Author: The Conversation

There’s an awkward, irksome problem with our understanding of nature’s laws which physicists have been trying to explain for decades. It’s about electromagnetism, the law of how atoms and light interact, which explains everything from why you don’t fall through the floor to why the sky is blue. Our theory of electromagnetism is arguably the best physical theory humans have ever made – but it has no answer for why electromagnetism is as strong as it is. Only experiments can tell you electromagnetism’s strength, which is measured by a number called α (aka alpha, or the fine-structure constant). The American physicist…

Not long ago, FTX was one of the world’s largest trading platforms for cryptocurrencies. Founded in 2019, the Bahamas-based crypto exchange had a meteoric rise to prominence, and was valued at more than US$30 billion earlier this year. All that has changed in the past two weeks. First, concerns emerged about links between FTX and an asset-trading firm called Alameda Research, including suggestions that customers’ funds have been transferred from FTX to Alameda. A few days later, rival firm Binance (the biggest crypto exchange) announced it would sell its holdings of FTT tokens, a crypto that reportedly comprises much of Alameda’s assets. Panicked customers rushed to withdraw funds from FTX, and…

Wearable devices that can record your pulse can be handy for tracking your fitness – but can you really use them to monitor for an irregular heartbeat? The short answer is maybe, and it depends on who you are. These devices are great, but there are some things you need to know. Several large studies have been carried out to examine how well wearables can check for signs of a common heart rhythm problem called “atrial fibrillation”, which can lead to strokes. In a new Frontiers review published in Circulation, we and our colleagues in the AF-Screen International Collaboration weighed up the current…

In the second season of BBC mystery thriller The Capture, deepfakes threaten the future of democracy and UK national security. In a dystopia set in present day London, hackers use AI to insert these highly realistic false images and videos of people into live news broadcasts to destroy the careers of politicians. But my team’s research has shown how difficult it is to create convincing deepfakes in reality. In fact, technology and creative professionals have started collaborating on solutions to help people spot bogus videos of politicians and celebrities. We stand a decent chance of staying one step ahead of fraudsters.…

Here are two common ways of thinking about democracy in the online era. First, the internet is a liberation technology and will usher in an era of global democracy. Second, you can have social media or democracy, but not both. Which is more correct? There is no doubt democracy is in retreat around the globe. Even supposedly stable democracies have recently seen events incompatible with democracy and the rule of law, such as the violent assault on the US Capitol in 2021. To understand the role of social media in this process, we carried out a systematic review of the evidence linking social media to ten indicators…

In the wake of Elon Musk closing the deal to buy Twitter on October 27 and soon after firing the management, users have been reconsidering the platform. Hashtags #TwitterMigration and #TwitterExodus are gaining popularity, and the most common name found in conjunction with it is Mastodon – the new home for fleeing tweeters. In fact, Mastodon is not that new. It was launched in October 2016 by German software developer Eugen Rochko, spurred on by his dissatisfaction with Twitter and his concerns over the platform’s centralised control. After its 15 minutes of fame in early 2017, Mastodon’s growth slowed to a crawl. Now, it’s on the upswing again – more…

Following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter on October 27, the world’s richest man proposed a range of controversial changes to the platform. With mounting evidence that he is making it up as he goes along, these proposals are tweeted out in a stream-of-consciousness manner from Musk’s Twitter account. Primarily to raise revenue, one of the ideas was to charge US$8 a month to obtain a verified status – that is, the coveted blue tick badge next to the account handle. Within the space of a few days, the paid verification change has already been rolled out in several countries, including Australia, under the Twitter Blue subscription service.…

The big idea People who consume a lot of news on social media are more likely to be skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines and also more hesitant about getting vaccinated, according to our newly published research. But we found that social media users with higher levels of news literacy have more confidence in COVID-19 shots. Other research has found that heavy reliance on social media exposed individuals to misinformation related to COVID-19, especially on the efficacy of vaccines. In the thick of the pandemic in 2020, we measured how skeptical social media users were about the development of a safe and effective COVID-19…

A dominant view in science is that there is a mathematical truth structuring the universe. It is assumed that the scientist’s job is to decipher these mathematical relations: once understood, they can be translated into mathematical models. Running the resulting “silicon reality” in a computer may then provide us with useful insights into how the world works. Since science keeps on revealing secrets, models keep getting bigger. They integrate discoveries and newly found mechanisms to better reflect the world around us. Many scholars assume that more detailed models produce sharper estimates and better predictions because they are closer to reality. But our…

Millions of Australians have had their privacy breached in recent cyber attacks against Optus, Medibank and other companies. Cybercriminals stole sensitive health and financial data that can be used for ransom, blackmail or fraud. Law enforcement agencies are still investigating the origin of these attacks, but as experts in cyber and national security we can say two things are already clear. First, anyone affected should check their credit record. Second, Australia’s international cyber engagement strategy – which sets the terms for how we work with other countries to maintain national cybersecurity – is desperately in need of an update. How to turn data into credit…