Deepfakes now a political weapon in the Ukrainian war
The use of deepfakes in politics has insofar been rare. But in the last week, two deepfakes related to the war in Ukraine have emerged online. Just days ago, a doctored video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began making rounds on social media. It also found its way onto a...
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New research suggests fungi may be communicating with ‘words’
As if they weren’t magical enough, scientists have discovered that mushrooms are potentially talking to each other using a bountiful vocabulary which bears a striking structural similarity to human speech. If you aren’t a stranger to my writing, by now I’m sure you’re well aware of my deep-rooted obsession with...
Ukraine moves to digitally preserve its national landmarks
Amid the continued conflict with Russia, Ukraine is moving to digitally preserve its national landmarks in case of potential damage or destruction. Crowdsourced Polycam scans are helping to build detailed renderings for future restorations. Crowdsourced material is becoming increasingly important for Ukrainians amid Russia’s invasion. Some of those who’ve remained within...
Asteroid mining start-up to raise funds through NFTs
There are several ambitious space initiatives in the works as we speak, and many of them have one thing common: they’re attempting to raise seed funding through NFTs. ExLabs hopes a crypto injection will facilitate its asteroid mining explorations. Since the turn of the year, a host of space start-ups...
Tiny particles of plastic have been found in human blood
An ‘extremely concerning study’ has detected microplastic pollution in human blood for the first time, with scientists warning that the long-term consequences are not yet known. Just when you thought our plastic pollution problem couldn’t get any worse, a recent study has detected tiny particles of the stuff in...
VICE launches specially designed virtual Metaverse offices
Danish architecture firm BIG has created virtual office spaces for VICE, which it calls the Viceverse. The launch demonstrates the potential for mainstream use of the Metaverse. It seems we may finally be entering the real-life Matrix. Okay, that may be a little melodramatic, but the Metaverse’s continual growth in popularity...
Bots are now hijacking users’ collaborative Spotify playlists
Just when you thought Spotify was the last peaceful place left on the Internet, bots have begun taking over the platform. Remember the days when we exchanged music by carefully curating tracks and burning them onto blank CDs, with track names, doodles, or handwritten notes on the surface of them in Sharpie? If you’re from the latter half of Gen-Z, you might not – but for the rest of us, this...
You can now place your NFTs in a real-life display
Bought yourself an NFT and want to show it off in your own home? You can now purchase a real display that will broadcast each NFT from various angles, like a moving picture frame. NFTs are questionable - both environmentally and economically - but that won’t stop the market from booming. This new ‘NFT Display’ by Tokenframe is the latest product to demonstrate the explosive popularity of cryptocurrency and...
Hacktivists up the ante in ‘cyberwar’ against Russia
Hacktivist groups are continuing to punish Russia with a multi-pronged digital assault. Last week, decentralised groups released some 820GB of sensitive files, crashed the Moscow Stock Exchange website, and hijacked live Russian TV broadcasts. Whether you cheered or rolled your eyes at its declaration of ‘cyberwar,’ the rogue hacker outfit Anonymous has returned to make trouble for Russia. Back in late February, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced the formation...
Twitter’s new ‘Tor’ service can circumvent state internet censorship
In regions where Twitter is partially or completely restricted, a new ‘Tor’ service could soon allow people to circumvent censorship measures. This won’t be well received by certain government figures, but is a big win for online democracy. Twitter claims this move had been in the works since 2014, but the timing seems awful convenient. This week, the social media giant has announced plans to launch a version of Twitter that...
