Blog Archives

Do animals have imagination?

Do animals have imagination?

Imagination, that faculty that allows us to create worlds in our minds, is not exclusive to human beings. Recent studies suggest that animals can also harbor forms of imagination and that they have the ability to mentally navigate and subjectively experience virtual worlds that open the doors to new forms of learning in a similar way to humans. The importance […] … learn more→

Why student experiments with Generative AI matter for our collective learning

Why student experiments with Generative AI matter for our collective learning

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools like ChatGPT based on Large Language Models (LLMs) are revolutionizing the ways we think, learn and work. But, like some other forms of AI, GenAI technologies have a black box nature — meaning it’s hard to explain and understand how mathematical models compute their output. If we as a society are to […] … learn more→

AI is now accessible to everyone: 3 things parents should teach their kids

AI is now accessible to everyone: 3 things parents should teach their kids

It is almost a year since ChatGPT burst onto the scene, fuelling great excitement as well as concern about what it might mean for education. The changes keep coming. Earlier in the year, MyAI was embedded into social media platform Snapchat. This is a chatbot powered by ChatGPT, which encourages teens to ask anything – from gift suggestions […] … learn more→

Long hours and low wages: the human labour powering AI’s development

Long hours and low wages: the human labour powering AI’s development

The Finnish tech firm Metroc recently began using prison labour to train a large language model to improve artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For 1.54 euros an hour prisoners answer simple questions about snippets of text in a process known as data labelling. Data labelling is often outsourced to labour markets in the Global South where companies […] … learn more→

Will artificial intelligence kill or save the media?

Will artificial intelligence kill or save the media?

Information search, content production, translation, detection of hate speech… generative artificial intelligence (AI) promises significant productivity gains in the media world . The media accompany us on a daily basis and are a support for democracy: they have the freedom to show different points of view and ideas, to denounce corruption and discrimination, but also to show social and […] … learn more→

The universe is expanding faster than theory predicts – physicists are searching for new ideas that might explain the mismatch

The universe is expanding faster than theory predicts – physicists are searching for new ideas that might explain the mismatch

Astronomers have known for decades that the universe is expanding. When they use telescopes to observe faraway galaxies, they see that these galaxies are moving away from Earth. To astronomers, the wavelength of light a galaxy emits is longer the faster the galaxy is moving away from us. The farther away the galaxy is, the more its […] … learn more→

AI is already being melded with robotics – one outcome could be powerful new weapons

AI is already being melded with robotics – one outcome could be powerful new weapons

Interest in the incorporation of robots into security, policing and military operations has been steadily increasing over the last few years. It’s an avenue already being explored in both North America and Europe. Robot integration into these areas could be seen as analogous to the inclusion of dogs in policing and military roles in the 20th century. Dogs […] … learn more→

Is some of the body that collided with Earth to form the Moon still recognisable inside our planet?

Is some of the body that collided with Earth to form the Moon still recognisable inside our planet?

Scientists have dated the birth of the Solar System to about 4.57 billion years ago. About 60 million years later a “giant impact” collision between the infant Earth and a Mars-sized body called Theia created the Moon. Now, new research suggests that the remains of the large object that collided with the young Earth to form the Moon are still identifiable […] … learn more→

Competing does not give better results: is science being funded well?

Competing does not give better results: is science being funded well?

Project-based research funding has no differential impact, compared to traditional institutional funding, in terms of the production of highly cited academic articles, nor a clear effect on the number of publications. This is the conclusion reached by a study led by the University of Seville . The analysis is based on data from 10 countries and 148 European […] … learn more→