Snapchat announces its own integrated chatbot ‘My AI’
Snap has announced its own ChatGPT-style chatbot called ‘My AI,’ rolling out to paying subscribers and eventually everyone. This is billed as more a virtual friend, than all-powerful writing machine. Being ahead of the curve isn’t necessarily always best. In the realm of tech, sitting back and learning from rival...
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Explaining the ‘Atomic Heart’ controversy and links to Russian state
This month’s standout Game Pass title Atomic Heart has been a source of constant controversy since its development. Now, the Ukraine government is calling for Microsoft, Sony, and Valve to ban it. Here’s why. When it comes to gaming controversies surrounding specific titles, feuds are typically fought between publishers and...
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...
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 humanity as we strive to solve our biggest problems. In the ultimate goal of avoiding irreversible shifts to our climate, there...
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 comes to mind? Most of us would probably list buggy, unplayable games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Fallout 76 as the biggest...
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...
