Why is space pollution a threat to the future?
Space exploration has served humanity well, offering a means of weather prediction and an ability to study the distant cosmos. However, our passion for science has created significant amounts of space junk. Space junk refers to any debris that is left in space by humans. It is usually comprised of...
Current in Tech
Why Gen Z is the driving force behind Africa’s tech advancements
Gen Z is utilising technology to address some of Africa’s most pressing issues, with a particular focus on sustainability. From renewable energy to waste management, this trend is likely to continue. Gen Z is leading the charge in Africa’s tech revolution. With access to smartphones from childhood, young people have access...
The rise of AI chatbots could create an ecological nightmare
The race for Silicon Valley giants to integrate AI language generators into internet search engines could cause a five-fold demand in computing power and massive carbon emissions. The commercial road-map for AI text generators has now been established. With humble beginnings in recreational uses, like creating original song lyrics, poems,...
Scientists examine Antarctica’s thawing ‘Doomsday Glacier’
Scientists have gotten a first look at what’s thawing away Antarctica's giant Thwaites ice shelf - dubbed the ‘Doomsday Glacier’ due to its huge sea rise potential. There’s positives and negatives to be taken. Sea levels are said to have risen between 21 and 24 centimetres since 1880, and high-tide flooding...
NASA’s graphene battery could overtake lithium in the EV revolution
NASA has been testing a new graphene battery that could one day sustainably power our electric planes and road vehicles. Have we already found the natural progression beyond lithium EV batteries, even though they’ve yet to replace gas? Possibly is the answer. Beyond its space-based endeavours, NASA is occupied with furthering...
Does the post-apocalypse shooter ‘The Day Before’ really exist?
‘The Day Before’ has been billed as a massive online post-apocalypse zombie shooter. It is the second most wish-listed game on Steam and has lapped up serious levels of hype. There’s only one catch – nobody is sure if it actually exists. When I mention video game disasters, what...
Could gene-editing be used to treat mental illness?
Just as the technology is promising new therapies for everything from heart disease to cancer, some researchers believe that tinkering with the epigenome could help reverse the damage done by trauma. In recent years, scientists have made strides towards treating diseases through gene-editing technology, their most promising breakthrough being the discovery of CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats). The essence of CRISPR is simple: it’s a way of...
Could this mushroom one day replace plastic?
Researchers are studying the molecular structure of fomes fomentarius, a fungus with the remarkable ability to yield a wide range of materials with different properties. If you’re familiar with my writing, by now I’m sure you’re well aware of my deep-rooted obsession with all things mycelium. This is pretty understandable, given the amount of recent findings proving that there’s very little these fantastic fungi can’t do. From communicating...
Could clouds of moon dust temper global warming?
Scientists at the University of Utah believe firing millions of tons of moon dust into the atmosphere could help to prevent global warming. The best answer is often the simplest... is a mantra being emphatically shunned by climate scientists at the University of Utah. The group of researchers at the institution have been running computer simulations to test what is undoubtedly the most unorthodox climate mitigation scheme yet: launching millions of...
Google announces ChatGPT rival ‘Bard’ with botched ad
In a few short weeks, Google will be rolling out its AI powered chatbot ‘Bard’ and it has everything to do with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Another has entered the field of battle... and already faltered. Last month, we wrote a story about ChatGPT and questioned whether a coming premium tier of its chatbot would spark an industry-wide scramble for commercial AI. Not to toot our own horn, but we were bang on...
