A cultural war has begun. Continuous, open or hidden, explicit or diverted, it concerns the destiny of all humanity. It concerns knowledge about energy, and more particularly the untruths spread by international “petropowers”. This is evidenced by the insolent success in bookstores of climate-sceptic works which explicitly fuel doubt . The problem? These “petro-knowledges” are delaying collective […] … learn more→

Daron Acemoglu , Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson receive the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics. Their merit? Having contributed to economics in terms of institutions and development. The winners argue that, with the emergence of artificial intelligence, we are facing a social crossroads and propose a way to address it. The ideas of the winners These economists advocate the […] … learn more→

When she passed her PhD viva, literature researcher Ally Louks posted a picture of herself and her thesis on X (formerly Twitter) in November 2024 (see post here). The photo shared her thesis title: “Olfactory Ethics: The politics of smell in modern and contemporary prose”. The post garnered over 11,000 responses, some deeply negative. Louks […] … learn more→

Most of us have heard the phrase “correlation does not equal causation”. But understanding how scientists move beyond identifying correlations to establish causation remains a mystery to many. Finding out what causes a particular outcome is often the primary goal of scientific research, especially in studies relating to our health. We want to know if […] … learn more→

Last week, Ally Louks (now Dr. Louks), an academic at the University of Cambridge, posted a picture of herself on the social media site X with her fresh PhD thesis titled “Olfactory Ethics: The politics of smell in modern and contemporary prose”. The post received a surprising amount of attention – it has been viewed more than […] … learn more→

Online shopping often involves endless options and fleeting discounts. A single search for running shoes can yield hundreds of results across multiple platforms, each promising the “best deal.” The holiday season brings excitement, but it also brings a blend of decision fatigue and logistical nightmares. What if there were a tool capable of hunting for […] … learn more→

Ever since the American Dialect Society selected a Word of the Year at its conference in 1990, over half a dozen English dictionaries have anointed an annual word or phrase that’s meant to encapsulate the zeitgeist of the prior year. In 2003, the publisher of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary began bestowing a crown. On Dec. 9, 2024, it selected […] … learn more→

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often presented as the next revolution that will change our lives. Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, generative AI has generated real excitement worldwide. In 2023, NVidia, a key player in the manufacture of chips used to train AI models, exceeded $1 trillion in market valuation. In France, a €900 million investment […] … learn more→

The number of people who read for fun appears to be steadily dropping. Fifty percent of UK adults say they don’t read regularly (up from 42% in 2015) and almost one in four young people aged 16-24 say they’ve never been readers, according to research by The Reading Agency. But what are the implications? Will people’s […] … learn more→

In late November, Australia’s federal parliament passed landmark legislation banning under-16s from accessing social media. Details remain vague: we don’t have a complete list of which platforms will fall under the legislation, or how the ban will look in practice. However, the government has signalled that trials of age assurance technologies will be central to its enforcement […] … learn more→