Google AI is helping to combat flying’s stubborn contrail emissions
The thin white clouds that linger behind planes are called contrails, and they’re a significant contributor to flying emissions. Here’s how Google AI is finally helping to address the problem. The small white clouds left behind by airplanes are called contrails – short for condensation trails – and they’re responsible...
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PsychoGenics is using AI to rapidly screen for psychotic treatments
PsychoGenics has developed a drug-discovery application powered by AI technology. Its first objective is to find a formula capable of effectively treating schizophrenia. The development of new drugs is an impressive science, but most cases begin with an educated hunch and a lot of guess work. Around only 1 in 1,000...
UNESCO calls for a global tech detox in schools
The use of technology in schools has become increasingly prevalent in the past few decades. UNESCO’s new report sheds light on the consequences of this reliance. Over the past few decades, technology has become so pervasive that it’s hard to imagine a world without it. It has allowed interconnectivity throughout...
Bacteria is now being used to create endlessly recyclable plastic
Scientists at Berkeley Lab have developed a new way to engineer bacteria to produce raw materials that can be made into plastic. They’re completely recyclable. We probably don’t need to tell you that plastic is bad for the environment. A major polluter that causes significant headaches around the world, plastics...
US companies clamour to hire for ambiguous AI leadership roles
The hottest new job in the US is ‘head of AI’ despite the fact that nobody knows quite what it entails. Is this a ploy to keep senior tech professionals cosy in relevant leadership roles? AI can’t come for our jobs if we get out ahead of it, right? In no...
Are deepfakes convincing enough to create false memories?
A new study has found that watching deepfake videos and reading short text descriptions of made-up remakes can cause people to falsely remember watching non-existent films. Last month, researchers at University College Cork in Ireland published findings from their research into false memories, a study which indicates that the impacts...
Opinion – Has the Threads hype died already?
The arrival of Zuckerberg’s text-based social media platform Threads brought a sudden and fleeting moment of excitement to the digital sphere. Now, over half of the 100 million users who signed up have already stopped checking in. It hasn’t even been a month since the social media app Threads was launched, but a look at its current userbase suggests the platform has already lost its appeal. The text-based app, which...
How the pandemic upended our perception of time
A new paper by cognitive neuroscientist Nina Rouhani has uncovered that isolating to curb the spread of COVID-19 significantly impacted our ability to accurately recall events – findings that are consistent with memory lapses experienced by prison inmates. Though almost everyone agrees that time has been passing very strangely since the pandemic took hold in early 2020, discussing how some days feel eternal while moths appear to be flying...
Scientists resurrect functionally extinct animal frozen for 46,000 years
Scientists have revived microscopic animals from a slumber lasting some 46,000 years. Discovered in Siberian permafrost, researchers believe studying their evolution may show how species will adapt to a rapidly changing world. Microscopic animals hailing from the same prehistoric era as Neanderthals and dire wolves are currently multiplying in a petri dish. Got the heebie-jeebies? Also known as roundworms, the batch of nematodes were awoken from their paralysed state deep within...
Ethiopia restores social media after 5 months of shutdown
Ethiopia has taken a momentous stride towards reinstating communication freedom and reconnecting its citizens with the digital realm by lifting its social media ban after a prolonged five-month shutdown. The restoration of access to popular platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Telegram, and YouTube comes as a welcome relief for millions of Ethiopians who were cut off from the global digital landscape since the government's drastic measure in February. The Ethiopian government imposed...
