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FAU graduate student uses Miss Fort Lauderdale crown to turn science into action
FAU graduate student and Miss Fort Lauderdale Paige Aldred is combining marine science with community outreach, using her platform to raise awareness about water quality, Sargassum ,and sustainability.
Can Skydance CEO David Ellison Make Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Fly?
David Ellison has to prove the merged Paramount-Warner Bros., dubbed Skydance, can become a profitable Hollywood powerhouse amid its massive debt.
Seaside Women’s Care wins state award for integrated health care
Program pairs women’s health visits with behavioral care and practical help
Syracuse Football Fans Upset With Program's Social Media Post
Orange fans did not appreciate a Friday social media post by the team that seemed to target fans on Friday.
Dodgers Could Use Four Different Closers This Postseason
Dave Roberts plans to lean on situational flexibility, leveraging a deep Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen headlined by Tanner Scott.
Menopause is a major health milestone, yet health records barely track it—new research
Anyone with ovaries who lives long enough will experience menopause. While menopause is a natural transition in midlife, it can strongly affect a person's quality of life and their current and future ...
ESA’s Juice just used Earth as a slingshot to Jupiter
ESA’s Juice spacecraft raced past Earth on September 28, using our planet’s gravity to dramatically reshape its path toward Jupiter without burning much fuel. The flyby changed its direction by 20 degrees and increased its speed by 3.5 km/s, while also giving scientists a rare chance to test its instruments on Earth and the Moon.
Used Ryzen 7 5800X3D Gets Buyer Locked Out of Valorant Due to Previous Owner's Cheating
Buying a used Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU has apparently locked its new owner out of Valorant. Reddit user After-Cartoonist-196 posted on r/PCBaumeister that they bought the chip through the German classifieds site Kleinanzeigen and have owned it since September 21. The CPU apparently works fine....
I used a fake Craigslist ad to test my business idea. The reaction gave me the proof I needed.
Alison Donnally founded a business to help older adults live independently. She explains how the idea came to life.
I used a fake Craigslist ad to prove my business idea could work
Alison Donnally founded a business to help older adults live independently. She explains how the idea came to life.
Florida Blue Foundation now accepting grant applications for maternal health initiatives
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The Florida Blue Foundation, the philanthropic affiliate of Florida Blue and part of the GuideWell portfolio of companies, now is accepting grant applications from nonprofits focused on improving maternal health outcomes in Florida. The foundation seeks to fund Florida-based nonprofits with innovative and actionable solutions designed to improve maternal […]
Just short of its 200th birthday, a landmark natural history museum shuts down
Beloved for its dinosaurs, Philadelphia's storied Academy of Natural Sciences closed down this week, amid an intense fight by local residents, politicians and scientists to save it.
Massive Entertainment: The Next Chapter Begins
Ubisoft’s Creative House 2 is named Massive Entertainment, becoming the global label for Tom Clancy's The Division, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, alongside new original IP including March of Giants.
A growing number of House Republicans privately believe they won’t win the House
Four weeks to Election Day, a growing number of House Republicans privately fear their chances of holding onto the majority are vanishing and have begun focusing on how to limit the size of a potential Democratic wave.
Cubs Handed Strong Seiya Suzuki Free Agency Prediction
The Chicago Cubs crashed out in the Wild Card Series against the San Diego Padres and now face major offseason decisions, including whether to re-sign Seiya Suzuki.Suzuki hit .270 with 147 hits, 26 home runs, 86 RBIs, and 96 runs scored this season for Chicago, per StatMuse. Meanwhile, in the two Wild Card games against […] The post Cubs Handed Strong Seiya Suzuki Free Agency Prediction appeared first on HEAVY.
Contributor: There's federal progress on women's health. No joke
States have been the laboratory for policy changes on menopause care and hormone access, and the feds are now following leaders such as California.
GTA 6 rating pulled after revealing sex scenes and drug use
PEGI rating reveals GTA 6 details, including “frequent and prominent” drug use…
How Trump’s Deportation Policies Have Rocked a South Florida House Race
Representative María Elvira Salazar, a Republican, ran an ad criticizing the Trump administration. It may have jolted other Republicans — and drawn attention to her Democratic opponent.
Brazil is regulating AI use in elections. Here’s why it’s been a challenge.
Brazil’s polarized political landscape is rife with disinformation – a challenge that can be turbocharged by artificial intelligence.
Commentary: We can fix youth sports in America. Here’s how
The bleachers were packed for the 1989 Little League championship game because every kid in my community played in the same league, and if they weren’t in the game, they
What Texas race says about current politics
At an intersection near our house in Dallas, one home has a large Talarico sign in the front yard. The home directly across the street has a large Paxton sign.
Can House Democrats stay unified next year? It may be up to one man
Internal divisions have dragged House Speaker Mike Johnson down for months. On the verge of power, can Hakeem Jeffries avoid the same fate?
Tiahrt: 30 years of healthcare reform in America
Hospital waste, fraud and abuse are taking center stage in the discussion about necessary healthcare reforms.
Clemson president among those asking for adjustments to Protect College Sports Act
SPARTANBURG, SC(WSPA)–Clemson president Ben Ayers was among four ACC presidents to sign a letter addressed to U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson asking for adjustments to the Protect College Sports Act now before his body, the website Tomahawk Nation reported Friday night. The letter advocates changing expansion language in the PCSA bill that passed the senate […]
Google AI Plus and free users are losing access to Gemini models, and it's happening very soon
The more advanced tiers aren't seeing any changes.
Ivy Tech Valparaiso to Host Fall into Wellness Mental Health Fair Oct. 5
Community event will connect students, employees and community members with mental health resources, wellness activities and support VALPARAISO, Ind. — Ivy Tech Community College’s Valparaiso Campus will host its Fall into Wellness Mental Health Fair on Monday, Oct. 5, bringing together students, employees and community members for an afternoon focused on mental health, well-being and connection. The free event will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Commons Area at Ivy Tech Community College, 3100 Ivy Tech Drive, Valparaiso. The fair is open to students, faculty, staff and members of the community. Designed to make conversations around mental health
Yikes: Northwestern 34, Penn State 13
I could give you a play-by-play or a drive-by-drive breakdown of tonight, but what use would it be? This game was a total ass kicking, one that Penn State hasn’t felt in quite some time. And it wasn’t at the hands of Ohio State or Michigan or Oregon or USC — it was Northwestern. Penn […]
Culture refocuses attention on the Palestinian cause: ‘It has always been central to political struggle’
Musicians’ tours, film festivals and literary forums keep the flame for Gaza alive and spark debates about the limits of free expression and the concepts of censorship and cancellation
Harold Branam: Talking back to money in politics (Opinion)
At the midterm Republican Convention last month, President Donald Trump promised to send every American adult a $5,000 check if the Republicans retain control of the House and Senate.
Powerhouse Plays
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The KELOLAND SportsZone returned on Friday night, which also marks the return of Powerhouse Plays. Powerhouse Plays features the top plays and playmakers from each KELOLAND SportsZone. View this week’s Powerhouse Plays in the video player above. Games featured on Power Plays:
Apple Says iPhone 18 Pro Max Users With AT&T Cellular Issue Need to Have Device Replaced
Apple today confirmed that a "small number" of iPhone 18 Pro Max users on the AT&T network have experienced an issue that causes the device to lose cellular service, thereby preventing phone calls, text messages, and data from working. Thousands of users complained about the issue across the Apple Support Community and other platforms.
‘Tinder Swindler’ romance fraudster promises ‘safe’ dating app – using intel from con man playbook
Shimon Hayut, the notorious 'Tinder Swindler' also known as Simon Leviev, says his new Safe Love dating app will use identity verification to prevent the fraud he once committed.
South Korean official says Trump announcement on Alaska LNG went ‘far beyond what was agreed’
The governor and Republican incumbents in competitive U.S. Senate and House races said they expect South Korea to ultimately invest $54 billion. Some industry observers cast doubt on that prospect.
Justice Department asks court to let Trump reinstate White House press ban
The Justice Department argued that President Donald Trump should be allowed to reinstate his White House ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico in a court filing late Friday ahead of a hearing next week in the lawsuit from the news companies.
Human trafficking case highlights Malden business' training on how to help
A recent human trafficking case in Malden, Mass., has a local pest control company that recently trained its workers to recognize warning signs urging others to do the same.
Meta wants you to build your own Muse gadget
Meta wants Muse in your TV and your toaster, so it's giving the code away for free.
Nonprofit launches crisis line for those struggling with mental health, substance abuse
Lawmakers probe allegations that NC health officials used false information to secure Medicaid funds
GOP lawmakers in NC say they are looking into allegations that state health officials used false information to secure federal funding for a Medicaid technology overhaul. The claims were made in a lawsuit that has since been dismissed. The state auditor has revived an audit into the project.
Apple changes full-disk access permissions to curb abuse from AI agents
Meta says FDA isn't sufficient to Muse reading messages. Apple begs to differ.
Small businesses use Kalshi to hedge financial risks
An expert weighs in on how businesses are using prediction-market contracts to hedge against financial risks.
State House candidates talk class size, vouchers, mental health in education forum
Candidates for three Tennessee House seats addressed voters at a candidate forum hosted by Clarksville Voices for Education this week.
Contest-Winning Microscope Video Is Full of AI Confabulations, Scientists Say
The winner of Nikon's 2026 Small World In Motion contest said he used AI to post-process real video.
Apple says it will flag AI requests for Mac data after Meta's Muse draws complaints
Apple said on Friday that it plans to change its Mac operating system to make it more obvious when AI agents ask to access all of the data on Macs.
Group Health Cooperative opens Pathways to Recovery program
The new program aims to expand substance use treatment to reach more people in need.
Apple Watch Ultra 4 is an AI Powerhouse With Fitness and Health Improvements, But Do You Need it?
Apple has upgraded the Ultra again, and there's lots to like in the new version, including a super-accurate HR sensor and a powerful new AI ready chip.
Trump visa policies weigh on Columbia journalism program as admissions pause
The drop in international applications shows how uncertainty over Trump’s visa policies is affecting one of the preeminent U.S. journalism institutions.
Netherlands considers Meta glasses ban as retailers pause sales
A large eyewear chain is pausing sales of Meta's AI glasses over privacy concerns.
Milwaukee brothers use youth sports to support local church
Three Milwaukee brothers use youth sports to raise money, collect food and recruit volunteers for nonprofits.
Halle Berry's reacts to ex-husband's restraining order, abuse claims
Halle Berry speaks out against ex-husband Oliver Martinez amid his recent restraining order against the Oscar-winning star. He accuses Berry of physical abuse against their 12-year-old son.
Woman accusing Sherrod Brown of forcing transgender surgeries isn’t from Ohio, didn’t have procedure as minor
In an attack ad against U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, a woman accuses the Democrat of pushing transgender surgeries on minors "like her." She didn't have surgery until she was an adult.
Scientists Discover a Genius Use For Leftover Steel Waste – And It Could Save Lives
Win-win-win.
Food safety finds a place among ‘kitchen-table’ political issues
The summer was marred by a foodborne outbreak that sickened scores of people, turning the safety of the U.S. food supply into a topic of national conversation and a political cause.
Potential measles exposure on a train in Minot | Health and Human Services North Dakota
BISMARCK, ND (Oct. 2, 2026) – A passenger with measles traveled on Amtrak's westbound Empire Builder, which departed Chicago on Sept. 23 and arrived in Minot the morning of Sept. 24. This created a potential exposure risk for passengers and anyone at the station while the train was scheduled to be in Minot from approximately 9:06 to 9:51 a.m. CT. The passenger reported getting off the train to use the restroom at the Minot station at approximately 9:30 a.m.Anyone who was at the Amtrak station in Minot while this train was stopped, as well as passengers who were traveling on this train, may have been exposed to measles. Individuals who may have been exposed and have received at least one dose of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine or previously had measles (likely those born before 1957) do not need to quarantine but should monitor for symptoms for 21 days after exposure. Individuals who have not received a dose of the MMR vaccine should quarantine (stay home) and monitor for symptoms for 21 days following exposure.
Earth Science Week at Museum Features Fossils, Minerals, Maps, and More
Credit: CourtesyCredit: CourtesyCredit: CourtesyCredit: Courtesy SANTA BARBARA, CA—The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is celebrating National
Apple is planning tougher Mac privacy controls for AI agents
Apple plans new macOS controls requiring more explicit user action before apps can access emails, messages, browsing history, and personal files.
Man used Facebook Marketplace to advertise business selling magic mushrooms: HCSO
A Riverview man was arrested on Friday after authorities said he was running a business selling hallucinogens on Facebook Marketplace.
WATCH LIVE: 3rd Congressional District Debate with Celeste Maloy and Kent Udell
Republican Celeste Maloy and Democrat Kent Udell are running to represent eastern and southern Utah, along with parts of the Wasatch Front, in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Troy council passes law setting standards for use of Flock cameras
One provision requires the city to delete all data from the license plate reader (LPR) technology within 72 hours.
Ex-US congressman David Rivera sentenced to 10 years in prison for Venezuela lobbying
River's ex-housemate, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, testified he had no idea about his activities.
Vote no on Prop 45 to Protect California’s environment and public health
This November, California voters will have a chance to push back against President Trump’s attacks on our clean air and water, public health, and open space by voting NO on Proposition 45. This deceptive ballot initiative is a 41-page recipe for pollution and sprawl. It would weaken California’s bedrock environmental law and make it easier to build data centers, warehouses and other polluting projects – with severely limited public oversight.
Timberfest Brings Two Days of Family Fun and Entertainment to Downtown Sheridan
The 42nd annual Timberfest is underway in downtown Sheridan, with two days of activities planned around the Grant County Courthouse Square Friday and Saturday. The annual Grant County festival began Friday, October 2nd, with arts and crafts vendors, amusement rides, a petting zoo and pony […]
Rising costs, construction prompt pet store’s exit from Grand Rapids
A pet store and dog grooming business is shutting down its Grand Rapids location, citing rising costs, difficulties caused by construction in the area, and the changing character of the neighborhoo…
Modern Science: An Ohio University professor studies the mechanisms behind bats using echolocation
ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) —There's a lot we know about how animals navigate their world, but there's even more we don't. This included how bats use echolocation until recently.Peishu Li is an assistan
Almost All The Viruses Found in a Vast Deep-Sea Mining Zone Were New to Science
Nearly 12,000 new viruses have been hiding on the seafloor.
Q&A with Syracuse SB Nation site, TNIAAM
Hear from our counterparts covering the Orange on what to expect from their football team!
Timberfest Brings Two Days of Family Fun and Entertainment to Downtown Sheridan
The 42nd annual Timberfest is underway in downtown Sheridan, with two days of activities planned around the Grant County Courthouse Square Friday and Saturday. The annual Grant County festival began Friday, October 2nd, with arts and crafts vendors, amusement rides, a petting zoo and pony […]
Fairport Harbor downtown businesses band together for community night out
The annual Witches Night Out event is back with more planned for this weekend, including an opportunity to check out a special "haunted" lighthouse tower, but beware of the ghost cat!
Bakersfield police seeking help ID’ing man who burglarized Planz Road business through roof
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The Bakersfield Police Department is investigating a burglary that took place in early September. The police department is seeking help identifying the suspect in…
Trump Directed Use of Taxpayer Money for Ads Praising His Presidency
The government-funded ads show just how much President Trump has been able to use federal money for his own aims.
AT&T and Apple Just Took Steps Toward Fixing iPhone 18 Pro Max Issue
AT&T and Apple are taking action today as they try to resolve iPhone 18 Pro Max cellular issues, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. Thousands of iPhone 18 Pro Max users have been unable to connect to the AT&T network for phone calls, text messages, and data. The underlying cause has yet to be disclosed, but AT&T and Apple continue to work toward a resolution. First, Apple today released an AT&T carrier settings update (version 72.1, up from 72.0.2) for iPhones.
Texas Tenors set to open Entertainment Series at the Whatley Center on October 20
September 29, 2026 Three powerhouse voices spanning country, classical, Broadway and pop will take the Whatley Center stage when The Texas Tenors perform Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 p.m. The Texas Tenors — JC Fisher, Marcus Collins and John Hagen — first gained national attention as finalists on NBC’s America’s Got Talent in 2009. Since then,…
Photos | Redwood Coast Music Festival fills Eureka with listening entertainment through weekend
Venues include the Sequoia Conference Center, Veterans Memorial Building, Adorni Center, Eagle House, Red Lion Hotel, Eureka Theater and the Morris Graves Museum.
Orlando Science Center receives top recognition for its animal programs
The science center noted it is one of only 15 institutions nationwide to hold accreditation from both AZA and the American Alliance of Museums
Small business marketing: Benefits and downsides of AI marketing tools
Small business owners shared how they actually use AI to build and sustain a marketing strategy, as well as where it falls short.
Studying Science in an Anti-Scientific Time
This Chronicle Review Deep Cut was first published in 2025. By Julianne Werlin Thanks for reading The Chronicle Review! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe The last two decades have not been kind to science studies. Already bruised and battered by the “science wars” of the 1990s, by the 2000s sociologists of science — who had long argued that science had to be understood in its human context — were encountering the funhouse-mirror version of their own views in right-wing critiques of climate scientists. It was enough to give some prominent scholars pause. “Was I wrong to participate in the invention of this field known as science studies?” asked Bruno Latour, the most famous sociologist of science in the world, in 2003. “Should we apologize for having been wrong all along? Or should we rather bring the sword of criticism to criticism itself and do a bit of soul-searching here: What were we really after when we were so intent on showing the social construction of scientific facts?” In response, Latour proposed a change of method and attitude. Science studies, now chastened and contrite, would no longer seek to strip facts of their authority, but to enrich and enhance them. What this meant in practice was never fully clear. But his diagnosis of problems resonated, even if his solutions did not. Latour’s exercise in public hand-wringing signaled a shift in mood. By 2016, with the first election of Donald Trump, the idea that skepticism of science was a right-wing position, not a left-wing one, had become a commonplace, discussed eagerly in The New York Times. For liberals, vaccine denial during the Covid era and Trump’s second-term attacks on the funding of scientific research, covered extensively in these pages, added a new urgency to the defense of science on both practical and principled grounds. There was little appetite for a sociology or philosophy of science that emphasized the messiness and missteps of the scientific process rather than its integrity and triumphs. The distinguished historian of science Peter Dear’s new book, The World as We Know It: From Natural Philosophy to Modern Science (Princeton University Press, 2025), which seeks to tell the story of 18th- and 19th-century science for a general public, may seem comfortably remote from these bitter contests. In its 16 short chapters, Dear draws swift, sure sketches of major discoveries from Newton to Einstein, ably guiding the reader through debates on stellar nebulae, animal taxonomy, atomic chemistry, evolution, and other flashpoints in the history of science. But though a work of history, Dear’s book must still negotiate our polarized present. In a blurb on its back cover, the historian of biology Lynn K. Nyhart alludes to the “present moment, when scientific knowledge is being swamped by misinformation and its institutions are under siege.” Dear himself, in his conclusion, refers to the “yard signs” and “bumper stickers” that proclaim “Science Is Real.” One antidote to both anti-science propaganda and to reductive slogans in science’s defense is a robust history and philosophy of science: exactly what Dear’s scholarship has long offered. But his new book illustrates how difficult such work has become. Dear, an emeritus professor of history at Cornell University, is best known as a creative and philosophically minded historian of the Scientific Revolution. His edited volume The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument (1991) analyzed the rhetoric of Galileo’s thought experiments to brilliant effect. Discipline and Experience: The Mathematical Way in the Scientific Revolution (1995) was a major contribution to the analysis of scientific experiments in early modern Europe and beyond, while Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge in Transition, 1500-1700 (2001), now in its third edition, remains one of the best overviews of the profound epistemological upheavals of 16th- and 17th-century science. But Dear has also ventured into later periods. Nearly two decades ago, in The Intelligibility of Nature: How Science Makes Sense of the World (2006), he turned to the 18th and 19th centuries to sketch a history and theory of scientific knowledge. Aimed at a generalist audience, Dear’s simple prose belied serious philosophical ambitions. Science, Dear argued, has two aspects: “natural philosophy,” the quest to understand the true nature of the universe, and “instrumentality,” the applied skills and technologies that allow us to manipulate the world for human advantage. Both strands are ancient, but the innovation of the phenomenon we call “science” was to yoke them together. As Francis Bacon wrote, “Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known, the effect cannot be produced,” an insight typically abridged to “knowledge is power.” Or, in Bertrand Russell’s characteristically blunt phrase, science has two functions, “1. to enable us to know things, and 2., to enable us to do things.” So far, so conventional. But Dear took issue with this familiar story in one respect. Bacon’s formula implied that theory and practice could be fused in a single method. In fact, Dear argued, the quest to understand nature and the desire to manipulate it were coupled only loosely. They could come together, but they could also pull apart. Focusing on natural philosophy, the “knowing” half of the scientific circle, he used a series of case studies from cosmology, taxonomy, chemistry, electromagnetism, and quantum theory to show how theories changed over time, in dialogue with practice, but never reducible to it. Take the case of matter, the basic substrate of the physical world. In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists not only disagreed about what it was, but also about how well it could be known. In 1789, the chemist Antoine Lavoisier dismissed speculation about the atomic composition of chemicals as “discussions entirely of a metaphysical nature,” as he sought to orient chemistry away from philosophical abstraction and toward laboratory results. But in the 19th century, atoms returned with a vengeance in the atomic chemistry of John Dalton, who wanted to explain the underlying structure of nature. It was not just that Dalton and Lavoisier had a different set of experimental results, or even a different theory, Dear showed. What counted as an explanation had changed. In arguing that scientific theories depended on their intelligibility to human beings with complex arrays of beliefs and commitments, Dear was in sympathy with science studies. Key figures such as the sociologist Steven Shapin emphasized the importance of psychological mechanisms like trust in the formation and acceptance of scientific ideas. But in focusing on the scientific pursuit of knowledge, not its politics or economics, Dear resisted the more cynical perspective of some of his colleagues. The Intelligibility of Nature strikes a very different note than Shapin’s collection of a few years later, Never Pure: Historical Studies of Science as If It Was Produced by People With Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture, and Society, and Struggling for Credibility and Authority (2010), to name just one example. Walking a very fine line, Dear depicted science as driven at once by complex social dynamics and by the intellectual power of real discoveries. It was a testament not only to his own acumen but also to the vitality of the field that he was able to do so. Nearly two decades later, The World as We Know It returns to the questions broached in The Intelligibility of Nature. Like Dear’s earlier study, it begins with the Newtonian cosmos and ends with debates between Einstein and Bohr on quantum physics. Beyond its terminal figures, many of the same characters appear in both studies, including the naturalists John Ray and the Comte de Buffon; the chemists Étienne François Geoffroy, Antoine Lavoisier, and John Dalton; as well as Charles Darwin and Michael Faraday, among others. Its subject is nearly identical: As in The Intelligibility of Nature, The World as We Know It considers natural philosophy as opposed to instrumentality, here defined as the “desire to create a picture of what the world is really like — the world as God knows it — rather than simply having instrumental or operational control over it.” The two books also overlap in insights — and sometimes even in language. The reader who has learned in The Intelligibility of Nature that Buffon’s method of classifying animals “reflected his belief in the importance of the senses and empiricism in learning about nature (a doctrine associated with Newton and the philosopher John Locke)” will experience a sense of déjà vu on reading, in The World as We Know It, that the classification “reflects Buffon’s commitment to the epistemological stance of Newton and his philosophical underlaborer John Locke, who stressed the role of the senses in creating natural knowledge.” Later in the passage, we read that, “because of its stress on understanding the ways of life of animals in their environments, Buffon’s approach could almost be labeled (anachronistically) as ‘ecological.’” And again, “an anachronistic way of putting it would be to say that Buffon recommends an ecological mode of understanding.” Likewise, in The Intelligibility of Nature we read of Dalton that he was initially drawn to meteorology, and that: He did a bit of experimental work on these things, especially having to do with the water-holding capacity of gases, but his real interest lay in understanding what, at an underlying natural-philosophical level, was really going on physically.” Whereas, in The World as We Know It: He did experimental work on these things, especially concerning the water-holding capacity of gases — although not at a very refined level quantitatively — but he was continually trying to develop a theoretical conception of what was happening physically. The final full chapter of each book closes on the same resigned note. Intelligibility: These days, most serious work on the natural philosophical underpinnings and implications of quantum mechanics is performed not by physicists but by philosophers of science. Among scientific practitioners themselves, Bohr’s attempt to use instrumentality as sufficient grounds for a respectable science has met with a high degree of success. And again, in The World as We Know It: Bohr’s and Einstein’s concerns are now questions that are mostly discussed by philosophers of science rather than by physicists themselves. The marginalization of these sorts of questions amounts to the demise of natural philosophy, at least in physics, in the 20th century. Quantum mechanics “works,” and that’s good enough for most scientists who encounter it. Examples could be multiplied. When handling the same subject matter, some echoes are inevitable. Scholars should not feel that because they have written “Isaac Newton died in 1727” in one book, in the next they must describe him as perishing, expiring, or meeting his maker. But the repetitions of language and arguments (not to mention six reproduced images) threaded throughout The World as We Know It are more extensive than that. They should have been caught by Princeton University Press or its reviewers, and revised. Because the two books have so much in common, it is easy to see where they diverge. The World as We Know It is a less theoretical work than its predecessor. The sociology of knowledge that organized The Intelligibility of Nature has been reduced in scale and folded into readings and examples. The taut interplay between history and theory, which gave the earlier study so much interest, is there, but it is subtle. In the earlier book, the case studies demonstrated theoretical claims about the character and development of science. In the later work, each narrative of discovery is an end in itself. Insights emerge from the history, but they do not control the organization of the study. With the theory muted, it can be hard to understand the logic uniting Dear’s sprawling history of more than two centuries of scientific knowledge. The 16 brisk chapters cover an enormous amount of material. But the closer the volume edges to comprehensiveness, the more obvious the missing elements become. A chapter on “Institutions and Pedagogy,” describing the birth of the research university, illustrates the problem. Inserted roughly halfway through the book, the unnumbered chapter is designed as an “entr’acte,” in acknowledgement that it does not fit the study’s organization around scientific discoveries. Yet as Dear is well aware, no general history of the development of modern science can bracket its 19th-century institutionalization and professionalization. It was the 19th-century university, after all, that gave us the “scientist,” a term coined by the Cambridge philosopher William Whewell. Dear’s history of scientific discoveries implies a wider social and institutional history, but it remains largely subterranean, only occasionally extruded under the pressure of the narrative. It must be said that the balance is not all on the side of the earlier study. There are some advantages to the more historical, less theoretical organization of The World as We Know It. Dear’s accounts of paradigm shifts are remarkably lucid, no small accomplishment given that they span fields and centuries. He makes excellent use of the wealth of new scholarship on Darwin and his influences, to which he has himself contributed. It is satisfying to see puzzle pieces from Buffon’s natural history, Georges Cuvier’s animal taxonomy, Thomas Robert Malthus’s demography, and Charles Lyell’s geology recombined seamlessly in the Darwinian jigsaw. Likewise, Dear’s discussion of stellar nebulae, divided between chapters two and 15, shows vividly how Newton, Kant, Herschel, and Hubble reimagined insights and observations as they sought to discover whether the diffuse light that filtered through early telescopes was a glowing, gaseous substance or discrete but distant stars. Yet despite such pleasures, the book remains a more modest work than The Intelligibility of Nature. Dear has clearly not changed his views about the history of science. But in the two decades that have elapsed, the discipline and the world around it have changed, making it harder to write a sociologically and philosophically ambitious history of science for the general reader. That is a shame, because in the age of Silicon Valley and biotechnology, both the reciprocity and the tensions Dear identified between the epistemological and instrumental ambitions of science are more evident than ever. In recent years, some of the most exciting new books on the history of science in early modernity have focused precisely on this pressure point. Important studies such as Pamela H. Smith’s From Lived Experience to the Written Word (2022), James Poskett’s Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science (2022), and Vera Keller’s The Interlopers: Early Stuart Projects and the Undisciplining of Knowledge (2023) all shed new light on how early modern science negotiated the relationship between its instrumental and epistemological ambitions, or in Russell’s phrase, knowing and doing. There is every opportunity for a philosophically informed approach to draw new insights from this wealth of material. Dear, unfortunately, has not done so in The World as We Know It. But for future scholars of the history of science, his body of work over nearly four decades may provide just the model. Julianne Werlin is an associate professor of English at Duke University. Thanks for reading The Chronicle Review! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe
Are sports & entertainment becoming the 'anti-AI trade'?
Turney Duff chats with Yahoo Sports staff writer Dylan Dittrich and Clocktower Group chief macro strategist Eric Wallerstein about how sports and the "entertainment economy" are emerging as attractive investments as the public's appetite for in-person experiences continues to grow.
Broncos Blitzes Have Been A Force So Far This Season
The Denver Broncos use a lot of different blitz packages, and sometimes secondary members are the key.
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
Despite Construction, Downtown Carthage Shops Still Open for Business
Yellow caution tape, heavy machinery and piles of red dirt decorate downtown Carthage as road construction continues into its second month around the historic Moore County courthouse. The work has
Questionable tag for Keenan Allen
Colts WR Keenan Allen's Week 4 status uncertain because of groin injury
Nvidia Is Killing Its Beloved Shield TV Because It Had Too Much Memory
It’s hard not to see this as a symbol for Nvidia’s turn away from its gaming roots.
Research roundup: 6 cool science stories we almost missed
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Dr. Russell Butler, chair of Bishop’s University’s Department of Computer Science, says artificial intelligence is increasingly taking over routine digital “grunt work,” changing the skills students and workers may need in the years ahead. Photo courtesy of Bishop’s University. Click here to read our platform! Get local news like this every morning. Subscribe free below. Subscribe Pulse Newsroom Artificial intelligence is already taking over some of the routine digital work once performed by entry-level employees, according to Bishop’s University Computer Science chair Dr. Russell Butler — a shift he believes will make expertise, judgement and the ability to evaluate AI-generated work increasingly important. Butler described the change as automation reaching what he calls the “bottom of the cognitive pyramid” during an interview with The Pulse about AI, university education and the future of digital work. His argument is not that humans are disappearing from the workplace. Instead, he sees their role changing as AI becomes capable of handling more of the repetitive tasks involved in computer-based work. “Everything’s converging on just AI basically doing all the grunt work,” Butler said. The bottom of the cognitive pyramid Butler is from Lennoxville, completed his undergraduate studies at Bishop’s and later earned his PhD at the Université de Sherbrooke. He joined Bishop’s in 2019 and now chairs its Department of Computer Science. He uses AI in research, teaching and other creative work, and said the technology is increasingly capable of handling routine digital tasks that once required substantial human time. “You’ve got the grunt work, like moving things around in Excel, doing basic programming tasks,” Butler said. “That’s like the bottom grunt work that the entry-level worker would have done two or three years ago.” Butler went further, saying in his view that much of this type of work has already been absorbed by AI tools. He connected that change to a shift he sees taking place in computer science, where entry-level roles have declined while experienced workers can use AI to increase what they can produce. “A senior developer now has access to essentially an unlimited amount of junior developers on demand,” Butler said. He was describing AI systems metaphorically, not literal employees. His point was that one experienced developer can now ask AI tools to produce code or other technical work that might previously have been assigned to more junior workers. That raises a broader question for universities and employers. If some of the simpler work traditionally given to newcomers can now be done by machines, how do people gain the experience needed to become senior workers themselves? Students doing work that once required years of programming Butler said he is already seeing the change inside his classroom. He created a Bishop’s course called CS208, Coding in Plain English, to show students — including those without traditional programming backgrounds — what they can accomplish using AI. Some come from disciplines such as psychology or neuroscience with no previous programming experience. “What I’m finding is that students who have zero programming experience, they come in from another discipline like psychology or neuroscience or something, they are now able to get up and running with real data sets,” Butler said. Butler’s own doctoral work involved neuroimaging, and he said he has assigned students work he considers comparable to the kinds of analysis he performed during his PhD. He described giving students a real dataset, an expected result and instructions to use AI to complete the analysis. Butler said those students have been able to carry out work at a level he associates with tasks he once performed after years of programming experience. That does not mean a student using AI instantly acquires the same knowledge as an experienced computer scientist. But Butler sees it as evidence that AI can dramatically lower the technical barrier between having a problem to solve and producing a working result. The role of the person using the system then changes. They need to know what to ask for, understand enough about the subject to judge the answer and take responsibility for what is ultimately produced. What about AI hallucinations? One persistent concern surrounding generative AI is hallucination — when a system produces information that sounds convincing but is false or unsupported. Butler said that problem has improved substantially in newer systems and is not as severe as it was with earlier models. He pointed in particular to newer AI systems’ ability to search the web, consult scientific databases and return source links rather than simply generating a citation from their internal model. Butler nevertheless said users should verify what AI produces. “You should verify,” he said while discussing citations generated with AI. His position is that hallucinations have become less common in the systems he uses, not that incorrect AI output is impossible. Human checking remains part of the process. Hours of work compressed Butler offered another example from his administrative work at Bishop’s. The university has been comparing CEGEP courses with first-year Bishop’s courses to determine where students may qualify for advanced standing. Traditionally, Butler said, that means reviewing two sets of course descriptions and manually matching one institution’s courses with another’s. As department chair, that could require hours of reading and comparison. He said AI can now be given both sets of material and asked to generate an initial mapping automatically. “It saves me hours and hours of work,” Butler said. Butler said the AI-generated mapping can also produce a better result than he would produce himself. He sees similar opportunities in businesses. A company may receive specifications, drawings, emails or other digital material from customers and then have employees convert that information into an internal format before anything can be manufactured or delivered. AI can increasingly perform parts of that intermediate processing. In Butler’s view, the employee does not necessarily disappear. Instead, the job becomes more about checking the result. “The human is still there,” he said. Judgement could become more valuable That change is central to Butler’s view of where digital work may be headed. If AI can produce a first draft, write basic code, compare documents or process large amounts of information, he argues that knowledge and judgement become increasingly important. “The real scarce resource going forward is going to be domain knowledge, expertise, and… credentials, authority, the ability to work with other people,” Butler said. He is therefore encouraging students not only to learn AI tools but also to broaden their education. He mentioned acting, fine art and photography as examples of courses that can help develop what he described as taste and intuition — the ability to recognize what is good, what is not and what should be changed. “And that’s the skill that they need now because the grunt work has been automated and now it’s about evaluating what the AI produces and telling it how to improve or expand the output,” Butler said. That does not remove the need for technical knowledge. Butler’s argument is that the emphasis may shift away from manually completing every step of a task and toward directing, checking and improving work produced with AI assistance. He also stressed that humans remain responsible for final decisions. “At the end of the day, the human has to make the final call,” Butler said, pointing to the question of accountability. Physical work may be different Butler draws a distinction between digital work and jobs requiring people to manipulate the physical world. He expects AI to continue advancing quickly in tasks performed almost entirely on computers. He is more cautious about claims that humanoid robots will soon be able to replace workers such as plumbers or electricians. Butler said those trades would not be replaced “anytime soon” in his view and described some current robotics demonstrations as overhyped. He described the situation as counterintuitive. “It’s almost like we solved the highest level first,” he said, contrasting advances in digital AI with the harder problem of building robots capable of operating reliably in the physical world. Butler’s argument is that some digital occupations could face automation sooner than trades requiring complex physical work. The wider AI shift in the Townships Butler’s comments come as local institutions are increasingly grappling with how AI should be used. The federal government recently announced up to $162 million over five years for 10,000 AI-related placements through Mitacs. The Université de Sherbrooke told The Pulse that the number of its collaborative research and innovation projects supported through Mitacs has approximately doubled since 2018-19, while the number of placements has approximately tripled. UdeS also said it already has projects involving both AI adoption and the application of AI to other fields. At Bishop’s, Butler said part of his role involves building the Computer Science department’s local presence, connecting students with regional partners and strengthening relationships with the Sherbrooke technology ecosystem. Those developments put universities in a difficult position. They have to prepare students to use the tools employers increasingly have available while also making sure graduates understand enough to recognize when those tools are wrong, incomplete or being applied to the wrong problem. The risk of losing human skills Butler does not see AI as risk-free. Later in the interview, he raised a separate concern: as AI becomes better at reading, writing, programming and other cognitive tasks, people could lose some of the underlying skills that historically helped produce new ideas. “The other danger is that we’re going to lose the human skills,” Butler said. He specifically mentioned reading and writing and argued that people could lose some of the lower-level understanding that contributes to breakthroughs. Butler said AI systems are based on existing human knowledge and argued that they become much more powerful when paired with a capable person. That tension runs through his view of the technology. AI can remove hours of routine work. It can allow beginners to perform tasks that once required substantial technical training. It can give experienced workers significant leverage. But the more capable the technology becomes, the more important it may be for people to develop the judgement needed to decide what should be done in the first place. For Butler, that is where education may have to change. Students still need to understand their field. They still need to know when something is wrong. And they still need to be able to make the final decision. But if AI increasingly handles the bottom of the cognitive pyramid, the value of a worker may depend less on how quickly they can perform the grunt work and more on whether they understand what the work is supposed to accomplish. Don’t miss the next story that affects your community. Join thousands of readers getting The Pulse every morning—plus breaking news alerts when it matters most. If you value this kind of local journalism, consider supporting it. Subscribe, share and like! Subscribe Share
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