Solar cars exist. The best place to see them is the World Solar Challenge, a race that’s held every two years in Australia. Competitors have to drive about 1,870 miles (3,000 kilometers), from Darwin on the country’s north coast to Adelaide on its south coast, using only energy from the Sun. Many cars that compete...
Have you ever wondered how an email sent from New York arrives in Sydney in mere seconds, or how you can video chat with someone on the other side of the globe with barely a hint of delay? Behind these everyday miracles lies an unseen, sprawling web of undersea cables, quietly powering the instant global...
For many, spring heralds fresh air and exercise on the golf course. But do players risk exposure to unsafe levels of pesticides used to beautify and maintain a golf course’s green grass? To find out, researchers asked volunteers to play 18 holes on a simulated course sprayed with common pesticides. They report the results in ACS...
Nigerian singer Síkírù Àyìndé Barrister (1948-2010) pioneered fújì, a Yorùbá genre of popular dance music. In February 2024, historian Saheed Aderinto’s documentary on the musician’s life and times premiered. The Conversation Africa’s Wale Fatade asked Aderinto about the film and the music it brings to our attention. What is fújì music? Fújì fuses Islamic philosophy...
The idea for Fawn Ngo’s latest research came from a television interview. Ngo, a University of South Florida criminologist, had spoken with a Vietnamese language network in California about her interest in better understanding how people become victims of cybercrime. Afterward, she began receiving phone calls from viewers recounting their own experiences of victimization. “Some...
A new study found that reducing alcohol hours of sale for bars and taverns in a Baltimore, Md. neighborhood also reduced homicides by 51 percent within the first month and by 40 percent annually, pointing to possible opportunities for other cities to address excessive drinking and crime. Simply reducing the hours during which alcohol may...
Marijuana campaigners in Germany lit celebratory joints on Monday as the country liberalized rules on cannabis to allow possession of small amounts. The German Cannabis Association, which campaigned for the new law, staged a “smoke-in” at Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate when the law took effect at midnight. Other public consumption events were scheduled throughout the...
The bill represents the culmination of a legislative trend on child safety that traces back to fall of 2021. Members of Congress love to complain about social media platforms. The spectacle of tech executives being berated in front of congressional committees has, over the past few years, become a semi-regular feature of American politics, and lawmakers have introduced piles of legislation aimed...
TikTok developed a plan to address U.S. government national security concerns, but it was dismissed without serious consideration. Why? Fourteen months ago, in a conference room in TikTok’s Washington, D.C., office, TikTok CEO Shou Chew briefed a small group of think tank scholars, nongovernmental organization officials, and academics on a plan the company had developed...
A shortage of cocoa beans has led to a near shutdown of processing plants in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the two countries responsible for 60% of global production. With chocolate makers around the world reliant on west Africa for cocoa, there is significant concern about the impact on the prices of chocolate and the livelihood...