Welcome to week 17 of January 2025, the month that seems never to end - however, I have been reliably informed that this IS, in fact, the LAST week of the month so we thought we’d reward you with an exclusive TL;DR Long from Dr Danny Hillis. In this episode, Danny chats about the history of AI, from working with the field’s founding fathers to predictions that have come true, and what we can really expect from AI in the coming years.

In this week of political change, today's TL;DR Tuesday theme is trust, in research and beyond. Professor Venki Ramakrishnan, a Nobel laureate and former President of the Royal Society, now Group Lead of the Structural Studies Division of the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology shares his thoughts on the challenges we face and suggests some solutions to help us overcome them.

We use the term "Global South" a lot, particularly when we are mindful of to better represent the challenges and opportunities of underrepresented researchers and their outputs on the global scale of research. However in this TL;DR Short Joy Owango discusses the challenges of using the term, and whether it may be doing more harm than good.

In an era of rapid scientific progress and rampant misinformation, science journalism plays a crucial role in developing understanding and trust. In our first Speaker Series chat of 2025, and in a month that heralds much political interest in the role of truth and trust in society, Deborah Blum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and director of the Knight Science Journalism program at MIT, discusses the challenges and opportunities in science communication today. From the power of storytelling to the importance of science literacy and equity, Deborah highlights how journalists and scientists can collaborate to bridge the gap between research and society, ensuring science serves all communities and drives meaningful, impactful change.

Every Muppets fan knows that Christmas is all about being revisited by people you've previously encountered. So from 25th December to 5th January we'll be sharing our 12 Days of DSmas. Check back daily as we share a Speaker Series 2024 chat each and every day. Happy Holidays from the Digital Science Thought Leadership Team!