Rod McCullom reports on the intersections of science, technology and society for Undark, MIT Technology Review, Scientific American, Nature, and The Atlantic, among other magazines.
Do Video Doorbells Really Help to Deter Crime?
More people are using cameras and sharing footage with the police, but there’s little data showing their effectiveness.
Robot Police Dogs Are on Patrol, But Who’s Holding the Leash?
More cities and law enforcement agencies are acquiring dog-like robots fort policing and surveillance. But there is little transparency around their numbers or effectiveness.
Studies Show a Need for Procedural Justice in ‘Hot Spot’ Policing
On an overcast Saturday, January 7, Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old local amateur photographer who also worked for FedEx, decided to capture Shelby Farms’ nature and landscapes at sunset. He was returning to his family’s home in southeast Memphis later that ...
Why Some Mass Shootings — And Their Victims — Go Uncounted
There is no one definition of “mass shooting.” Researchers say this may have implications for cities like Philadelphia.
Meet the woman making sure ARPA-H supercharges U.S. health innovation
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) was proposed by President Biden and adopted by Congress in March 2022. The Biden Administration hopes ARPA-H and its billion-dollar budget can do for biomedical innovation what the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has done for GPS, speech recognition, messenger RNA, and the internet—push high-risk, high-reward projects that catalyze change.
It’s no accident that Biden named Renee Wegrzyn director of ARPA-H on Septem...
What science tells us about structural racism’s health impact
Racism’s impact on health outcomes is a relatively recent focus of public health research. Using the word “racism” itself is still challenging for some public health scholars, despite recent data clearly showing poorer health outcomes for Black people in the United States as a group compared to white people. A growing body of research is pinpointing how structural racism—the ongoing impact of discriminatory practices—affects the health of people of color, especially Black people, from infancy...
Has the BLM Movement Influenced Police Use of Lethal Force?
Researchers seeking to answer this question face a key challenge: incomplete government data on police use of force.
How wearable AI could help you recover from covid
Chicago-based pilot program is testing a body sensor that monitors covid patients remotely.
How Often Do Police Use Tasers on Teens? Experts Want More Data.
https://undark.org/2021/05/05/convictions-data-taser-use-teens/
Is mass incarceration driving racial disparities in the pandemic?
One study in June linked 16 percent of Covid-19 cases in Chicago and across Illinois to Cook County Jail.
Is Mass Incarceration Driving Racial Disparities in the Pandemic?
One study in June linked 16 percent of Covid-19 cases in Chicago and across Illinois to Cook County Jail.
Artificial Intelligence, Health Disparities, and Covid-19
Artificial intelligence has transformed health care, using large datasets to improve diagnostics and treatment. But some AI-powered medical tools replicate racial bias — raising questions about whether these new technologies contributed to Covid-19’s disproportionate toll on Black Americans.
How Bullying May Shape Adolescent Brains
In recent years, a steadily increasing volume of data has demonstrated that peer victimization — the clinical term for bullying — impacts hundreds of millions of children and adolescents, with the effects sometimes lasting years and, possibly, decades. The problem is even recognized as a global health challenge by the World Health Organization and the United Nations. And yet, researchers maintain there is still a limited understanding of how the behavior may physically shape the developing br...
How Bullying May Shape Adolescent Brains
In recent years, a steadily increasing volume of data has demonstrated that peer victimization — the clinical term for bullying — impacts hundreds of millions of children and adolescents, with the effects sometimes lasting years and, possibly, decades. The problem is even recognized as a global health challenge by the World Health Organization and the United Nations. And yet, researchers maintain there is still a limited understanding of how the behavior may physically shape the developing br...
AI Tool Could Help Diagnose Alzheimer's
An estimated 5.7 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer’s disease—the most common type of dementia—and that number is expected to more than double by 2050. Early diagnosis is crucial for patients to benefit from the few therapies available. But no single assay or scan can deliver a conclusive diagnosis while a person is alive; instead doctors have to conduct numerous clinical and neuropsychological tests. So there is growing interest in developing artificial intelligence to identify Alzhei...