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Abstract Computational systems, including machine learning, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics, are not only inescapable parts of social life but are also reshaping the contours of law and legal practice. We propose turning more law and social science (LSS) attention to new technological developments through the study of “law in computation,” that is, computational systems' integration with regulatory and administrative procedures, the sociotechnical infrastructures that support them, and their impact on how individuals and populations are interpellated through the law. We present a range of cases in three areas of inquiry ‐ algorithmic governance, jurisdiction and agency ‐ on issues such as immigration enforcement, data sovereignty, algorithmic warfare, biometric identity regimes, and gig economies, for which examining law in computation illuminates how new technological systems' integration with legal processes pushes the distinction between “law on the books” and “law in action” into new domains.We then propose future directions and methods for research. As computational systems become ever more sophisticated, understanding the law in computation is critical not only for LSS scholarship, but also for everyday civics. 

Abstract Contamination of high‐touch surfaces with infected droplets of bodily secretions is a known route of virus transmission. Copper surfaces have been reported to inactivate human coronaviruses after several minutes, via the release of Cu cations. Utilization of copper alloys for high‐touch surfaces can be a pivotal preemptive strategy for preventing the next pandemic. Understanding the true efficacy by which copper, and copper alloys, inactivate the virus under realistic conditions is essential for tuning intrinsic alloy features such as composition, grain orientation, and surface attributes, to optimize for antiviral function. However, virus inactivation measurements depend on the presence of an assay media (AM) solution as a carrier for the virus, and its effects on the surface properties of pure copper that regulate oxidative copper release are previously unknown. Herein, these properties and the influence of AM on the efficacy of virus inactivation occurring on the surface of pure copper are investigated. The process is uncovered by which a five‐fold decrease in virus half‐life is observed in simulated real‐life conditions, relative to exposure to traditional AM. The investigation highlights the notion that virus inactivation on copper surfaces may be significantly more effective than previously thought.