There’s no shortage of dire warnings about the dangers of artificial intelligence these days. Modern prophets, such as physicist Stephen Hawking and investor Elon Musk, foretell the imminent decline of humanity. With the advent of artificial general intelligence and self-designed intelligent programs, new and more intelligent AI will appear, rapidly creating ever smarter machines that […] … learn more→

Whether you have a basic or intimate understanding of what cancer can do to the human body, you’ve likely heard that it has to do with an uncontrolled growth of cells in various organs. Those outside the medical community may not understand that this process is cell proliferation. When it occurs normally, it is a […] … learn more→

We humans are swamped with text. It’s not just news and other timely information: Regular people are drowning in legal documents. The problem is so bad we mostly ignore it. Every time a person uses a store’s loyalty rewards card or connects to an online service, his or her activities are governed by the equivalent […] … learn more→

Modern societies are usually defined as relatively unreligious, dominated by money and power rather than belief in gods. This idea marks them out as modern when compared to traditional societies as well as highlighting the many issues of modernity including capitalism, growth, overproduction and climate change. But why are we so sure that secularisation and […] … learn more→

You’ve probably used a microscope before: usually, the sort of low-power microscope that pervades grade schools and simple collegiate science labs put together just to fulfill the most basic of requirements to graduate. But these days, high-end microscopy is changing science, allowing researchers to see and study things never-before seen in new and fascinating ways. […] … learn more→

According to the textbooks, all humans living today descended from a population that lived in east Africa around 200,000 years ago. This is based on reliable evidence, including genetic analyses of people from around the globe and fossil finds from Ethiopia of human-like skeletal remains from 195,000–165,000 years ago. Now a large scientific team that […] … learn more→

It seems every month or so there’s another “breathtaking breakthrough” in cancer research, with a miracle cure just around the corner. As a cancer survivor, I pay attention to such things, because nothing predisposes someone to cancer than having already had cancer…one of those breakthrough treatments might be used on me, after all. Thing is, […] … learn more→

The human race is in so much trouble that it needs to colonise another planet within 100 years or face extinction. So says the physicist Stephen Hawking in an upcoming BBC documentary, Stephen Hawking: Expedition New Earth. According to Hawking, “with climate change, overdue asteroid strikes, epidemics and population growth, our own planet is increasingly […] … learn more→

CBD oil has been headlining medical news for the past few months. Researchers and scientists in the US are trying to keep up with evidence showing cannabidiol oil’s potential benefits. The most recent news regarding this miracle strain? Studies have shown that regular application of CBD inhibits cancerous cell growth in rats. CBD oil is […] … learn more→

Uber has shaken up the taxi industry and is trying to put driverless cars on our roads. Now the company aims to have flying ride-sharing vehicles in our skies by 2020. Uber is not alone in working towards flying cars. But is this realistic, or just marketing hype? To many of us, the concept of […] … learn more→