Monthly Archives: October 2017

How to master time management as a student

How to master time management as a student

Time management is one of the biggest challenges for students who are trying to strike the right balance between university life, home and work. Without a proper plan to arrange your priorities, it’s hard to stay on track and be organized, especially during the exam period. Whether you’re a full-time, part-time, online or on-campus student, […] … learn more→

Looking after the environment with my canvas tote bag

Looking after the environment with my canvas tote bag

First day of class and I am really comfortable making my way across campus with a canvas tote bag by Ketabags Being an environmental science student I carefully considered my clothing and accessory options before coming to College as I did not want to be looked down on as a fresher. The canvas tote bag […] … learn more→

Does regulating artificial intelligence save humanity or just stifle innovation?

Does regulating artificial intelligence save humanity or just stifle innovation?

Some people are afraid that heavily armed artificially intelligent robotsmight take over the world, enslaving humanity – or perhaps exterminating us. These people, including tech-industry billionaire Elon Musk and eminent physicist Stephen Hawking, say artificial intelligence technology needs to be regulated to manage the risks. But Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg disagree, saying the technology is not nearly advanced enough for […] … learn more→

Telling Chinese students to conform won’t fix cross-cultural issues

Telling Chinese students to conform won’t fix cross-cultural issues

Incidents of Chinese students being offended by Australian lecturershave become a heated topic in the media. Some reports blame lecturers for mentioning sensitive matters (such as the status of Taiwan), others express concerns about preserving the freedom of speech in Australian campuses, and some attribute the students’ reaction to deliberate influence from the Chinese government. Government influence or not, these […] … learn more→

The academic economics war

The academic economics war

I know I pick on Women’s Studies often; I have many issues with this particular field of “study,” namely that it isn’t one. There’s another field that sure looks like it should be a legitimate academic topic, which nevertheless bears even more claim to absolute scorn: economics. It isn’t simply because economics departments succumb to […] … learn more→

Diversity statements aren’t enough to combat implicit bias

Diversity statements aren’t enough to combat implicit bias

As we grapple with regular reminders that the America available to whites is still different from the America available to people of colour, one environment that must be examined is the university classroom and gradebook. Most US universities distribute standardised policies, to be included in all course syllabi, assuring students that their educational environment will […] … learn more→

China bans foreign waste – but what will happen to the world’s recycling?

China bans foreign waste – but what will happen to the world’s recycling?

The dominant position that China holds in global manufacturing means that for many years China has also been the largest global importer of many types of recyclable materials. Last year, Chinese manufacturers imported 7.3m metric tonnes of waste plastics from developed countries including the UK, the EU, the US and Japan. However, in July 2017, China announced big changes […] … learn more→

Google’s new Go-playing AI learns fast, and even thrashed its former self

Google’s new Go-playing AI learns fast, and even thrashed its former self

Just last year Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo took the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by storm, showing that a computer program could beat the world’s best human Go players. But in a demonstration of the feverish rate of progress in modern AI, details of a new milestone reached by an improved version called AlphaGo Zero were published this week in Nature. Using […] … learn more→