Last week the worlds richest person, Elon Musk, launched an AI-powered competitor to Wikipedia, named… *drum roll please* … Grokipedia. To the absolute surprise of no one, it’s already been deemed a flop by scholars who say the majority of the ‘facts’ on its webpage are inaccurate or completely false. They state that the problem with resources built by AI lies in the fact that AI models are incapable of prioritising serious academic sources over chatroom contributions, ultimately granting them both equal status. Basically, ‘AI just hoovers up everything.’ When we already have an excellent open source resource like Wikipedia – which is created and edited by volunteers worldwide, following established policies for neutrality, verifiability, and sourcing – do we really need a janky AI version of it such as Grokipedia? Elon Musk was encouraged to launch the platform by Donald Trump’s teach advisor, David Sacks, who is wholly anti-Wikipedia due to it being ‘hopelessly biased’ and built by ‘an army of left-wing activists’. But whatever your political stance, it’s worth considering whether we should really be using a platform that lacks legit sources and transparency, all while expecting the same level of trust from its users.
Scientists use smartwatch data and AI to detect heart damage – financial times
What if your Apple Watch could recognise an issue with your heart long before any symptoms started to appear? Scientists are realising that it probably can. Taking advantage of the immense cardiological data collected by wearable health devices, researchers say that they may be able to offer a more clear picture of heart heath than periodic tests taken during doctors’ visits. One preliminary study, soon to be presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2025, paired an AI algorithm with the single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors on a smartwatch to accurately diagnose structural heart diseases, such as weakened pumping ability, damaged valves, or thickened heart muscle. It was the first prospective study to show that an AI algorithm can detect multiple structural heart diseases based on measures taken from a single-lead ECG sensor on the back and digital crown of a smartwatch. Though the researchers say more integrations and tests on the AI algorithm are needed, if successful, this new analytic method could offer a huge step forward in preliminary care of the future – especially because everyone and their mama seems to be wearing a health-tracking device these days.
Ladies, gentlemen, boys, girls, gays, bis, and straights are freaking out over Lily Allen’s new album West End Girl… and rightly so. Over fourteen salacious and deliciously-poppy tracks, Allen reads her now ex-husband for absolute filth. And while it might not be the most responsible move, you gotta say, it is damn entertaining. If you aren’t caught up, the story (from Allen’s side, of course) is that her husband broke their agreement to limit his affairs outside of their open marriage to strangers… and only strangers. While the album is surely a bop, our writer Charlie Coombs poses a few valid questions which I shall paraphrase here. Firstly, is our girl Lily Allen taking defamation to a whole new, unfair level? Secondly, even though she’s understandably pissed and hurt, is that the right (or even necessary) thing to do? And lastly, should people with a history of having dirty hands point their fingers so daringly and publicly? Look, I already had an hour long debate about this with my boyfriend, so drop your thoughts and comments below. You might want to give this article a read beforehand, though, as I probably definitely haven’t done Mr. Coombs’ article enough justice. Mwah!
What TikTok’s ‘bird theory’ reveals about your relationship – nyt
The TikTok-verse has found yet another way for you to overthink about whether you’re actually dating your ‘forever person,’ and this time it’s called The Bird Theory. It goes like this: one partner points out a bird (or something that happened earlier in the day) to the other and waits for a response. If the partner responds with curiosity, that’s a green flag. If they don’t? Well, DUMP HIM ALREADY!!!!! (Just kidding. Seriously.) The test is intended to measure a partner’s willingness to respond, in what the super-famous clinical psychologist and marriage researcher John Gottman calls ‘bids for connection’. Dr. Gottman says that the happiest couples willingly and regularly acknowledge the many bids offered to them by the partner throughout the day. A classic study of his concluded that couples who stay married turn toward each other’s bids around 86 percent of the time; while those who split up do so only 33 percent of the time. Relationship experts say that the virality of ‘bird theory’ videos online indicates society’s serious collective desire to understand what makes intimate connections fail or thrive, but concede that tests like these rarely offer genuine insight into the health of a serious relationship. ‘If they fail the test, I hope that people don’t take that as a sign that the relationship is doomed,’ Dr. Carrie Cole, the director of research at the Gottman Institute, told the New York Times. ‘I hope they would see it as an opportunity for a deeper conversation about getting their needs met.’
On Sunday night, former military prosecutor Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi was arrested by Israeli police after she leaked a video appearing to show multiple soldiers sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee. Rather than condemning the behaviour of Israeli soldiers in the video, the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the leaking of the video the most ‘severe public relations attack’ on Israel since its founding. The surveillance camera footage indicated that soldiers had committed illicit acts behind multiple shields held up by troops. The video was picked up by several media outlets, triggering international outrage and protests within Israel. The Israeli military said in February that it had filed charges against five reservist soldiers connected with the incident. They were charged with ‘acting against the detainee with severe violence, including stabbing the detainee’s bottom with a sharp object, which had penetrated near the detainee’s rectum… causing severe physical injury to the detainee, including cracked ribs, a punctured lung and an inner rectal tear’. Tomer-Yerushalmi is being held on suspicion of offences including fraud, breach of trust and obstruction of justice. An investigation into the leak of the video is ongoing while she is held in a women’s prison in central Israel.
German exhibition invites visitors to ‘nose’ history through smell – euronews
It’s no secret that certain scents can help us mentally time travel to different eras of our lives, uncovering old memories and sensations we’d thought we’d forgotten. But what if they could also help us imagine ourselves in a different point in history entirely? How about on the front lines of world wars, a flowery garden during the Renaissance, or caught in the middle of a love triangle in the Victorian era? A new exhibition in Dusseldorf is hoping to bring that experience to its visitors. The Secret Power of Scents features over 81 distinct fragrances across 37 galleries, taking visitors on a journey spanning a millennium of smells. It is described as ‘a thousand-year voyage across cultural history and the fragrances that accompanied it’. The exhibit includes scents from a World War I frontline – a mixture of blood, gunpowder and sulphur. Your typical street in medieval Paris – made up of sewage, mould, and unwashed bodies. And while this it all might sound pretty bleak so far, there are some true delights in store: luxurious and delicious smells that have stayed popular throughout the ages, including iconic designer perfumes, and scents that celebrate the early days of the feminist movement.
Talk of Apple Music’s higher music quality piqued my interest, along with its lower cost and less cluttered interface, so I bit the bullet and got a free trial. Let me tell you.. that sound quality is real – even though the word on the street is that most people can’t actually hear a difference… I can! Apple Music’s design also seems to encourage users to listen to albums in full instead of just flicking through playlists, which I find refreshing.
So it might be official. I think I’m an Apple Music girl. If you’re at all curious, I suggest you Google for a 1-month free trial and try it for yourself. No pressha, it’s just my totally optional rec this week. 💋
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Speak to you soon,
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