Catch up with Faculty staff in recent media. Providing knowledge and understanding through their writing, speaking, research, and expert comment.
Listings are in staff alphabetical order. Any School items appear at the end of the listings. Please click on the relevant link(s) in each section to access the media item.
Professor Rhodri Cusack, School of Psychology and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN). Research led by a team of neuroscientists from TCIN and the School of Psychology has recently been published in the Nature Neuroscience journal. Professor Rhodri Cusack was team lead of the study, Dr Cliona O’Doherty, now based in Stanford University (USA), was lead author, and Dr Anna Truzzi, now based in Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), was co-author. The groundbreaking research study has found that babies as young as two months old can categorise objects in their brains - much earlier than previously thought. The study has attracted international interest and is the feature of a number of media items:
- Irish Times on 02 February 2026: Babies can categorise objects better at two months than previously known, study finds.
- RTÉ website on 02 February 2026: Babies can categorise objects at two months, TCD-led research reveals.
- RTÉ Radio 1 Morning Ireland on 03 February 2026: Babies can categorise objects at two months, TCD-led research reveals. Professor Cusack explains the research that found two-month-olds can categorise objects in their brain.
- Newstalk Radio on 03 February 2026: Babies can categorise objects better at two months than previously known. Professor Cusack joins Newstalk Breakfast to discuss the research.
- The Independent (UK) on 02 February 2026: 2-month-olds see the world in a more complex way than scientists thought, study suggests.
- Euronews on 03 February 2026: Babies can categorise objects at just two months old, new study finds. The article also includes a helpful short video about the research.
- Please see also the news item on the FAHSS website here.
- The journal article is available to read on open access on the Nature Neuroscience journal website.
Professor Massimo Faggioli, School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies, provides expert comment on the Vatican’s diplomacy and the highly polarised US political landscape on France 24 on 03 February 2026: Faced with Trump, Pope Leo opts for indirect diplomacy.
Dr Nicole Grimes, School of Creative Arts, contributed her expertise as a guest on a radio programme which explored whether Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17 reflects her experience of miscarriage in 1846. Drawing on historical and analytical research, Dr Grimes discussed the chronology of the trio’s composition, clarifying that the work was begun prior to the miscarriage and offering broader context on Clara Schumann’s lived experience of repeated pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing during her marriage to Robert Schumann. BBC Radio 3 Sunday Feature ‘Music and Miscarriage’ (BBC Sounds), on Sunday 01 February 2026. As BBC Sounds is not available in the Republic of Ireland, a copy of the audio file of the programme is available on request by emailing Dr Grimes at Nicole.Grimes@tcd.ie.
Dr Caitríona Leahy, School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies, Dr Norah Campbell, Trinity Business School, and Dr Clare Kelly, School of Psychology, have written an opinion piece on how ‘ChatGPT and other AI tools may seem irresistible. But educators should beware, as they could end up trading away the thing that gives them value - the rich experience of slow learning’. The article is in the Irish Examiner on 05 February 2026: Learning is complex, messy, emotional: AI can’t replicate that.
Dr Claire Moriarty, Visiting Research Fellow, School of Social Sciences and Philosophy and the Trinity Long Room Hub, has written an opinion piece asking, ‘Why do we only talk about alleviating poverty, but not controlling runaway wealth?’ in the Irish Times on 30 January 2026: No, objecting to the enormous wealth of billionaires is not begrudgery.
Professor Taha Yasseri, School of Social Sciences and Philosophy, is quoted in this article about the rise in use of Grokipedia in The Verge on 31 January 2026: ChatGPT isn’t the only chatbot pulling answers from Elon Musk’s Grokipedia. (Subscriber content)