Sarah Durn

This article originally appeared in The Conversation . For us linguists, the flurry of “word of the year” announcements from dictionaries and publishers is a holiday tradition as anticipated as mince pies. The words of the year aren’t just a fun peek into... See more

This story was originally published by Grist . Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here . In early 2024, Michael Fedoroff trekked out to Tuckabum Creek in York County, Alabama. The environmental anthropologist was there to help plant 300 stalks of river... See more

This article originally appeared in The Conversation . Rats and other rodents and pests can make great archivists. That’s because they forage food and build dens, storing fabric, paper, animal bones, plant remains and other materials under floorboards, be... See more

This article was originally featured on Knowable Magazine . Caroline Muller looks at clouds differently than most people. Where others may see puffy marshmallows, wispy cotton candy or thunderous gray objects storming overhead, Muller sees fluids flowing ... See more

This article was originally featured on MIT Press Reader . This article is adapted from De Kai’s Raising AI: An Essential Guide to Parenting Our Future . Artificial intelligence poses many threats to the world, but the most critical existential danger lie... See more