Athletes at the very highest level of their sport face the challenge of performing consistently under pressure amid many potential distractions, including performance anxiety, crowd behaviour, their own and others’ expectations, and…
Category: Science + Technology
COVID testing led to new techniques of disease diagnosis: progress mustn’t stop now
In March 2020, weeks before the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, its director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivered a speech in which he emphasised the importance of testing: … the…
why Baidu’s ChatGPT rival may never measure up
On March 16, Baidu unveiled China’s latest rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT – ERNIE Bot (short for “Enhanced Representation through kNowledge IntEgration”). The “multi-modal” AI-powered chatbot can generate text, images, audio and video…
A new study on Australian volcanoes has changed what we know about explosive ‘hotspot’ volcanism
Our new study published in Nature Geoscience on an ancient chain of Australian volcanoes is helping to change our understanding of “hotspot” volcanism. You may be surprised to learn eastern Australia hosts…
People with faceblindness aren’t believed by their doctors – here’s what needs to change
Imagine what life would be like if you couldn’t recognise your own family and friends unless they told you who they were. Now imagine no one will believe you and that even…
Four volcanic hotspots in the Solar System
Evidence for current volcanic activity on the planet Venus has recently made the news. But Venus is far from the only world beyond Earth to exhibit signs of volcanic activity. In fact,…
We used DNA from Beethoven’s hair to shed light on his poor health – and stumbled upon a family secret
Many astonishingly creative people have lived lives cut tragically short by illness. Johannes Vermeer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jane Austen, Franz Schubert and Emily Brontë are some famous examples. Ludwig van Beethoven’s life…
AI tools are generating convincing misinformation. Engaging with them means being on high alert
AI tools can help us create content, learn about the world and (perhaps) eliminate the more mundane tasks in life – but they aren’t perfect. They’ve been shown to hallucinate information, use…
We were told we’d be riding in self-driving cars by now. What happened to the promised revolution?
According to predictions made nearly a decade ago, we should be riding around in self-driving vehicles today. It’s now clear the autonomous vehicle revolution was overhyped. Proponents woefully underestimated the technological challenges….
how we’re tackling the challenges facing the theory
The idea of a multiverse consisting of “parallel universes” is a popular science fiction trope, recently explored in the Oscar-winning movie Everything Everywhere All At Once. However, it is within the realm…