The scale of public anger over the automated downgrading of thousands of students’ A-level results highlights how much social and political power algorithmic decision-making now has. As well as students’ grades, algorithms are now deciding all sorts of things that hugely impact ordinary people’s lives, from loan applications to jobContinue Reading
Ascannio/Shutterstock The UK government has begun a trial of its new, revamped COVID-19 contact-tracing app for England, after its previous attempt failed to work as required and raised concerns over privacy. Unlike the previous app, the new version stores information about who each user has come into contact with onContinue Reading
Klein Ongaki Hamdi was just an infant when his relatives first brought him to the Dadaab refugee camp in north-eastern Kenya to be registered as a refugee – despite the fact he was a Kenyan citizen. Like many ethnic Somali citizens of Kenya living in the vicinity of the camp,Continue Reading
The novel coronavirus is affecting our brains, whether we've caught it or not. Teo Tarras/Shutterstock Whether you have contracted COVID-19 or not, your brain is likely to have changed over the past few months. The virus itself can cause a number of neurological problems, along with anxiety and depression. TheContinue Reading
Quantum computers may be more trustworthy. Yurchanka Siarhei/Shutterstock MIP* = RE is not a typo. It is a groundbreaking discovery and the catchy title of a recent paper in the field of quantum complexity theory. Complexity theory is a zoo of “complexity classes” – collections of computational problems – ofContinue Reading
Zoka74/Shutterstock Every time you put on a coat, hug somebody or sit on a sofa you leave behind tiny little fibres from your clothing. You also pick up fibres left behind by other people. This movement of fibres is known as fibre transfer and forensic scientists can use this toContinue Reading
There are over 175 COVID-19 vaccines in development. Almost all government strategies for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic are based on the idea that one of these vaccine candidates will eventually provide widespread protection against the virus and enable us all to return to our normal lives. But there’s noContinue Reading
shutterstock Individualistic western societies are built on the idea that no one knows our thoughts, desires or joys better than we do. And so we put ourselves, rather than the government, in charge of our lives. We tend to agree with the philosopher Immanuel Kant’s claim that no one hasContinue Reading
Tool made out of horse bone. UCL Institute of Archaeology, Author provided Boxgrove in Sussex, England, is an iconic, old stone age site. This is where the oldest human remains in Britain have been discovered – fossils of Homo heidelbergensis. Part of an exceptionally preserved 26km-wide ancient landscape of stone,Continue Reading
Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock, Author provided Young people have probably spent much more of their time than usual playing video games over the last few months thanks to the coronvirus pandemic. One report from telecoms firm Verizon said online gaming use went up 75% in the first week of lockdown in the US.Continue Reading
