The Best of The Conversation - Australia + New Zealand

How can the world regulate AI? Europe’s comprehensive approach, China’s tightly targeted laws, and America’s dramatic executive order hint at three ways forward.

Humans are social beings so it’s no wonder that feeling isolated can affect the way we think

«These results suggest that feeling lonely may be associated with thinking of fictional characters in a way similar to real-world friends.»

Researchers are interested in whether who you’re communicating with and how you’re interacting affect how likely you are to lie.

Psychology researchers have focused on the idea that people form friendships with those who are similar, familiar and nearby. But how do individual people pick those who will become their friends?

«there are preferences for friends who help you solve specific kinds of problems and are generous and caring with you instead of others»

Investing in people’s future mental health, based on the key socioeconomic factors underlying it, is the only way to address this rising problem.

The drones are light, cheap, easy to transport and have proved to be highly effective as a weapon of war.

Although medication and therapy can be effective treatments for ADHD, they’re not the only way to manage the disorder or its symptoms. Creating a daily routine is critical too.

By adulthood, ADHD symptoms may be more internalised but they can also cause grown up problems.

Diets high in fat, sugar and processed foods are associated with higher calorie intake, poorer memory and lower cognitive function.

Noise pollution is a serious problem, and cars make a lot of it. But roads are also a factor.

Even if all passenger vehicles sold today were electric, it would take more than ten years for the Australian road fleet to be fully electric.

A new shows there’s no clear evidence that depression is caused by abnormally low levels of serotonin in the brain.

«drug trials show that antidepressants are barely distinguishable from a placebo (dummy pill) when it comes to treating depression.»

It’s never too late to start.

Recent protests on racial justice have also questioned the portrayal of Jesus as a white man. An art historian explains how this image appeared and came to be marketed worldwide.

We may imagine Jesus in long robes with baggy sleeves, but this is far from how he would have dressed.

India’s drug regulation is loose and results in dangerous medicines being sold at home and abroad.

An epigenetic model of cancer that incorporates the concept of stochasticity could also explain why cancer risk increases with age and how biological development can be reversible.

Current scientific consensus is that life emerged from non-living molecules in a process called abiogenesis. But if life emerged once, why not more times?

Scientists are learning amazing things about bees’ sensory perception and mental capabilities.

Physics makes a lot of assumptions about time that may be getting in the way of understanding the fourth dimension.

The key to understanding why life is not explainable in current physics may be to reconsider our notions of time and information.

After decades of hype, quantum computers are on the verge of becoming useful. Here’s a refresher on why they’re such a big deal

If we accepted that the future could influence the past, we could get rid of many counter-intuitive aspects of quantum mechanics.

The length of a day has critical impacts on our technologies, navigation, and more.

The laws of physics dictate that to pick out ever fainter objects from space and see them more sharply, we’re going to need a bigger telescope. And that means we need massive mirrors.

Understanding and changing the environment in which habits form is a critical step when it comes to breaking unwanted behaviors and forming healthy ones.

«Another path to habit change involves friction: in other words, making it difficult to act on undesirable habits and easy to act on desirable ones.»

The brain’s somatosensory cortex may help enrich our emotional experiences and improve our mental health. Mindfulness and dance movement therapy may be effective ways to activate it.

«Those factors can enhance overall self-awareness, which contributes to improvement of mental health through potential reorganization of the somatosensory cortex.»

Is there ever a satisfactory answer to questions about what motivated a mass shooter? There is, but it’s not what you think.

«at the hands of some real or imagined culprits»

Psychologists know babies can form memories soon after birth. So why can’t people remember anything that happened to them before around age 2? A child development expert describes possible reasons.

Here are some reasons for the natural human tendency to avoid or reject new information that runs counter to what you already know – and some tips on how to do better.

«confirmation bias. It’s the natural tendency to seek out information or interpret things in a way that supports your existing beliefs.»