The Best of Our Knowledge #1714: One Year of Webb and Regulating AI in Politics

By Lucas Willard,

Jody Cowan, Paul Tuthill, Pat Bradley

Published July 28, 2023 at 3:00 PM EDT

The first anniversary image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope displays star birth like it’s never been seen before, full of detailed, impressionistic texture. The subject is the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. It is a relatively small, quiet stellar nursery, but you’d never know it from Webb’s chaotic close-up. Jets bursting from young stars crisscross the image, impacting the surrounding interstellar gas and lighting up molecular hydrogen, shown in red. Some stars display the telltale shadow of a circumstellar disk, the makings of future planetary systems.

On this episode of The Best of Our Knowledge: The James Webb Space Telescope has been sending detailed glimpses of the universe to Earth for a year now. A bill in New York State government would require political campaigns disclose when they use artificial intelligence. A library in Springfield, Massachusetts has digitally archived school yearbooks. The Vermont State University system is now in operation.

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The Best Of Our Knowledge

Lucas Willard

Lucas Willard is a news reporter and host at WAMC Northeast Public Radio, which he joined in 2011. He produces and hosts The Best of Our Knowledge and WAMC Listening Party.

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Jody Cowan

One of the newest additions to the WAMC team, Jody Cowan has a naturally curious approach to media production and strong passion for story telling. Jody's work is currently showcased on the shows 51% and The Best of Our Knowledge.

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Paul Tuthill

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.

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Pat Bradley

See stories by Pat Bradley