Prompting AI models to contradict your ideas can improve your thinking about a problem.
UMass Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst, founded in 1863, is the flagship of the five-campus UMass system. Home to the Commonwealth Honors College, UMass Amherst incorporates modern teaching methods involving new communication and information technology, yet remains an immersive, residential campus serving more than 22,000 undergraduate and approximately 6,300 graduate students across a comprehensive array of academic programs.
True to its land-grant roots, UMass Amherst is engaged in research and creative work in all fields and is classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a doctoral university with the “highest research activity” or R1. Major areas of emphasis include climate science, food science, alternative energy, nanomanufacturing, polymer science, computer science and linguistics.
Together, students and faculty are deeply engaged in collaboration with communities — both regional and international — to improve their social and economic conditions.
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The stories of a whale, a panther and a butterfly help explain why new interpretations of the Endangered Species Act could be catastrophic for species’ survival.
There is research showing that there are numerous benefits for a low-income child to attend a Head Start program, though these effects are less clear as the child ages.
A proposed Trump administration rule aimed at quashing diversity efforts could jeopardize the nonprofit status of private schools. It could take effect in mid-2027.
Search engines, social media and AI models can be made as safe and reliable as bridges and water supplies.
Meta’s settlement calls for several key design changes to protect teens, but how the states will verify and enforce the changes is a big question mark.
A new FDA survey finds some positive trends among young people in the US, though new forms of nicotine use like pouches have become a bit more popular.
Pennsylvania logged 852 severe weather reports from March through June – more than double the 30-year average. A meteorologist explains what keeps the storms coming.
While discord exists over the meaning of the 250th anniversary, Americans strongly believe there is more that unites the country than divides it.
Generative AI’s overemphasis on Western moral concerns could reinforce global disparities in sensitive applications such as public health messaging and global communication.
Mail-in voting was created during the Civil War so soldiers could vote. That legacy helped shape how the Supreme Court ruled more than 160 years later.
Wikipedia has grown steadily in size and importance, but a shrinking core of volunteer administrators is straining the organization.
Grasping how the nation’s highest court makes policy requires stepping into an exceptionally regulated and sometimes hidden routine.
Recent military and economic pressure on Cuba, including Trump’s threats of a ‘friendly takeover’ of the island, follow a long pattern of US hostility toward its southern neighbor.
Longtemps cantonnée aux marges de l’extrême droite, la théorie du « grand remplacement » séduit désormais une part significative de l’électorat conservateur américain. Une étude met en lumière l’influence de Fox News dans cette progression.
White Americans who watch Fox News are more likely to agree that shadowy political elites are embracing permissive immigration policies to replace native-born white Americans.
Even though annual precipitation is rising nationally, the landscape is drying out more rapidly. That’s changing the water cycle.
Many veterans struggle with addiction, mental health conditions and homelessness after military service. Veterans Treatment Courts aim to help – but they need stable funding to do so.
Flavored vapes draw new users – especially young people. On the flipside, they can also help some people quit smoking. Makary’s resignation makes it clear that the controversy isn’t going away.
Most Trump supporters remain in his camp, but some independents, young people and Black Americans who voted for the president in 2024 would not do so again in an election do-over.
Authors
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Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, UMass Amherst
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PhD Candidate of Economics, UMass Amherst; Westfield State University
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PhD Candidate in Social Psychology, UMass Amherst
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Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy, UMass Amherst
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Professor of Practice and Director for Program, Public Interest Technology Initiative, UMass Amherst
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Professor of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences, UMass Amherst
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Senior Research Fellow in Nonprofit Organizations, UMass Amherst
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Director of Public Interest Technology and Stuart Rice Honorary Research Professor, UMass Amherst
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Assistant Professor of Health Promotion and Policy, UMass Amherst
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Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science, UMass Amherst
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Professor of Information Systems, UMass Amherst
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Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science, UMass Amherst
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Senior Research Fellow, Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure, UMass Amherst
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Provost Professor of Political Science, UMass Amherst
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Professor of Environmental Sciences, UMass Amherst