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!

In this TL;DR Shorts episode, we're looking to the future: Nobel laureate and former president of the Royal Society Venki Ramakrishnan talks about how new technologies are enabling the future of biology research.

In this week's TL;DR Shorts episode, we hear from Dr Scott Heimlich, President of the Amgen Foundation and Executive Director at Amgen, about the importance of engaging with and empowering all communities impacted by the outcomes of research that go beyond a company mission, such as through an organisation's charitable giving in response to a disaster, or through supporting community engagement by employees with a broad range of groups.

For me, the countdown to Christmas means three things - excitement, new gadgets, and an almost daily dose of Disney in one form or another. So, since it's December, let's tick off a hattrick of all three of those boxes with this special extra-long conversation with Dr Danny Hillis - inventor, innovator, and the founder of Applied Invention. Want to avoid that annual appraisal or procrastinate around your 2025 planning? Grab a drink and a chocolate orange, and spend 50 minutes hearing from the legend that developed the knowledge graph that provides the foundations for Google Search.

Last week, Suze attended the AI for Science Forum, a gathering of incredible minds from across disciplines, each sharing perspectives on how AI is transforming research and impacting society. Organised by Google DeepMind and The Royal Society, the event brought together invited guests from across all segments of the research community to share their experiences and expertise, while also giving opportunities for attendees to meaningfully discuss how we can best wrangle this novel technology to increase the impact and reach of research with the resources currently at our disposal. Here's a reflection on the day's proceedings.

In this week's TL;DR Shorts episode, Joy Owango discusses the importance of open infrastructures in improving the persistence and visibility of ALL research information from across the world to better include and impact all of society.