Joel Abrams

The Conversation U.S. weekly news quiz Test your knowledge with a weekly quiz drawn from some of our favorite stories.

I’m on vacation and didn’t edit @us.theconversation.com’s quiz this week, but apparently I read enough of the news to do pretty well
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theconversation.com/the-conversa...

They are a nonprofit!

We just learned we are the most visited nonprofit news site in the U.S.

The Afternoon Story | The Conversation U.S. | Substack One great story a day from a nonprofit organization that features experts sharing their knowledge and research. It's like having a smart friend you trust explain and analyze the news. Click to read Th...

So @us.theconversation.com started a Substack where all the content is free and the same as what’s on our regular website, and 17 people are paying us for our work after one week. That’s 16 more than I expected.

theconversationus.substack.com?r=1nuxuf

What went wrong at the Houston Landing? “We tried to be too much, too fast, for too many people.”

If you are involved in trying to make nonprofit news sustainable, I wrote and reported this story for you!

So much news that deserves our attention right now, but I hope you'll spend some time with my Houston Landing retrospective for @niemanlab.org (1/3)

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/what...

A Nazi owns Twitter, right wing billionaires own the Wall Street Journal and the LA Times, and CBS is run by a right wing nepo baby who just fired one of the network’s biggest stars for criticizing Donald Trump. Here’s why America has a left-wing media bias problem.

"As a legal scholar who studies how taxes increase the gap in wealth and income between Black and white Americans, I believe the law’s provisions make existing wealth inequalities worse through broad tax cuts that disproportionately favor wealthy families while forcing its costs on low- and middle-income Americans."

The 'big, beautiful bill' will increase inequality in a wide variety of ways, including with provisions that are supposed to help low-income Americans, according to law professor Beverly Moran.

This article is featured in our Substack, "The Afternoon Story" open.substack.com/pub/theconve...

Graphic with text "I don’t think reporters, editors and producers plan to let Donald Trump become their editor-in-chief over the next three years. But we’ll only know by watching."

From the new, free Substack of @us.theconversation.com, a look at Trump's settlements with CBS and ABC, from keen media observer @michaelsocolow.bsky.social
open.substack.com/pub/theconve...

I was hoping that AI would make this whole spam linking process more efficient

Screen shot of an email saying I’m a fan of your work on [Specific Topic]—you consistently provide real value to your readers. I’d love to contribute a guest post that complements your content and engages your audience. If you're accepting submissions, I’d be happy to share a few tailored topic ideas for your review.https://theconversation.com/ Looking forward to the possibility of collaborating! Warm regards, [Your Name]

Even the spammers are getting lazy these days #SEO

So proud of @ashtonpittman.bsky.social for getting how much of a "big deal" it was back in 2020 when I mentioned to him that I was getting reports from Black Mississippians that their polling places were moving or being eliminated at the last minute. We were first media to do this tedious work here.

College has its fair share of boring required classes, but then there are the ones that actually make you think and see the world differently.

If you're into those kinds of courses, check out our Uncommon Courses series.
#HigherEd #Edusky

I procrastinated a bit today and made it #inbox55000

I love to do threads like this once in a while

Social media can support or undermine democracy – it comes down to how it’s designed Social media design influences human behavior, and the Big Tech platforms use it to boost profits – and their owners’ political agendas. Some smaller platforms are using design to support democracy.

Techno-autocrats are reshaping government by using AI, surveillance and social media to censor dissent, spread propaganda and undermine democracy. From China to Russia, and now Silicon Valley, the threat is global, according to a political scientist: theconversation.com/social-media...

I’m a physician who has looked at hundreds of studies of vaccine safety, and here’s some of what RFK Jr. gets wrong The health secretary has made many inaccurate statements about vaccines. But the science is clear that vaccines have dramatically reduced childhood illness, disability and death.

Here's just some of what RFK has gotten wrong from listening to non-experts. Of course, since this article was written by an infectious disease physician, RFK says we should trust random people instead (via @us.theconversation.com) theconversation.com/im-a-physici...

No.
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Nooooooooooo.

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Friday afternoon timewaster -checking my BlueSky stats. Fun fact - apparently, with 3300 followers, I'm in the top 0.4% of accounts

bluefacts.app/profile/joel...

A preservative removed from childhood vaccines 20 years ago is still causing controversy today − a drug safety expert explains There’s no solid evidence that thimerosal harms children. It was removed from almost all vaccines more than 20 years ago out of an abundance of caution, but RFK Jr.’s hand-picked vaccine advisory comm...

So it turns out that a lot of the supposed controversy over 'mercury in #vaccines' comes from folks confusing methylmercury, which is toxic, with ethylmercury, which is not. It's ETHYLMERCURY that was produced by metabolizing the preservative thimerosal.

Concrete homes could revolutionize affordable housing in the US, according to an architecture professor. A new open source precast system allows for quick assembly, energy efficiency, and resilience against extreme weather - all at competitive costs. buff.ly/8azh06v

Thinking of giving up my struggle to stay under #inbox55000

The 287(g) program allowing local police to act as federal #immigration officers in collaboration with ICE has expanded from 135 agreements in 25 states to 628 in 40 states since January. A criminal justice professor explains why this undermines community trust and public safety: buff.ly/M7C8if8

How the US Can Mine its Own Critical Minerals − Without Digging New Holes Rare earth elements are tiny yet essential parts of many of the technologies you use every day. New techniques make their recovery viable.

Important story just dropped on The New Climate from @theconversation.com: 'How the US Can Mine its Own Critical Minerals − Without Digging New Holes' (and, tbf, without bullying vulnerable countries into unfair minerals deals...)

medium.com/the-new-clim...

Squirrel in an uncle Sam hat looking happy, with white dude standing behind him

White Americans aren't the only ones confused about how to mark #Juneteenth (as explained in this article on @us.theconversation.com theconversation.com/whats-the-ri...). So are LLMs. I asked one for a picture of a squirrel celebrating Juneteenth and this is what I got:

I subscribed to the e-edition of a major newspaper, and they opted me in to *7* different email lists.

Yet another crappy user experience in #journalism

(cc @damon.kiesow.net)

I'm sure we're required to have the coverage by statute (and we do), but the agreement is to license text content. There's no subcontractor relationship. I've signed many of these agreements and never seen this before.

This is making me wonder now whether it wasn't lazy lawyering but an LLM

I am perplexed by the clause in a content licensing agreement that requires us to have substantial Workers Compensation insurance, and impressed by this large media corporation's concern for my wellbeing on the job (or not impressed by their lawyers throwing all their boilerplate in)

🏥 Who pays when Medicaid is cut?
Children's health, nursing home care, help for people with disabilities and insurance for 1 in 5 Americans are part of it. After decades of progress and expanding coverage to millions, proposed cuts would be a major setback.

By Ben Zdencanovic, UCLA

Our trans health study was terminated by the government – the effects of abrupt NIH grant cuts ripple across science and society The losses include millions of dollars the NIH has already spent on research that will no longer generate results, and the next generation of scientists whose work has been cut short.

A federally funded study on #trans #mentalhealth was abruptly terminated, despite being rated more highly than 96% of competing projects and being over half completed. #Psychology and sexual health professors explain the effects ripple through science and society: buff.ly/eFZCL4H