Author: The Conversation

The online world is continuously expanding — always aggregating more services, more users and more activity. Last year, the number of websites registered on the “.com” domain surpassed 150,000,000. However, more than a quarter of a century since its first commercial use, the growth of the online world is now slowing down in some key categories. We conducted a multi-year research project analysing global trends in online diversity and dominance. Our research, published today in Public Library of Science, is the first to reveal some long-term trends in how businesses compete in the age of the web. We saw a dramatic consolidation…

You decide to call a store that sells some hiking boots you’re thinking of buying. As you dial in, the computer of an artificial intelligence company hired by the store is activated. It retrieves its analysis of the speaking style you used when you phoned other companies the software firm services. The computer has concluded you are “friendly and talkative.” Using predictive routing, it connects you to a customer service agent who company research has identified as being especially good at getting friendly and talkative customers to buy more expensive versions of the goods they’re considering. This hypothetical situation may…

For most people, getting to the stars is nothing more than a dream. On April 28, 2001, Dennis Tito achieved that lifelong goal – but he wasn’t a typical astronaut. Tito, a wealthy businessman, paid US$20 million for a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to be the first tourist to visit the International Space Station. Only seven people have followed suit in the 20 years since, but that number is poised to double in the next 12 months alone. NASA has long been hesitant to play host to space tourists, so Russia – looking for sources of money post-Cold War in the 1990s and…

Apple users across the globe are adopting the latest operating system update, called iOS 14.5, featuring the now-obligatory new batch of emojis. But there’s another change that’s arguably less fun but much more significant for many users: the introduction of “app tracking transparency”. This feature promises to usher in a new era of user-oriented privacy, and not everyone is happy — most notably Facebook, which relies on tracking web users’ browsing habits to sell targeted advertising. Some commentators have described it as the beginnings of a new privacy feud between the two tech behemoths. https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1386708158870167553? So, what is app tracking transparency? App tracking…

Contact lenses are the result of an accidental discovery made during the Second World War. Ophthalmologist Harold Ridley noticed that despite acrylic plastic shrapnel shards becoming embedded in the eyes of fighter pilots, it did not appear to cause any harm. This finding eventually led to the creation of hard intraocular lenses for the treatment of cataracts. Over the years, new scientific discoveries have led to softer and more comfortable contact lenses. And now, research bringing together chemistry, biology and microelectronics is resulting in contact lenses that are straight out of science fiction. Current research Researchers at the Hong Kong University…

The EU looks set to ban some of the most concerning forms of artificial intelligence (AI), such as the “social credit” surveillance system used in China, according to draft AI regulations published by the bloc. The proposed regulations, which will be reviewed by elected representatives before passing into law, will also bring some comfort to those outraged by instances of bias and discrimination generated by AI. These include hiring algorithms found to systematically downgrade women’s professional profiles, and flawed facial recognition technology that has led police to wrongfully arrest black people in the US. Such AI applications are regarded by the EU as high-risk, and will be subject to tight…

Science is about big ideas that change the world. But sometimes, big impacts come from the tiniest of objects. Nanotechnology might sound like science fiction, but it represents technologies that have been developed for decades. Nanotechnological approaches have found real-world applications in a wide range of areas, from composite materials in textiles to agriculture. Agriculture is one of the oldest human inventions, but nanotech provides modern innovations that could dramatically improve the efficiency of our food supply and reduce the environmental impact of its production. Agriculture comes with costs that farmers are only too familiar with: Crops require substantial amounts of water, land…

Aristotle called humans “the social animal,” and people have recognized for centuries that young people need to be in communities to develop into healthy adults. The ongoing pandemic has caused concern about the effects of isolation on children and teenagers’ social and psychological growth. But while young people today may not be able to gather in person as often as they’d like, they aren’t necessarily isolated. They have long used online communities to explore their identities and conduct their social lives. They’re involved in anonymous hip-hop discussion forums, ADHD support groups on Facebook, biology class group chats on Instagram and comments…

History has been made on Mars: NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter just achieved the first powered and controlled flight on another planet. Ingenuity is a small, lightweight, drone-like helicopter that was carried on the Perseverance rover. They launched from Earth together in July 2020 and landed on Mars on Feb. 19, 2021. Ingenuity’s sole mission is to demonstrate that flight on another planet is feasible. In the early morning of April 19, Ingenuity spun up its rotors, climbed to a height of three metres where it hovered for about 30 seconds, performing a rotation while doing so, and then safely landed back on the…

The recent crash of a Tesla car in the United States, in which two people died, has reignited debate about the capabilities and safety of today’s “self-driving” technologies. Tesla cars include an “autopilot” feature which monitors surrounding traffic and lane markings, and the company is currently rolling out a more advanced “full self-driving” system which promises automatic navigation, stopping at traffic lights, and more. Investigators say it appears nobody was in the driver’s seat of the vehicle when it crashed. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has said no self-driving features were in use at the time. Nonetheless, the tragic incident has raised questions over self-driving technology:…