Author: The Conversation

What if we could design a machine that could read your emotions and intentions, write thoughtful, empathetic, perfectly timed responses — and seemingly know exactly what you need to hear? A machine so seductive, you wouldn’t even realise it’s artificial. What if we already have? In a comprehensive meta-analysis, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, we show that the latest generation of large language model-powered chatbots match and exceed most humans in their ability to communicate. A growing body of research shows these systems now reliably pass the Turing test, fooling humans into thinking they are interacting with…

Spotify was started, according to its official claims, because its founders “love music and piracy was killing it”. In Mood Machine, music journalist Liz Pelly argues this is rewriting history. In fact, she points out, Spotify founder Daniel Ek initially patented a platform around 2006, for circulating “any kind of digital content”. Only months later did he and his co-founder decide music might be the most profitable form of content. Ek grew up in a working-class suburb of Stockholm. A neighbour recalled that, while still at school, Ek had set up a website-making business – and was earning more than his teachers. Rejected for…

On April 14, 2025, Blue Origin launched six women – Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, Gayle King, Katy Perry, Kerianne Flynn and Lauren Sánchez – on a suborbital journey to the edge of space. The headlines called it a historic moment for women in space. But as a tourism educator, I paused – not because I questioned their experience, but because I questioned the language. Were they astronauts or space tourists? The distinction matters – not just for accuracy, but for understanding how experience, symbolism, and motivation shape travel today. In tourism studies, my colleagues and I often ask what motivates travel and makes it a…

In sport, the margin between success and failure is often measured in milliseconds. It could be a cricketer adjusting their foot positioning, a runner refining their sprint start or a footballer perfecting their passing. This is where motion capture comes in – among the many approaches being used for athletic performance and movement analysis. Conventional motion capture tracks a person’s movements by using sensors or reflective markers linked to cameras. This provides data that helps sport scientists analyse how to improve an athlete’s performance, personalise their training programme and prevent possible injury. But for decades, motion capture in sport has been…

Half a century after the Apollo astronauts left the last bootprints in lunar dust, the Moon has once again become a destination of fierce ambition and delicate engineering. This time, it’s not just superpowers racing to plant flags, but also private companies, multinational partnerships and robotic scouts aiming to unlock the Moon’s secrets and lay the groundwork for future human return. So far in 2025, lunar exploration has surged forward. Several notable missions have launched toward or landed on the Moon. Each has navigated the long journey through space and the even trickier descent to the Moon’s surface or into orbit with varying degrees of…

Picture this: a small audience is quietly ushered into a darkened room. They gasp in awe, as a brilliant night sky shines above. They wonder – as many after them will do – what trickery has made the roof above their heads disappear? But this is a performance; the stars above an ingenious projection. For the first time a public audience has experienced the spectacle of the opto-mechanical planetarium. The location is the newly opened Deutsches Museum in Munich, built to celebrate science and technology. The date is May 7 1925. Visualising the heavens Throughout time, cultures around the world have…

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are experiencing spectacular growth thanks to the new opportunities they offer for interaction and monetization to fans, clubs and athletes in the sports industry. Platforms such as NBA Top Shot, which allow users to own key moments in basketball as NFTs, generated nearly $500 million in sales and had over 800,000 registered accounts a few years ago. The initial enthusiasm for NFTs quickly faded after scandals over speculation and fraud shook user confidence. For this sector to reach full maturity, there must be stricter regulations and enhanced security practices. Beyond the promises of these new markets, the challenges in terms…

Light is all around us, essential for one of our primary senses (sight) as well as life on Earth itself. It underpins many technologies that affect our daily lives, including energy harvesting with solar cells, light-emitting-diode (LED) displays and telecommunications through fibre optic networks. The smartphone is a great example of the power of light. Inside the box, its electronic functionality works because of quantum mechanics. The front screen is an entirely photonic device: liquid crystals controlling light. The back too: white light-emitting diodes for a flash, and lenses to capture images. We use the word photonics, and sometimes optics, to…

Around 98% of Australian 15-year-olds use social media. Platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram are where young people connect with friends and online communities, explore and express their identities, seek information, and find support for mental health struggles. However, the federal government, seeking to address concerns about young people’s mental health, has committed to ban under-16s from these platforms from later this year. There is no doubt social media presents risks to young people. These include cyberbullying, posts related to disordered eating or self-harm, hate speech, and the basic risk of spending long hours scrolling or “doomscrolling”. But is banning young people really the answer? We reviewed 70 reports from experts in…

The goal of transhumanists is to improve human beings so they will perform better. In doing so, they contribute above all else to creating people perfectly suited to capitalism. It’s important to step back and take a critical look at this movement through the lens of sociology. Why? Because transhumanists seem less interested in promoting any kind of evolution than in radically renouncing politics. That’s where the problem lies. Transhumanism emerged in the early 1990s in the United States. The term refers to an influential movement that unites a diverse group of entrepreneurs, researchers and philosophers who share the same ambition: using technological and…