Author: The Conversation

“Integrity,” “Professionalism”, “Creativity” — three of many words I used to see around one of the offices I worked in in New York. Like other aspects of corporate culture, these annoyed me. It’s easy to write words in big font on the glass doors of meeting rooms. But it’s something else to embody the qualities they suggest. I didn’t realise it at the time, but what irritated me about these words related to a larger question in the theory of signalling, which deals with the ways different species communicate at a fundamental level. Signals are used by animals to advertise their…

Is our universe all there is, or could there be more? Is our universe just one of a countless multitude, all together in an all-encompassing multiverse? And if there are other universes, what would they be like? Could they be habitable? This might feel like speculation heaped upon speculation, but it’s not as crazy as you might think. My colleagues and I have been exploring what other parts of the multiverse might be like – and what these hypothetical neighbouring universes can tell us about the conditions that make life possible, and how they arise. What-if universes Some physicists contend that a…

From smart watches and meditation apps to digital assistants and social media platforms, we interact with technology daily. And some of these technologies have become an essential part of our social and professional lives. In exchange for access to their digital products and services, many tech companies collect and use our personal information. They use that information to predict and influence our future behaviour. This kind of surveillance capitalism can take the form of recommendation algorithms, targeted advertising and customized experiences. Tech companies claim these personalized experiences and benefits enhance the user’s experience, however the vast majority of consumers are unhappy with these practices, especially after learning how…

ChatGPT has cast long shadows over the media as the latest form of disruptive technology. For some, ChatGPT is a harbinger of the end of academic and scientific integrity, and a threat to white collar jobs and our democratic institutions. How concerned should we be about generative artificial intelligence (AI)? The developers of ChatGPT describe it as “a model… which interacts in a conversational way” while also calling it a “horrible product” for its inconsistent results. It can write emails, summarize documents, review code and provide comments, translate documents, create content, play games, and, of course, chat. This is hardly the stuff of a dystopian future. We should not fear the…

There’s a common perception that artificial intelligence (AI) will help streamline our work. There are even fears that it could wipe out the need for some jobs altogether. But in a study of science laboratories I carried out with three colleagues at the University of Manchester, the introduction of automated processes that aim to simplify work — and free people’s time — can also make that work more complex, generating new tasks that many workers might perceive as mundane. In the study, published in Research Policy, we looked at the work of scientists in a field called synthetic biology, or synbio for…

What images does science conjure up in your mind? You may well be visualising a laboratory, equations scrawled on a blackboard. Figures are surrounded by glassware filled with coloured liquids. Maybe someone, with a slightly furrowed brow, is hunched over a microscope. But what this scene fails to convey is that science isn’t about labs, equipment or highly trained professionals. It’s not even the body of knowledge locked away in great minds or archived within text books and journals. Instead, it’s about having a curious, creative, critical and evidence-based mindset. Which means anyone who uses the scientific method can and…

What would we do if we spotted a hazardous asteroid on a collision course with Earth? Could we deflect it safely to prevent the impact? Last year, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission tried to find out whether a “kinetic impactor” could do the job: smashing a 600kg spacecraft the size of a fridge into an asteroid the size of an Aussie Rules football field. Early results from this first real-world test of our potential planetary defence systems looked promising. However, it’s only now that the first scientific results are being published: five papers in Nature have recreated the impact, and analysed how…

The rapid growth of cryptocurrencies and virtual non-fungible tokens have dominated news headlines in recent years. But not many may see how these modish applications connect together in a wider idea being touted by some as the next iteration of the internet — Web3. There are many misconceptions surrounding this buzzy (and, frankly, fuzzy) term, including the conflation of Web3 with Web 3.0. Here’s what you need to know about these terms. What is Web3? Since Web3 is still a developing movement, there’s no universal agreement among experts about its definition. Simply put, Web3 is envisioned to be a “decentralized web ecosystem,” empowering users to bypass…

We have long been fascinated with the idea of alien life. The earliest written record presenting the idea of “aliens” is seen in the satiric work of Assyrian writer Lucian of Samosata dated to 200 AD. In one novel, Lucian writes of a journey to the Moon and the bizarre life he imagines living there – everything from three-headed vultures to fleas the size of elephants. Now, 2,000 years later, we still write stories of epic adventures beyond Earth to meet otherworldly beings (Hitchhiker’s Guide, anyone?). Stories like these entertain and inspire, and we are forever trying to find out if science fiction will…

It’s hard for many of us to imagine a world without instant, limitless internet access. Some have even argued that it should, alongside access to clean water and electricity, be considered a basic human right. But in fact only 64.4% of the global population as of January 2023 are internet users. Asia and Europe are home to most of the people who are connected. Africa comes in third. However, accessibility varies wildly across the continent. About 66% of people in southern Africa are internet users. In east Africa the figure is 26%; it is just 24% in central Africa. People in rural areas have…