warn US Will Lose A Generation of Talent Because of Trump Cuts
A generation of scientific talent is at the brink of being lost to overseas competitors by the Trump administration’s dismantling of the National Science Foundation (NSF), with unprecedented political interference at the agency jeopardizing the future of US industries and economic growth, according to a Guardian investigation.
The gold standard peer-reviewed process used by the NSF to support cutting-edge, high-impact science is being undermined by the chaotic cuts to staff, programs and grants, as well as meddling by the so-called department of government efficiency (Doge), according to multiple current and former NSF employees who spoke with the Guardian.
The scientists warn that Trump’s assault on diversity in science is already eroding the quality of fundamental research funded at the NSF, the premier federal investor in basic science and engineering, which threatens to derail advances in tackling existential threats to food, water and biodiversity in the US.
Mon, Jun 23
AI Therapy Bots Are Conducting ‘Illegal Behavior,’ Digital Rights Organizations Say
Wed, Jun 11
Tech CEOs, Trump and Society’s New AI Age
The scene at Donald Trump’s second inauguration was a diorama of political power at the dawn of a new era. Across much of the globe, authority has shifted away from Washington, Brussels and London, away from heads of state and traditional titans of media and industry. But even before Elon Musk became Donald Trump’s right-hand man, 2025 was to be the year that a handful of American tech companies – Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Meta – achieved something unprecedented: concentrated control over virtually every aspect of how we communicate, consume information and understand reality. These companies determine what news we see, their algorithms shape our beliefs and their artificial intelligence systems increasingly generate the content that fills our screens. What is new in 2025 is the completeness of their dominance. As with similar epochal watersheds in 1789, 1848, 1917, 1946 and 1989, the implications will eventually touch every facet of life on the planet.
Thu, Jun 05
WATCH: Mining the Need for Human Connection in an Age of Unreality
Mining the Need for Human Connection in an Age of Unreality AI companions aren’t solving problems—they’re creating them. Casey Mock reveals the venture-backed machinery designed to profit from the need for human connection and extract value from our increasingly fragmented reality.
Speaker: Casey Mock – https://re-publica.com/de/user/22435
Weitere Informationen: https://re-publica.com/de/session/min…
Mastodon: https://berlin.social/@republica
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@re_publica
Wed, Jun 04
New CRISPRs Expand Upon the Original’s Abilities
By scouring thousands of bacterial genomes for new CRISPR-Cas systems, researchers have discovered some that could expand the technology’s impact in research, biotechnology and medicine