A young woman posts a video of herself crying on TikTok, without giving many details. Someone on Instagram shares a long post about a breakup or a personal crisis. An influencer reveals their mental health diagnosis in a live stream. These are recurring scenes, with different faces and nuances, but the same underlying dynamic: publicly displaying personal […] … learn more→

The government has recently released its national youth strategy, which promises better career advice for young people in England. It’s sorely needed: for teenagers today, the future of work probably feels more like a moving target than a destination. Barely three years after ChatGPT went mainstream, the labour market has already shifted under young people’s […] … learn more→

If we were to ask people on the street for the name of a scientist, the answers would mostly be divided between Albert Einstein , Marie Curie , Isaac Newton , Stephen Hawking and local scientists, such as Santiago Ramón y Cajal , or those who appeared in films, such as Robert Oppenheimer . According to some polls , the first four would get approximately between 60% and […] … learn more→

American psychologist Mark Davis defines empathy as the ability to perceive the mental and emotional states of others, to adjust to them, and to take them into account in one’s behavior. Researchers distinguish between two aspects: cognitive empathy, based on understanding intentions, and affective empathy, linked to sharing feelings. This distinction, central to social psychology, shows that […] … learn more→

People often see science as a world apart: cool, rational and untouched by persuasion or performance. In this view, scientists simply discover truth, and truth speaks for itself. But history tells a different story. Scientific theories do not simply reveal themselves; they compete for attention, credibility and uptake. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. once suggested […] … learn more→

Dr. R. E. Search, PhD Professor and Specialist in Academic Wellbeing & Sustainable Scholarship The Institute for Sensible Research Practices Date: December 2024 To Whom It May Concern: This is to certify that I have examined the patient group known collectively as “Researchers and Doctoral Candidates” and have diagnosed the following acute conditions requiring immediate intervention: […] … learn more→

Reducing the visibility of polarizing content in social media news feeds can tangibly decrease partisan hostility. To reach this conclusion, my colleagues and I developed a method for modifying the ranking of posts in news feeds , an operation previously limited to social media platforms. The readjustment of feeds to limit exposure to posts expressing anti-democratic attitudes […] … learn more→

For many years, this postcard was taped to my office door: It’s funny because it’s true. The machines really do talk about us behind our backs. Machines talking to machines helped me pay for the delicious cardamom buns I bought from the new branch of Under bakery this morning: OK, technically I was watching while the machine […] … learn more→

A fake photo of an explosion near the Pentagon once rattled the stock market. A tearful video of a frightened young “Ukrainian conscript” went viral: until exposed as staged. We may be approaching a “synthetic media tipping point”, where AI-generated images and videos are becoming so realistic that traditional markers of authenticity, such as visual flaws, are rapidly disappearing. In […] … learn more→

In the past decade, AI’s success has led to uncurbed enthusiasm and bold claims – even though users frequently experience errors that AI makes. An AI-powered digital assistant can misunderstand someone’s speech in embarrassing ways, a chatbot could hallucinate facts, or, as I experienced, an AI-based navigation tool might even guide drivers through a corn field – all without […] … learn more→