Is Twitter irreplaceable?

+ lake effect snow explained by a climate scientist US Edition - Today's top story: What the world would lose with the demise of Twitter: Valuable eyewitness accounts and raw data on human behavior, as well as a habitat for trolls [View in browser]( US Edition | 19 November 2022 [The Conversation]( There’s nothing like the imminent threat of losing something you’ve taken for granted – and probably complained about – to make you appreciate what you’ve had all along. With Twitter roiling thanks to Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn management style and the resulting loss of more than half of the company’s employees, many users on the microblogging platform are fearing the worst. The potential degradation and even loss of Twitter highlights one of the risks of having mercurial billionaires own and control companies whose products have become essential public services. Having the future of public discourse in the social media age on uncertain footing is unsettling. But while many people are focusing on what Twitter users do on the platform, researchers see another crisis brewing. The enormous number of tweets generated over the past decade or so are a massive trove of data that provides insights into human behavior that can’t be found anywhere else. Michigan State’s Anjana Susarla [lays out what researchers like her, and many other Twitter users, stand to lose]( if the platform were to go under. This week we also liked stories about [math and synchronized fireflies](, the recent [cryptocurrency meltdown and philanthropy](, and the [story lines to watch for in the World Cup](, which starts tomorrow. Eric Smalley Science + Technology Editor Twitter itself produces a lot of data that’s available nowhere else. STR/NurPhoto via Getty Images [What the world would lose with the demise of Twitter: Valuable eyewitness accounts and raw data on human behavior, as well as a habitat for trolls]( Anjana Susarla, Michigan State University If Twitter were to go dark, with it would go a valuable source of data as well as a means of sharing information relied on by activists, journalists, public health officials and scientists. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has lost the fortune he aimed to give away. Craig Barritt/Getty Images for CARE For Special Children [FTX bankruptcy is bad news for the charities that crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried generously supported]( Brian Mittendorf, The Ohio State University The founder of the now-defunct exchange for trading cryptocurrencies believed in ‘earning to give.’ Canadian winds pick up moisture over the Great Lakes, turning it into heavy snowfall on the far shore. NOAA [What is lake-effect snow? A climate scientist explains]( Michael A. Rawlins, UMass Amherst Buffalo is getting socked with a storm expected to dump as much as 5 feet of snow in parts of the region this weekend. Here's how that happens. - [What to watch for when you are watching the World Cup: Essential reads for on and off the field]( Matt Williams, The Conversation Staging the spectacle in Qatar has raised rights issues and concerns about the heat. But away from the controversy, there will be the usual mix of sporting moments, supporters’ joy and heartache. - - [Synchrony with chaos – blinking lights of a firefly swarm embody in nature what mathematics predicted]( Raphael Sarfati, University of Colorado Boulder Synchrony is ubiquitous throughout the universe. But physicists’ equations predicted there could also be erratic exceptions marching to their own beat. Now they’ve been spotted in firefly swarms. - [How young climate activists are making their voices heard at COP27 over Egypt’s protest suppression]( Shannon Gibson, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Activists aren’t necessarily more aggressive than in the past, but they are using creative and sometime shocking new tactics that quickly go viral. - [What Greek myth tells us about modern witchcraft]( - [Why the re-release of iconic porn film ‘Deep Throat’ fizzled]( - [Some midterm polls were on-target – but finding which pollsters and poll aggregators to believe can be challenging]( - [Antisemitism isn’t just ‘Jew-hatred’ – it’s anti-Jewish racism]( - [Health rights for trans people vary widely around the globe – achieving trans bliss and joy will require equity, social respect and legal protections]( - [COVID-19, RSV and the flu are straining health care systems – two epidemiologists explain what the ‘triple threat’ means for children]( The Conversation Quiz 🧠- Here’s the first question of [this week’s edition:]( "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" celebrates the cultures of ____ in its depiction of the fictional kingdom Talokan. - A. 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