Labubunomics: The Economics of Pop Mart’s Labubu Craze

Pop Mart’s “ugly-cute” elf Labubu has exploded from niche art toy to global craze, driving revenues to nearly $2 billion in 2024. Whether Labubu becomes a lasting cultural icon or a fleeting fad, Pop Mart has built a powerful model of scarcity, spectacle, and surprise that could outlive its star mascot, writes Gad Allon.

Operations Information and Decisions

Ubiquity of Data

AI Breakthrough May Transform Public Health Campaigns

Public health professionals have long dreamed of mounting evidence-based social media campaigns that can cut through misinformation and resonate with the people who need help. Dolores Albarracín and Man-pui Sally Chan have developed an automated AI system that creates effective social media campaigns in real time.

Communication
Health Management
Nursing
Psychology

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Machine Learning Contest Aims to Improve Speech BCIs

For the next five months, machine learning gurus can try to best predict the speech of a brain-computer interface (BCI) user who lost the ability to speak due to a neurodegenerative disease. The best brain-computer interface algorithms, Konrad Kording said, are “driving from a deep understanding of how machine learning works."

Bioengineering
Neuroscience

Evolution, Emergence and the Brain

Sustainable Computing: Can AI Be Energy Efficient?

As AI advances at breakneck speed, experts at Penn are urgently trying to address new challenges. Arthur van Benthem and Benjamin C. Lee have assembled a multidisciplinary team of scientists, industry professionals, and policy leaders to explore solutions.

Computer and Information Science
Electrical and Systems Engineering

Ubiquity of Data

The Robot Hype Is Real — But So Is the Problem

We’re promised a future of robot helpers and intelligent machines — so where are they? In a recent episode of DEEP Podcast, Vijay Kumar spoke with Ben Kaplan about how AI is reshaping the future of robots, why aerial drones still struggle, what swarm intelligence can teach us, and the real-world impact of robots in medicine.

Computer and Information Science
Electrical and Systems Engineering
Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Ubiquity of Data

How Regulators Can Deal With Political, Social and Technological Disruption

In this interview with the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG), Cary Coglianese discusses the challenges ahead for regulators, the threats and opportunities of AI, building and maintaining trust, and the value of bringing regulators from different sectors together.

Law

Resilience in Networked Systems

AI & Data for Disaster Management

AI for Good at Meta, Direct Relief/CrisisReady, and Duncan Watts' Computational Social Science Lab brought together elected officials, emergency response agencies, researchers, and private sector leaders to explore how cutting-edge AI and novel data sources can enhance disaster preparedness.

Communication
Computer and Information Science
Operations Information and Decisions

Ubiquity of Data

Trump’s AI Plan Calls for Massive Data Centers. Here’s How It May Affect Energy in the US

President Trump’s plan to boost AI and build data centers across the U.S. could speed up a building boom that was already expected to strain the nation’s ability to power it. In a recent AP News article, Benjamin C. Lee shares an informed perspective on how the building of massive data centers will impact the energy needs of the US.

Computer and Information Science
Electrical and Systems Engineering

Ubiquity of Data

Warren Center Affiliates at IC2S2

Twenty-one posters, sessions, tutorials, and keynote talks from Warren Center faculty affiliates appeared at the 11th International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2) in Norrköping, Sweden. A huge congratulations to these affiliates for their impressive research.

Communication
Computer and Information Science
Operations Information and Decisions

Consensus and Contagion in Society

Videos From the Amazon Reveal an Unexpected Animal Friendship

Screenwriters in search of the next Timon and Pumbaa may want to look to the Amazon, where unlikely ocelot-opossum duos have been filmed hanging out together. “We tend to underestimate how much cooperation there is in nature,” said Erol Akçay to the New York Times.

Biology

Ubiquity of Data