Over 100 letters sent to French sailors by their fiancées, wives, parents and siblings – but never delivered – have been opened and studied for the first time since they were written in 1757-8. The messages offer extremely rare and moving insights into the loves, lives and family quarrels of everyone from elderly peasants to...
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Supreme Court Justices Consider Whether to Uphold Law That Keeps Guns Out of the Hands of Domestic Abusers
Should it be legal to take away the guns of people who are under a domestic violence protective order, which aims to shield victims from their abusers? That’s the question posed in one of the biggest cases of the current Supreme Court term, focused on the limits of individual gun rights, which will be argued...
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The Daughter of the Regiment Plays Well in Chicago
When the world is full of woes, watching a comedic opera, albeit one with some quirky plot twists, is a welcome escape. Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, which can be seen several times this November at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, is a wonderful way to be transported to musical dreamland. This production stars an accomplished and...
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How Houthi Attacks Affect Both the Israel-Hamas Conflict and Yemen’s Own Civil War – and Could Put Pressure on U.S., Saudi Arabia
Yemen’s Houthi movement launched missiles and drones at Israel on Oct. 31, 2023 – provoking fears of a dangerous escalation of the Middle East conflict. With the militia – which controls part of the Arabian Peninsula state – vowing further attacks, Israel countered by sending missile boats to the Red Sea. They join U.S. warships...
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Modern Medicine Has Its Scientific Roots in the Middle Ages − How the Logic of Vulture Brain Remedies and Bloodletting Lives on Today
Nothing calls to mind nonsensical treatments and bizarre religious healing rituals as easily as the notion of Dark Age medicine. “The Saturday Night Live” sketch Medieval Barber Theodoric of York says it all with its portrayal of a quack doctor who insists on extracting pints of his patients’ blood in a dirty little shop. Though...
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Biden Administration Executive Order Tackles Ai Risks, but Lack of Privacy Laws Limits Reach
The comprehensive, even sweeping, set of guidelines for artificial intelligence that the White House unveiled in an executive order on Oct. 30, 2023, show that the U.S. government is attempting to address the risks posed by AI. As a researcher of information systems and responsible AI, I believe the executive order represents an important step...
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The Risks of Green Marketing: A Snapshot of Greenwashing Litigation
Greenwashing litigation has been making headlines in fashion and beyond, with H&M, Allbirds, Nike, and Canada Goose being among some of the big-name companies that have been targeted with lawsuits as a result of their focus on sustainability or broader ESG claims (think: the use of product/service claims in the vein of “sustainable,” “green,” “eco-friendly,” “conscious,” etc.) in their advertising...
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FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Convicted of Defrauding Cryptocurrency Customers
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s spectacular rise and fall in the cryptocurrency industry — a journey that included his testimony before Congress, a Super Bowl advertisement and dreams of a future run for president — hit rock bottom Thursday when a New York jury convicted him of fraud for stealing at least $10 billion from customers and investors....
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In Online News, Do Mouse Clicks Speak Louder Than Words?
In a polarized country, how much does the media influence people’s political views? A new study co-authored by MIT scholars finds the answer depends on people’s media preferences — and, crucially, how these preferences are measured. The researchers combined a large online survey experiment with web-tracking data that recorded all of the news sites participants visited in the month...
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Online Grocery Shopping Promotes Less Variety, Fewer Impulse Buys
Online grocery carts tend to include less variety and fewer fruits and vegetables than those in a trip to a brick-and-mortar supermarket – but online shoppers are less susceptible to unhealthy impulse buys, according to a new Cornell University study. In an analysis of nearly 2 million shopping trips, the researchers found that within a given...
