• LA fires: Long-term exposure to wildfire smoke is poorly understood − and a growing risk

  Luke Montrose, Colorado State University

  Human bodies aren’t prepared for the toxic chemicals in smoke, and the effects can be harmful in the short term and longterm.

• How America courted increasingly destructive wildfires − and what that means for protecting homes today

  Justin Angle, University of Montana

  In many parts of the US, Americans must learn to live with fire. That means careful decisions on where homes are built and what’s around them, and allowing more low-risk fires to burn.

• This course examines Israeli school division to better understand education policy – and society – in the US

  Ayala Hendin, Washington University in St. Louis

  Israel’s divided education system – based on nationality and religious observance – serves as a test case for exploring controversial education policies in America.

• Community savings groups in Uganda are good stewards of local people’s money – and of outsiders’ funds too, research shows

  Danice Brown Guzmán, University of Notre Dame

  For people without access to banks, community savings groups are a lifeline. New research suggests they’re good stewards of donors’ money, too.

Health + Medicine

• Bird flu flares up again in Michigan poultry – an infectious disease expert explains the risk to humans, chickens, cows and other animals

  Kimberly Dodd, Michigan State University

  Officials have confirmed eight new outbreaks in Michigan poultry flocks since mid-December.

• Biden’s move to remove Cuba from terror list continues ‘yo-yo’ policy likely to be reversed by Trump

  Jason M. Blazakis, Middlebury

  Incoming Trump administration is set to adopt a more hawkish stance on Cuba-US relations – but a more targeted sanctions approach may pressure Havana without hurting the island’s impoverished people.

• White House Office of Science and Technology Policy provides in-house science advice for the president

  Kenneth Evans, Rice University

  Headed by the president’s science adviser, OSTP serves as a one-stop shop for everything science and innovation inside the White House.

• Bezos’ Blue Origin has successfully launched its New Glenn rocket to orbit − a feat 15 years in the making

  Wendy Whitman Cobb, Air University

  Even without recovering New Glenn’s reusable booster, Blue Origin has joined the ranks of commercial companies with rockets able to launch into orbit.

• The Gilded Age novel that helps explain our fascination with Luigi Mangione

  Max Chapnick, Boston University

  Henry James’ ‘The Princess Casamassima’ tells a story of political radicalism in a time of economic inequality. But even James ran up against the limits of putting himself in the mind of a killer.

Podcast

• Silicon Valley’s bet on AI defense startups and what it means for the future of war

  Gemma Ware, The Conversation

  Political theorist Elke Schwarz talks to The Conversation Weekly podcast on her new research about venture capital investment into defence start-ups.