Category: Intersections

California (USA) wildfire smoke over city

How wildfire smoke can harm human health, even when the fire is hundreds of miles away – a toxicologist explains

Intersections

Christopher T. Migliaccio, University of Montana (from The Conservation) Smoke from more than 100 wildfires burning across Canada has been turning skies hazy in North American cities far from the flames. We asked Chris Migliaccio, a toxicologist at the University of Montana who studies the impact of wildfire smoke on human health, about the health risks people can face when smoke blows in from distant…

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black and white thinking

The thinking error that makes people susceptible to climate change denial

Intersections

Jeremy P. Shapiro, Case Western Reserve University (The Conversation). Cold spells often bring climate change deniers out in force on social media, with hashtags like #ClimateHoax and #ClimateScam. Former President Donald Trump often chimes in, repeatedly claiming that each cold snap disproves the existence of global warming. From a scientific standpoint, these claims of disproof are absurd. Fluctuations in the weather don’t refute clear long-term…

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Fear — impacts on decision-making and behavior: update

Intersections

Fear is corrosive whether caused by events outside our control or if purposefully used (for example, by politicians trying to gain or consolidate power). Fear impacts the decisions we make and the actions we take. We do things we would not do if the fear was not present. We believe things we normally would not. We act against our own best interests. Featured articles: *Anestis,…

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ChatGPT and generative AI: What is it all about?

Intersections

ChatGPT and generative AI (artificial intelligence): a quick primer … *Heaven, W.D. (2023). ChatGPT is everywhere. Here’s where it came from: OpenAI’s breakout hit was an overnight sensation—but it is built on decades of research. MIT Technology Review. “We’ve reached peak ChatGPT. Released at the end of November [2022] as a web app by the San Francisco–based firm OpenAI, the chatbot exploded into the mainstream…

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How ChatGPT robs students of motivation to write and think for themselves

Intersections

Naomi S. Baron, American University (from The Conversation) When the company OpenAI launched its new artificial intelligence program, ChatGPT, in late 2022, educators began to worry. ChatGPT could generate text that seemed like a human wrote it. How could teachers detect whether students were using language generated by an AI chatbot to cheat on a writing assignment? As a linguist who studies the effects of…

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Pharmaceuticals: corporations, markets, and manipulation?

Intersections

Three books that examine the global pharmaceutical industry, the quest for profit, inequality and inequity, our own perceptions, the value of life itself, and more. *Petryna A. Lakoff A. & Kleinman A. (2006). Global pharmaceuticals: ethics, markets, practices. Duke University Press. [PDF] [Cited by] *Dumit J. (2012). Drugs for life: how pharmaceutical companies define our health. Duke University Press. [PDF] [Cited by] *Ecks S. (2022)….

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