I bought my first new car at 50 – a Tesla. Now, four years later, I’ve bought a second electric vehicle, a ridiculously yellow EX30 Volvo with a dual motor. Some might question buying new cars in quick succession, but I see it as helping to kickstart the second-hand electric vehicle market. After years of […] … learn more→

Videos of children opening boxes of toys and playing with them have become a feature of online marketing – making stars out of children as young as two. Twelve-year-old influencer Ryan Kaji, for example, earns US$30 million a year on YouTube leading one of the most popular children’s channels. His empire was built on toy unboxing. […] … learn more→

It’s never been easier to stay connected to work. Even when we’re on leave, our phones and laptops keep us tethered. Many of us promise ourselves we won’t check emails during our break. But we do. Being away from the workplace, and even in a new location, is often not enough to detach psychologically. We might […] … 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→

Silicon anode batteries made from nanomaterials; recyclable carbon nanotubes; living tissues and organs created in laboratories… The impact of supermaterials on our lives has already begun. Health is the area where the evolution of materials science and engineering is most impactful. Will it be possible to create new artificial organs? Will implants be possible that, […] … learn more→

Thanks to bestselling authors like Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge, the public has become increasingly aware of the rapid rise in mental health issues among younger people in many western countries. Their warnings about the destructive impact of social media have had an effect, reflected not least in a wave of schools across Europe banning smartphones. […] … learn more→

Confucius said: “If you want to know a person, give him power.” American President Abraham Lincoln also said something similar many years later: “Most of us can bear adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Does power really change us? And if it does, in what sense, for better […] … learn more→

Repton School, Derbyshire, is celebrating its 2023-24 Year 11s’ exceptional GCSE results. Despite the lowered national grade proportions for this year, just under 60% of entries were awarded grades 7-9 (A*-A), and almost 25% of grades were 9s. Many pupils achieved more than seven grade 9s, including Fisayo Atere, who secured 13 of these. This […] … learn more→

Is it still useful to learn foreign languages ​​when we have smartphones equipped with automatic translators? If this hypothesis is worrying, it would seem that artificial intelligence also opens new avenues for learning different languages. In 2024, artificial intelligence company Open AI introduced GPT4-o, a new large language model capable of “reasoning” and interacting with text, images, […] … learn more→

Open source surveys – based on the collection of information available on the Internet – are increasingly used by the news media as well as by propaganda communication. They raise many ethical and methodological questions. On April 5, 2024, Le Monde published a very detailed investigation , showing, through multiple sources accessible online, the destruction of Palestinian hospitals, schools […] … learn more→