Author: The Conversation

In an effort to reverse the flood of abuse on the platform, Twitter is rolling out a new feature which will show a self-moderation prompt to users who compose replies that the platform’s algorithms recognise to be abusive. The prompt effectively asks users to think twice before posting an abusive message. Because it compels users to rethink and reflect on abusive tweets, Twitter’s new self-moderation prompt could be a promising step away from fast and furious social media posting and towards a more considered slow media – or “slowcial media”. Twitter’s new feature This isn’t the first time Twitter has trialled and released “nudges” aimed at…

China’s rover Zhurong, named after the mythological fire god, successfully touched down on Mars on May 14 – the first time that China has successfully landed a rover on the red planet. On May 19, China’s National Space Administration issued the first images the rover had taken on Mars. After a summer of Mars launches in 2020, and with 2021 shaping up to be a successful one for landers and orbiters, it might seem like landing on Mars is routine. Yet to understand why a first successful landing is such a huge achievement, we need to look back at the…

We have developed and tested a secure new computer processor that thwarts hackers by randomly changing its underlying structure, or shape-shifting, thus making it virtually impossible to hack. Last summer, 525 security researchers spent three months trying to hack our Morpheus processor as well as others. All attempts against Morpheus failed. This study was part of a program sponsored by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Program Agency to design a secure processor that could protect vulnerable software. DARPA released the results on the program to the public for the first time in January 2021. A processor is the piece of computer hardware that runs software programs.…

An estimated 73.4 million people will be using wearable technologies in the United States by 2022. Wearables are smart electronics that can be worn on different parts of the body. The most popular smart device is the smartwatch. An important characteristic of wearable technology is that they are easy to acquire and thus they can be used almost anywhere. This convenience and adaptability means that smartwatches are used in a variety of circumstances, including while driving a car. Safety while using a smartwatch use is an issue for both smartwatch users and those around them. One in six Americans owns a smartwatch that…

Modern transhumanism is the belief that, in the future, science and technology will enable us to transcend our bodily confines. Scientific advances will transform humans and, in the process, eliminate ageing, disease, unnecessary suffering, and our earthbound status. Artistic representations of humans uploading their minds to cybernetic devices or existing independently of their bodies abound. In Altered Carbon (2018-2020) we are introduced to a future where human consciousness can be downloaded onto devices called “cortical stacks”. This technology reduces physical bodies to temporary vehicles or “sleeves” for these storage devices which are implanted and swapped between various bodies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8PsZki6NGU&feature=emb_logo The Matrix (1999, 2003) depicts…

When you think of micro- or nanotechnology, you likely think of small electronics like your phone, a tiny robot or a microchip. But COVID-19 tests – which have proven to be central to controlling the pandemic – are also a form of miniaturized technology. Many COVID-19 tests can give results within hours without the need to send a sample to a lab, and most of these tests use an approach called microfluidics. I am a professor of bioengineering and work with microfluidics for my research. Everything from pregnancy tests to glucose strips to inkjet printers to genetic tests rely on microfluidics. This technology,…

Apple recently launched the latest version of its operating system, iOS 14.5, which features the much-anticipated app tracking transparency function, bolstering the tech giant’s privacy credentials. But iOS 14.5 also introduced support for the new Apple AirTag, which risks doing the opposite. For the uninitiated, an AirTag is a small device (similar to a Tile) that can be attached to personal items such as keys, wallets or luggage. The tag periodically sends messages that can be used to track its location, letting you find any lost or missing items with the help of an app. While clearly useful, AirTags can also potentially be misused. Concerns…

The pandemic has challenged and changed how most people date and hookup. “Monogamy is preferable at this time,” said Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s National Director of Public Health, during the height of the first wave. Government-imposed physical distancing measures, stay-at-home orders and other public health initiatives resulted in a shift toward online dating. This shift has increased the number of dating app users and the amount of time people spend on dating apps. Tinder says its users had 11 per cent more swipes and 42 per cent more matches last year, making 2020 the app’s busiest year. Since dating apps were created to help people…

Data breaches have become common, and billions of records are stolen worldwide every year. Most of the media coverage of data breaches tends to focus on how the breach happened, how many records were stolen and the financial and legal impact of the incident for organizations and individuals affected by the breach. But what happens to the data that is stolen during these incidents? As a cybersecurity researcher, I track data breaches and the black market in stolen data. The destination of stolen data depends on who is behind a data breach and why they’ve stolen a certain type of data. For…

Tesla’s relationship with cryptocurrencies has been a stop-start rollercoaster. In February, the electric vehicle manufacturer announced it had purchased US$1.5 billion (£1.1 billion) of bitcoin and planned to accept the cryptocurrency in future as a means of payment from its customers. The price of the largest cryptocurrency surged that day from just over US$39,000 to US$46,000, on its way to an all-time high of almost US$65,000 in April – and a paper profit of well over US$1 billion for Tesla. Fast-forward a few short weeks and the situation has changed entirely. First came the news in late April that Tesla had sold 10% of its bitcoin…