Every now and then, an elected official will suggest bringing in the National Guard to deal with violence that seems out of control. A city council member in Washington suggested doing so in 2023 to combat the city’s rising violence. So did a Pennsylvania representative concerned about violence in Philadelphia in 2022. In February 2024, officials in […] … learn more→

The online financial products and services known as “fintech” have become deeply embedded in the economic and social life of many African countries over the past decade. Headlines across the continent often extol fintech’s virtues. Technology is “driving financial inclusion” and “making life better for people”. It’s helping “consumers to manage inflation”. Fintech is “too […] … learn more→

Mobile phones are currently banned in all Australian state schools and many Catholic and independent schools around the country. This is part of a global trend over more than a decade to restrict phone use in schools. Australian governments say banning mobile phones will reduce distractions in class, allow students to focus on learning, improve student wellbeing and reduce cyberbullying. But previous research has […] … learn more→

Claim is a difficult word. Dictionaries offer Meaning One –  claims are assertions that something is true, that something is a fact, but there is no proof or evidence. We just have to take the claim at face value and as being ‘right’, or not. Dictionaries also offer Meaning Two. A claim is a statement or action […] … learn more→

Australian politicians and major government reports keep emphasising the importance of STEM (or science, technology, engineering and maths) skills for our economy and society. As the Universities Accord report noted last month, engineering and and science are experiencing “significant skill shortages”. Then there is a federal goal to have 1.2 million tech-related jobs by 2030. This comes amid […] … learn more→

Recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (these tools which make it possible to produce text, sound, images or videos completely automatically) raise fears of a resurgence of false information. This fear is exacerbated by the fact that many elections will take place in the coming months, starting with the European elections. What is it really ? Generative AI, a […] … learn more→

As a clinical psychologist, I often encounter clients who say that they are troubled by thoughts that “repeat endlessly” in their heads, which they find difficult to overcome. Rumination (ruminating) and overthinking (thinking too much) are often considered the same. The two are related but slightly different. Rumination is thinking about things over and over in our minds. This can lead to overthinking – […] … learn more→

No longer a problem of the future, the climate crisis is now driving devastating real-world impacts here in Canada and worldwide. For many Canadians, one of the most visible climate impacts is on the availability and cost of the food we eat as climate change, global crises and profit-driven food companies have combined to drive food insecurity. […] … learn more→

Emotion artificial intelligence uses biological signals such as vocal tone, facial expressions and data from wearable devices as well as text and how people use their computers, promising to detect and predict how someone is feeling. It is used in contexts both mundane, like entertainment, and high stakes, like the workplace, hiring and health care. A wide range […] … learn more→

In the 1800s, British colonists in India set about trying to reduce the cobra population, which was making life and trade very difficult in Delhi. They began to pay a bounty for dead cobras. The strategy very quickly resulted in the widespread breeding of cobras for cash. This danger of unintended consequences is sometimes referred to […] … learn more→